Oct 15, 2026 · 1h 7m
Listen from 0:49
Listen at 0:49
Why women’s reproductive symptoms go undiagnosed for years
208. Dr. Thais Aliabadi: PCOS & Endometriosis—The Symptoms Women Should Never Ignore
PCOS and endometriosis can affect fertility, pain, metabolism, and mental health, yet patients are often dismissed before receiving specialized evaluation.
- 1PCOS can affect lean patients too, with metabolic and hormonal dysfunction often obscured by stereotypes.
- 2Endometriosis may progress from inflammation and scarring to chronic pain, infertility, and organ damage when diagnosis is delayed.
- 3Treatment should be individualized, combining careful listening with appropriate testing, specialist care, and surgery when conservative options fail.
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Aliabadi argues that a negative emerging blood test cannot rule out endometriosis, making careful listening central to diagnosis.
The brief
Thaïs Aliabadi, a Los Angeles obstetrician-gynecologist, describes how women’s symptoms are dismissed and why repeated invalidation can produce trauma, depression, and self-doubt.
The discussion reframes PCOS, called PMOS here, as a metabolic and reproductive disorder that can affect lean patients and present through irregular cycles, acne, weight changes, infertility, or mood symptoms.
Aliabadi connects AMH and ovarian reserve to earlier fertility awareness, while emphasizing that inflammation, endometriosis, autoimmune disease, chemotherapy, diet, and environmental exposures can alter reproductive health.
Endometriosis emerges as a parallel failure of recognition: inflammation, scarring, central sensitization, and organ damage can intensify pain while patients are told symptoms are psychological.
The sharpest practical point is that emerging blood tests may help identify endometriosis, but a negative result does not rule it out; listening and specialist evaluation remain essential.
Surgery may be necessary for severe pain, infertility, low ovarian reserve, or failed conservative treatment, and Aliabadi says hormonal suppression often helps reduce recurrence.