Fired, delayed – and completed the wait: middle-aged women in the GI crisis can't afford it

The average waiting time for non-emergency gastroenterology appointments in the United States is 48 days. That was the moment a woman said it, it was nearly seven weeks “Something went wrong” When someone can finally provide care. But for too many women, seven weeks is too long and sometimes it's too late.

Gender gaps in GI care are real

According to the Mayo Clinic, one in four Americans suffer from functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID), such as IBS or functional indigestion, and women bear the greatest burden. Hormone metastasis, higher rates of early trauma, care responsibilities and chronic stress contribute to the prevalence and severity of these diseases. Meanwhile, colorectal cancer (CRC) was once associated with the elderly and increasingly affects young women.

Over the past three decades, the American Cancer Society has cited about 50% of CRC incidence in women under the age of 50, with the largest increase observed among people aged 20-39. Furthermore, at this age, advanced stage diagnosis is becoming increasingly common. However, women most affected by functional and severe gastrointestinal conditions, especially in middle age, are often fired, misdiagnosed, or forced to endure prolonged waiting for professional care.

Delays can be fatal

A close friend lost his wife with colon cancer after he used rectal bleeding as stress after his third child was born. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in her 30s. She struggled hard for nearly five years but didn't live to see her youngest six years old. Her story is sad and not unique. Often told to wait for it, figure it out or paint it into stress, diet, maternity or menopause.

That needs to be changed.

Women know when it's closed, but often no one listens

I know too many women – friends, colleagues, loved ones – they are always trying to get the care they need. Their stories are all symptoms of the system, and often fail when women are most important.

Take my friend Jin,,,,, An executive who is balancing a demanding job with three children struggles over a year of gastrointestinal symptoms. She rebounded between providers, patiently awaiting appointments and was eventually diagnosed with celiac disease. But by then, she was exhausted and she had to quit just for recovery.

Or my hairstylist Hannah spent years battling unexplained severe vomiting cycles, and he was repeatedly told it was all in her mind. Until she stumbled upon a Reddit post with similar symptoms, she could finally name her condition (periodic vomiting syndrome) and find a way to manage it.

Finally, my former colleague Elena lives with IBS like many women for a chronic chronic disease. When she has a flare, she needs care to address her symptoms, rather than the symptoms temporarily disappear after three months, but the damage to her work, family life and mental health has already caused losses.

These are smart, proactive women. But in each case, they encounter the same wall: a health care system that is not built.

Middle-aged women deserve better

Middle age is usually a turning point: when hormones fluctuate, stress increases, and gastrointestinal symptoms become unnecessarily ignored. But this is also the time when many women push their needs to the top. They are raising children, leading teams, managing families, and caring for older parents. When symptoms involve digestion, stigma only worsens the situation. Even if women seek help, they often encounter long waits, superficial assessments, and treatments that ignore the unique ways women suffer from gastrointestinal diseases.

Traditional telemedicine is not enough to solve these problems. Most virtual care solutions are not considered in gastrointestinal patients or middle-aged women. These platforms often lack clinical specialization, real-time availability, and integration with the care pathways needed for women to face emergency or complex symptoms. What is needed is a specially built approach: a combination of professionally trained providers with intelligent workflows to ensure quick access to symptomatic flares and not rely on fragmented handovers or a suitable model. Without this targeted infrastructure, virtual care risks become another waiting room, only digital.

To enable viable solutions that work in the real world at geographic and income levels, commercial payers, physicians, health systems, practices, and state and federal regulators must work together to eliminate friction and make special health care access seamless and seamless and effective. With advanced virtual care and routing technology with expertise, we can optimize professional resources, remove systemic barriers and provide women with comprehensive virtual professional solutions.

Moment of action

National Women’s Health Week is an opportunity to recognize more than just these differences. This is an opportunity to do something about it. First, make professional care more accessible, responsive, and more adaptable to what real women face.

Photo: Asnidamarwani, Getty Images

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