Why is endometriosis often misdiagnosed?

Endometriosis is often misdiagnosed because its symptoms can look like many other conditions, including gastrointestinal, urinary, musculoskeletal, and gynecologic problems. When pain, bloating, urinary urgency, or bowel changes are evaluated one system at a time, it’s easy for the bigger pattern to be missed.

Misdiagnosis is also common because many clinicians receive limited training in recognizing endometriosis across its many presentations, and patients are too often dismissed or told symptoms are “normal.” When care becomes fragmented across multiple specialists, each may view the same symptoms through a narrow lens, leading to tunnel vision and delayed answers. Our team focuses on connecting the symptom history to a whole-pelvis evaluation so we can clarify what’s driving the pain and discuss next steps, including whether excision surgery may be appropriate.