From the day her period started at age 13, Catherine Gray experienced daily (often excruciating) pain that interfered with school, work, and her life as a young adult. She later had issues with her bladder, intestines, and bowel. What she didn’t realize was that she had endometriosis, and it was spreading to other organs. There were many days she couldn’t get out of bed.
“Endometriosis is a terrible disease. It’s not cancer — it’s considered benign — but it can behave like cancer sometimes,” said Mateo G. Leon, MD, assistant professor with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon at UT Physicians Advanced Minimally Invasive Gynecology (AMIG) – Greater Heights. “It can invade your bladder, bowel, appendix, and even other organs if left untreated.”
Catherine slipped through the cracks for years. Doctors mentioned an endometriosis diagnosis when she saw a fertility specialist in 2020 at around age 34.