From the age of nine, Valentina Milanova endured excruciating periods, fearing for years that she could be dying or afflicted by a mysterious disease.
Growing up in Bulgaria with limited menstrual education, the now 30-year-old London resident and CEO of Daye, faced years of misdiagnosis and debilitating pain. Prescribed the contraceptive pill at 11, Valentina experienced temporary relief, but by 14, her symptoms intensified, forcing her to miss a year of school.
Doctors, pursuing various diagnoses from E. coli to kidney disease, even suggested an ectopic pregnancy, despite Valentina’s insistence that she was not sexually active.
Finally, at 15, an intravaginal scan revealed an ovarian cyst, leading to a polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis. The NHS describes PCOS as a condition causing irregular periods, excess androgens (male hormones), and polycystic ovaries.
One of Valentina’s cysts was later discovered to be 8cm in size and “filled with hair and teeth”.
Despite the diagnosis, Valentina continued to grapple with cysts, severe pain, bloating, and heavy bleeding. Her personal experience fuelled a passion for improving women’s health, culminating in the founding of Daye in 2018 after she moved to the UK.
The company, focused on revolutionising period care and advancing gynaecological health, has helped over 100,000 people in the UK through innovations like diagnostic tampons, contributing significantly to women’s health research.
Valentina said: “My experiences helped me understand the bigger problem at hand.
“Most women experience a gynaecological health horror story in their lifetime.
“I genuinely do not believe that we can have healthy societies or healthy economies if we continue to ignore this.”
The average age for a girl to have her first period is 12, according to the NHS, and at nine years old, Valentina had not been educated about menstruation.
“I was very surprised – I didn’t know what was happening to my body, because no one had had a conversation with me yet about what to expect from menstruation,” she recalled.
“I thought I had some kind of a disease, or maybe I was dying.
“And I was also ashamed… so I kept it a secret from my parents.
“I didn’t want to worry anyone and I also didn’t realise that it was happening on a cyclical, monthly basis.”
Valentina would “bleed through” her underwear, as she did not know that menstrual products were “a tool available” to her.
Her periods were incredibly painful, and she “couldn’t find any relief” with painkillers. Staying in bed with a hot water bottle or taking a long hot bath were among the few things that helped.
A couple of years later, she realised what she was experiencing was her period.
However, the pain worsened over time to the point where she “couldn’t leave” her bed.
At the age of 11, her parents took her to the doctor because of her heavy and painful menstrual cycles, and she was prescribed the contraceptive pill.
“It was, and still really is, the first line of treatment against period pain – there aren’t many other tools for doctors to rely on,” Valentina explained.
Initially, the pill seemed to help, but by the time she was around 14, the pain had returned, suggesting there might have been a more serious underlying issue.
The pain caused her to miss a year of school, something she found “very upsetting”, and she frequently ended up in emergency care, needing fast-acting injectable pain relief.
Over that year, she underwent “very invasive” diagnostic procedures and was tested for E. coli and kidney disease.
During attempts to diagnose her, it was even suggested she might be experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, despite Valentina repeatedly saying she was not sexually active.
It was only after doctors tested her for pregnancy that they believed her.
She said: “I found it to be very misogynistic that I was told I was kind of lying about not being sexually active yet, and that I should just trust the medical perspective on this.”
Eventually, at the age of 15, an intravaginal scan revealed a “very big and painful” ovarian cyst, and on investigation, doctors discovered it was “filled with hair and teeth”.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, these cysts, known as dermoid cysts, are benign tumours containing tissue from your hair, skin, teeth or other body parts, and they form when fully developed tissue collects in an odd location like the ovaries.
They were able to remove the 8cm cyst and she was diagnosed with PCOS – doctors confirmed that the cyst and PCOS were the cause of her intense period and pelvic pain.
“It was a relief to finally be diagnosed but the pain did not stop there – I can’t believe it took as long as it did to find out what the problem was,” she added.
Since then, Valentina has continued to experience ovarian cysts “from time to time”, but has not had to have any removed, along with extreme bloating in her lower abdomen, severe pain and heavy menstrual bleeding.
As she grew older and moved to the UK at age 19 for university, Valentina realised that many other women also faced difficulties with gynaecological health.
In 2018, she founded Daye to revolutionise period care, help close the gender health gap and provide gynaecological health screening.
Daye has developed diagnostic tampons for at-home STI and HPV screening, reaching more than 100,000 patients in the UK and advancing research on vaginal health.
Selected for the three-year NHS Innovation Accelerator programme, Daye’s tampons offer superior diagnostic accuracy compared with traditional self-collected swabs, directly supporting the NHS’s goal of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040.
Over the years, Valentina has learned to manage her pain through Daye’s period and pelvic pain clinic which involves a consultation with a nurse and a personalised plan. She has found that pelvic floor stretches, heat cycling and heat therapy help.
Valentina said: “My story is just one of the many examples of the gender health gap, the fact that female pain is deprioritised.
“We simply can’t afford to keep passing this challenge on to the next generation again and again, we need a generation that solves this for women today and women in the future as well.”
For more information, visit: www.yourdaye.com.
