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A review by booksandbraids
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O'Rourke
3.0
I did not want to read this book but I do really enjoy my one book club and at this one we actually discuss the book we read, so to attend and participate I really DID need to read the book… so I figured I would give it a shot. I’m glad I did. I enjoyed it. I learned a lot. I learned that our medical system does not know everything. I guess that is what book clubs are for! Getting you to branch out and try things that you would not normally read!!
I’m going to copy my notes from reading below. It is mostly commentary on my own medical experiences in relation to whatever was being said in the book at the time the comment was made…
- 15% It is currently talking about ulcers… I used to get stress ulcers all the time when I was in college/graduate school. I do not miss them whatsoever.
- 39% so scientists don’t use female animals in studies because their female hormones add an extra level of complications to the study?! Do they not understand that half of the people they are conducting this research for also have female hormones??
- Unrelated to this exact moment of the book, but I’ve been thinking. One of the reasons I never go to the doctor is because they are useless. For every single medical issue that I’ve had in my adult life they have cost me lots of money and provided nothing in return. I have had a tendency to pass out (occasionally losing consciousness completely, but often “blacking out” such that I lose my vision and hearing but remain conscious and standing) in certain situations since high school. I visited numerous doctors. They ran numerous test. They did an echogram of my heart. I was sent to a place that attached wires to my head to check something with my brain. In the end they declared it was just something I did and it probably wouldn’t be life threatening so I would just need to learn to live with it.
- More recently I had a skin problem. Some sort of allergic reaction. I knew before even going in from Google that it was nummular eczema and I needed some steroid cream, but I still had to pay hundreds of dollars to visit a GP in order to be referred to a dermatologist that someone could prescribe me the medicine.
- Also more recently I started having stomach problems. It got to the point where I was afraid to eat anything. I was afraid to go to work because I dreaded the idea of being ill in public. I finally caved and went to the doctor about it hoping they would run some sort of food sensitivity test. But noooo. I paid for that visit only to have them tell me to start experimenting by cutting out certain foods for several weeks at a time and seeing how I felt. And they wanted a follow up appointment to discuss my findings in several months. I could have done that on my own without going in and paying all that money! What did you actually accomplish?? Nothing. I absolutely canceled the follow up appointment. I wasn’t going to give them more money to provide me with nothing I couldn’t figure out for myself. After months of experimentation I think I’ve finally figured out my problem foods. No thanks to the medical profession.
- 41% is the word hysteria really from the Greek word for uterus?!? I’ve never felt more insulted by the medical field. That is ridiculous. Why is that word still in practice?! We need to abandon it in favor of a less sexist one. That is awful.
- 46% this book is going to make me anxious about everything. Chemicals etc were always a known concern but now washed food is bad as well?! That my body’s biome will suffer extinctions from not eating dirt?!
- 47% agh don’t talk any more about the organisms that colonize our bodies. I know they are there but if I actively think about that fact I get the heebie jeebies and feel the need to bleach my skin 🫣
- 74% POTS! That was something that suggested to label my fainting spells. They also told me to drink more water, eat more salt, and wear compression stockings! Because of that my grandmother would always sign off on weekly letters with “Keep drinking your water, Love, Grandma Noel”. I also declared at the time that the doctor had prescribed me permission to eat at as much ramen and salty food as I wanted. I still use that as a justification to not feel guilty for adding salt to everything.
- 80% you could not pay me to have someone else’s shit squirted into my butt
I’m going to copy my notes from reading below. It is mostly commentary on my own medical experiences in relation to whatever was being said in the book at the time the comment was made…
- 39% so scientists don’t use female animals in studies because their female hormones add an extra level of complications to the study?! Do they not understand that half of the people they are conducting this research for also have female hormones??
- Unrelated to this exact moment of the book, but I’ve been thinking. One of the reasons I never go to the doctor is because they are useless. For every single medical issue that I’ve had in my adult life they have cost me lots of money and provided nothing in return. I have had a tendency to pass out (occasionally losing consciousness completely, but often “blacking out” such that I lose my vision and hearing but remain conscious and standing) in certain situations since high school. I visited numerous doctors. They ran numerous test. They did an echogram of my heart. I was sent to a place that attached wires to my head to check something with my brain. In the end they declared it was just something I did and it probably wouldn’t be life threatening so I would just need to learn to live with it.
- More recently I had a skin problem. Some sort of allergic reaction. I knew before even going in from Google that it was nummular eczema and I needed some steroid cream, but I still had to pay hundreds of dollars to visit a GP in order to be referred to a dermatologist that someone could prescribe me the medicine.
- Also more recently I started having stomach problems. It got to the point where I was afraid to eat anything. I was afraid to go to work because I dreaded the idea of being ill in public. I finally caved and went to the doctor about it hoping they would run some sort of food sensitivity test. But noooo. I paid for that visit only to have them tell me to start experimenting by cutting out certain foods for several weeks at a time and seeing how I felt. And they wanted a follow up appointment to discuss my findings in several months. I could have done that on my own without going in and paying all that money! What did you actually accomplish?? Nothing. I absolutely canceled the follow up appointment. I wasn’t going to give them more money to provide me with nothing I couldn’t figure out for myself. After months of experimentation I think I’ve finally figured out my problem foods. No thanks to the medical profession.
- 41% is the word hysteria really from the Greek word for uterus?!? I’ve never felt more insulted by the medical field. That is ridiculous. Why is that word still in practice?! We need to abandon it in favor of a less sexist one. That is awful.
- 46% this book is going to make me anxious about everything. Chemicals etc were always a known concern but now washed food is bad as well?! That my body’s biome will suffer extinctions from not eating dirt?!
- 47% agh don’t talk any more about the organisms that colonize our bodies. I know they are there but if I actively think about that fact I get the heebie jeebies and feel the need to bleach my skin 🫣
- 74% POTS! That was something that suggested to label my fainting spells. They also told me to drink more water, eat more salt, and wear compression stockings! Because of that my grandmother would always sign off on weekly letters with “Keep drinking your water, Love, Grandma Noel”. I also declared at the time that the doctor had prescribed me permission to eat at as much ramen and salty food as I wanted. I still use that as a justification to not feel guilty for adding salt to everything.
- 80% you could not pay me to have someone else’s shit squirted into my butt