Abstract
Most people, as a pastime, enjoy a puzzle—be it a jigsaw puzzle, a three-dimensional maze, a magician’s sleight-of-hand, a Rubik’s cube, a mystery or detective novel or movie. But real life puzzles are not so much fun. No one tells us the answer at the end. People living with the puzzle have no easy way to explain for themselves and everyone around them what is happening to them. And if we must interact professionally with people afflicted by an illness that is a puzzle, the puzzle can deprive us of meeting some basic human needs—to be successful, to understand the things around us, to be able to help those who come to us for help, to be able to make a difference.
“Endometriosis remains an enigma to the practicing gynecologist.”1 “Endometriosis provides a unique clinical and scientific challenge.”2 “The literature on endometriosis is extensive, but often inadequate or contradictory.”3 “... a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”4
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Ballweg, M.L. (1995). The Puzzle of Endometriosis. In: Nezhat, C.R., Berger, G.S., Nezhat, F.R., Buttram, V.C., Nezhat, C.H. (eds) Endometriosis. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8404-5_28
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