‘Being a back-rower, I’m good with pain, but that was another level’
Daisie Mayes felt her body was letting her down until diagnosis revealed cause of her period problems,
Last year, during a cup match with Bristol Bears, Daisie Mayes traipsed off the pitch, almost crippled by the pain piercing her lower abdomen. “That was when I first realised how much it was affecting me,” she says, reflecting on how menstrual pain had cut short her time on the rugby pitch.
“We were playing Harlequins away and it was really hot. I couldn’t run and I felt like I was going to be sick. I was so upset because it felt like my body had let me down, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I didn’t want it to reflect on my fitness because I’d been working so hard.”
For the best part of a decade, Mayes had been told excruciating menstrual pain was normal. So, when she was finally diagnosed last February with endometriosis – a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere – she was relieved.
“They found that endo tissue had grown so much on my ovary that it was basically fused to my uterus,” says Mayes, who is also Bristol’s high-performance centre operations manager. “When I heard the news, I had a panic attack at work. All my emotions came out because I was so relieved to know it wasn’t in my head.”
Emma Hayes, the Chelsea manager, and Olympic cycling champion Elinor Barker, are among high-profile sporting figures to have publicly spoken about their battles with the condition, which affects one in 10 women in the UK.
After being advised to start using hormonal contraception, Mayes opted to have an intrauterine device – more commonly known as a coil – fitted. It became a “horrendous experience”.
“Being a back-rower, I’m really good with pain, but that was another level,” she says. “Every day for a month after, the pain was excruciating. I remember doing a contact session and one of the girls hit me in my lower abdomen and I screamed because it hurt so much. I had a period for about three months straight, which obviously, physically and mentally, is not good for you.”
The dearth of research into how the menstrual cycle – and the use of hormonal contraception – impacts sporting performance is becoming a growing source of frustration for female athletes.
“I feel if it was a men’s issue, there would be a million different ways to combat things,” Dina Asher-smith said at last year’s European Championships, where menstrual cramps hampered her in the 200 metres final.
It is why Mayes has welcomed research partly funded by the Rugby Football Union into the impact of oral contraceptive use in Premier 15s and Championship players. The study found that players using non-hormonal contraception experienced more negative menstrual symptoms, including back pain, nausea and sore breasts, than those using oral contraception.
“There was huge variation from player to player, so I don’t think it’s fair to say, ‘If you’re on an oral contraceptive, then you’re going to be fine’,” Omar Heyward, a postdoctoral research fellow at Leeds Beckett University who led the study, says. “This is a starting place to understand what’s happening in domestic women’s rugby, what kinds of things players are experiencing and what some of the challenges are.”
Of the 238 players surveyed, just 12 per cent had spoken to staff about their period. “Male staff ” and “club culture” were two major barriers to players opening up.
Mayes, however, feels fortunate to be at a club where menstrual health is an integral part of player programmes. When Bristol women relocated to the club’s high-performance centre last season to be part of a more professional set-up, players began logging menstrual symptoms in “well-being questionnaires”. The information goes to the medical team, so they are aware of players whose training might be affected.
“It’s a game changer because my menstrual cycle does affect me so much,” Mayes admits.
“If I have a bad training session, I don’t need to explain it, because the team knows from my wellness survey that I’m in so much pain, I’m really bloated and my period is really heavy.”
The RFU is hoping to secure funding for research into menstrual health and the end goal is for those such as Mayes to be better supported so they can manage their symptoms around playing. “It kind of feels like I’m treading water,” she says. “You’ve got to try to just stay above it and not drown.”
‘If I have a bad training session, I do not need to explain it, because the team knows from my wellness survey that my period is really heavy’