Women bypassing Canada's wait times for endometriosis treatment—some traveling to Mexico

Noelle Menu, a 37-year-old supply-chain systems adviser, spent years in pain before Canada's healthcare system linked her symptoms to endometriosis. By that point, she had endured emergency room visits, a hysterectomy, and years-long waits to see specialists—and had reduced her workday to half-time just to function.

Faced with a three-to-four-year wait to see a specialist in Canada, Menu and her husband pulled from savings and went into debt for treatment. Days before flying to Tijuana, Mexico, for private surgery at EndoGlobal—which cost about $35,000 including airfare and accommodation—Menu said: "We can't deal with it in Canada."

Endometriosis, a chronic condition where tissue similar to the uterine lining grows and spreads to other parts of the body, affects 1 in 10 women. The disease causes severe inflammation, scarring, and pain during periods. Yet diagnosis takes an average of five years in Canada—some people wait up to 20 years before doctors connect their pain to endometriosis. Even after diagnosis, patients wait six to 18 months to see a specialist, then up to 24 months more for surgery.

The delay stems from multiple factors: symptoms resemble other conditions, reported pain sometimes doesn't match detectable tissue growth, gender bias in diagnosis and treatment, taboo around discussing menstrual issues, and assumptions that this pain is "just part of being a woman." Menu said: "This disease is just debilitating for some women, and I really wish there was more awareness around it and that doctors would take us women seriously."

A House of Commons health committee report from November 2025 assessed Canada as doing a "poor" job providing endometriosis care. Lost productivity due to the disease costs the Canadian economy $2.5 billion a year.

Dr. Jorge Zavala, one of the founders of EndoGlobal, says endometriosis mimics cancer in the way it spreads, though without being as destructive. As more Canadian women cross the border for treatment, the gap between Canada's healthcare system and patients' needs has become impossible to ignore.