National Harbor, Md.—Some describe it as a stabbing pain, a jackhammer to the lower torso. Coupled with that pain can come fatigue, diarrhea, constipation and even infertility. “We had the patient who was self-catheterizing because the pain was so bad,” said Barbara Karp, MD, a neurologist with the National Institutes of Health.
Although its formal definition is endometrium growing outside the uterus, attaching itself to the ovaries, fallopian tubes or various other organs,