Fiducia TogetherEndometriosis
Tissue like the womb lining growing where it should not. Around 1.5 million people in the UK, and an average eight-year wait for diagnosis.
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.
What it is
Eight years. That is the average time from first symptoms to diagnosis of endometriosis in the UK, and it has barely moved in a decade. Almost every one of those years is spent being told that painful periods are normal.
Tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere: on the ovaries, the bowel, the bladder, the pelvic wall. It responds to the menstrual cycle, so it bleeds where it sits, with nowhere for the blood to go. That causes inflammation, scarring and adhesions that stick organs together.
It affects roughly one in ten women and people assigned female at birth of reproductive age.
Signs you might notice
Period pain severe enough to stop you working, and not controlled by ordinary painkillers.
Pain during or after sex. Pain on opening bowels or passing urine, often worse around a period.
Heavy bleeding. Extreme fatigue.
Difficulty getting pregnant, which is sometimes the first thing investigated.
Bowel symptoms that get labelled IBS for years.
How it can affect day-to-day life
The workplace cost is significant and largely invisible: days lost, careers adjusted, and a reluctance to explain why.
Being repeatedly disbelieved has its own effect. People stop describing the pain accurately because they have learned that accurate descriptions get them nowhere.
Fertility, when it is affected, arrives as a second grief on top of the first.
Supporting someone well
Keep a symptom and pain diary before the appointment. Specific, dated evidence changes consultations.
Use the word endometriosis out loud and ask for referral to a gynaecologist. If you are being managed on painkillers alone, ask what the plan is beyond them.
Ask about a specialist endometriosis centre if there is bowel or bladder involvement.
Push back on being told this is normal. Period pain that stops you living is not normal, however common it is.
Believe partners and colleagues when they say the pain is bad, and build flexibility in rather than requiring an explanation each month.
Where to get help
Endometriosis UK run a helpline on 0808 808 2227 and a symptom diary tool designed to be shown to a GP.
Diagnosis is often by laparoscopy, though imaging is improving. Ask what is being ruled in or out, not just what the next appointment is.
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.