A young Edmonton woman says the waitlists for treatment of suspected endometriosis are so long in Alberta, she’s been forced to look for care outside of Canada.
Talia Assu-Gregg, 20, has had endometriosis symptoms since she was a teenager but her pain drastically increased last September — to the point she’s had to seek emergency medical care many times.
At the direction of an emergency room doctor, she was told to take an ambulance, so that she can quickly get pain medication, before an hour-long wait in waiting rooms.
She said her pain has gotten so bad she’s had to take that ambulance ride more than 40 times.
It leaves her writhing in agony and crying.
“It’s almost like if somebody wrapped barbed wire around my uterus and then just squeezed it along with this stabbing sensation,” she said.
“It’s really horrific.”
Assu-Gregg said she’s in pain every day, but it can quickly go from a four to a 10 on the pain scale and that’s when she needs medical intervention.
She’s tried to ride it out at home, but the pain can be overwhelming.
” I don’t like going to the hospital,” she added.
“It’s a last resort and I don’t have any other choice.”
Her family estimates they’ve spent more than 400 hours in ER waiting rooms in the last five months alone.
She would like answers, but her appointment for her first consultation with a gynecologist isn’t until January 2027.
The waitlist to see a surgeon who subspecializes in endometriosis could be an additional two years, with a two-year waitlist for surgery.
It’s a long time for someone who experiences debilitating pain on a regular basis.
“The pain I’m going through, how could they expect someone to live like that for two years?”
Bad cramps. Period pains. Part of being a woman — just some of the dismissive terms endometriosis sufferers have faced while trying to be taken seriously about the life-altering, crippling agony they find themselves in.
Endometriosis is a debilitating chronic condition that occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus implants abnormally outside of the uterus to form lesions, cysts, nodules and other growths.
When left untreated, the condition can spread to other organs, cause obstructions and flare up each month during menstruation, during which chronic pain and heavy flow are a common symptom.
Although primarily found in the pelvic region, endometriosis can occur anywhere in the body. Lesions can spread to organs, causing them to fuse and sometimes rupture.
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As per journal articles published to the U.S. National Library of Medicine database, there have even been reports of endometriosis spreading to patients’ brains and eyes.
Endometrial tissue survives off hormones — particularly estrogen from the ovaries — and will continue to grow within the body unless surgically removed. The lesions can also create their own estrogen supply.
Assu-Gregg is not the first Canadian woman who, facing months- or years-long wait times for a diagnosis and surgery has instead opted to seek medical help abroad.
In recent years, Global News has spoken to women from Ontario and across Canada about their debilitating pain and fight to be taken seriously by dismissive health-care providers. They’ve all explored treatment in places like the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
A nurse Global News spoke with in 2024 said her Mexico treatment cost about $30,000, which was significantly lower than the $80,000 she was quoted in the U.S. A Nova Scotia woman with endometriosis got surgery in New York, which set her back C$28,000.
A 24-year-old Toronto resident went to Atlanta, Ga., for excision surgery to treat her endometriosis, where the doctor told her it had spread throughout her body — impacting not only her uterus but also her intestines, bladder, and appendix.
Women can take medications to suppress the hormones, but patients we spoke with said that only slows the spread of the disease and comes with menopause symptoms.
The Endometriosis Network Canada reports that the average delay in diagnosing endometriosis in Canada is five and a half years.
Assu-Gregg’s family said they cannot wait and are fundraising to go to Mexico.
There, she has an appointment booked in February to see an endometriosis specialist clinic, where she will undergo endo-mapping and possibly surgery. The family is aiming to raise $14,000 for the treatment.
“This has been a journey of pure hell,” Assu-Gregg’s grandfather, Paul Navratil, told Global News. He said they can’t let their granddaughter lose years of her life waiting for care.
“No woman should have to go through this, especially someone as young as my granddaughter.”
It’s unclear when the situation in Alberta will get better for women like her.
Global News reached out to the Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services, but requests for an interview with Adriana LaGrange were denied.
Instead, a statement from the ministry said it’s “actively expanding supports, services and choices for women facing menstrual, reproductive and sexual health challenges.”
When asked to provide specifics, Global News received a second statement.
“We recognize that wait times can be long, particularly in complex cases where establishing a clear diagnosis is challenging. These situations often require multiple assessments and specialist input, which can extend timelines for patients,” that statement said.
Dr. Ari Sanders is a gynecological surgeon based in Calgary who sees a number of patients from the Edmonton-area, but the waitlist is long.
“What we need is more operative time, but that is challenging to come by,” he said.
Dr. Sanders said there’s around 15 endometriosis subspecialists across Alberta and all are in a similar situation.
He said they also need to train and hire more subspecialists, adding work is being done to use the operating time doctors do have more efficiently.
“How can we get more cases into the spaces that we have? How can get more case done within the time that we’ve have? And maybe how can we use the space that currently exists more effectively?”
Dr. Sanders urged caution to seeking care abroad after having several patients go that route.
“When they come back to Canada sometimes, they are in a more complicated place than they were to begin with,” he said.
“As a result, we end up having to talk about repeat surgeries here in Alberta to correct the condition they are now in.”
Assu-Gregg’s grandparents, who raised the 20-year-old since she was a little girl, said they have done extensive research on the clinic they are going to and said their granddaughter’s pain is too great to wait.
“It’s my only option,” she said.
The young woman has been on a long list of medications, from acetaminophen and ibuprofen to much stronger painkillers like hydromorphone, fentanyl and ketamine.
She said she’s often dismissed and has been labelled as drug-seeking by medical professionals.
“They make you feel really gross,” she said. “But it’s either that or suffer through pain… and the pain is really horrific.”
“In a perfect world they would do something for me other than just pushing pills and pain meds.”
Her grandparents closely monitor her medications, but they are worried that the long-term use of drugs will lead to an even more devastating concern.
“You’re creating a whole second problem, that problem is going to become opioid/narcotic dependent,” said Navratil. “When we hit these pain thresholds of 10+ you have no choice.”
There’s currently education for doctors on prescribing practices to limit and prevent addiction, as well as a tool that helps to determine who is at higher risk of developing an addiction — but prolonged pain and limited access to care can put patients in a difficult position.
“For pain that lasts more than three months and is consistent, it’s usually defined as chronic pain,” said addictions specialist Dr. Monty Ghosh. “The key here is to determine what the cause of the pain is and to manage that cause.”
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Dr. Ghosh said it’s a complex situation but anecdotally he is seeing cases where people waiting for appropriate and definitive treatment, are left with a dependency on the pain medications.
“We often use medications such as opioids as a band-aid until they can get to those services, and that particular band-aid can be problematic because it is addictive substance,” he said.
So are long wait times are leading to people becoming addicted to the pain medications?
The Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction told Global News in a statement “while there are many different factors that can contribute to a person becoming addicted to an opioid, there isn’t any specific data that shows wait times are directly contributing to the opioid crisis.”
Meanwhile, Assu-Gregg is counting down the days until her appointment in Tijuana, and she knows she’s not the only Alberta woman in pain stuck on waitlists.
“I feel as if I shouldn’t have to go out of country. I feel like I should be able to get that care and that help here where I am, but it’s just not possible,” she said.
“I’ve lost my life. I just want my life back.”