It affects about 5-million women in the U.S.
Endometriosis causes severe pain and is linked to infertility.
It's been called the "missed disease" because many women may not even know they have it.
In honor of Endometriosis Awareness Month, FOX13's Morgan Saxton shared her journey to pregnancy on 'The PLACE' after announcing she was 10 weeks along.
"Endometriosis does impact one in 10 women," according to Dr. Megan billow an OB/GYN with Cleveland Clinic.
As Dr. Billow explained it, endometriosis is a condition where tissue, similar to the lining of the uterus, grows where it shouldn't like the abdomen and pelvic area.
Symptoms include: painful periods, abdominal or back pain during your period, heavy periods, infertility and painful bowel movements.
Dr. Billow said: "The reason it's underdiagnosed and can take up to 7 to 10 years from the initial onset of symptoms to diagnosis is because the clinical symptoms do overlap with many other types of conditions."
Billow says the other problem is there's no blood test or bio-marker that can detect the condition. There's also no known cause for endometriosis and no cure.
"Endometriosis does require laparoscopy or an invasive procedure to truly diagnose the disease," she said.
That surgery was something Morgan had done in March of 2022.
Doctors recommended her body recover on it's own, so she started her IVF journey in January of 2023.
"The best type of management is typically using a combination of medications and surgery to not only diagnose optimized treatment and control symptoms," Billow said.
However that medication will often prevent pregnancy.
After dozens of shots and hundreds pills, a surgery and many months of appointments Morgan announced a positive pregnancy.
You can continue to follow her journey on social media.
