Yolanda Hadid

3.5 stars

"In the first months and years of my illness, I'd feel so guilty and inadequate for not being who I thought I was supposed to be." p 1

"Resting for a week to [work] for a few hours and having to recover afterward is my new normal, and, although it's hard, I have to accept it." p 90

I've seen some reviewers complaining about how Hadid just goes on and on about her sickness and all her various attempts at healing, and how they were sick of hearing about it.... yet, that IS life with Lyme. And that is the clear focus of the book, not her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fame. (I didn't even realize Hadid was a "Real Housewife" until reading the book.)

"'When I try to talk, the words are floating out there somewhere, but I can't nail them,' I say.... 'Can you elaborate?' Dr. Piro asks. Of course, I can't elaborate. My problem is trying to find the right words!" p 24

I can't say that I support all of Hadid's "therapies," but I do understand what it's like to be desperate and willing to try practically anything. I think she tried to do too many things at once, though, and obviously didn't rest enough, which likely only contributed to her symptoms. That said, every case of Lyme is unique, and we all respond differently to different treatments.

"Lyme is six times more prevalent than HIV/AIDS was in the early 1980s, but the public awareness about it is virtually nonexistent.... The government promotes outdated testing and treatment guidelines and doesn't acknowledge that chronic Lyme exists." p 73

I also felt that Hadid came across as very down-to-earth in some parts - I definitely could track her thought processes, which I appreciated. However, even though she says she wants to find an affordable cure for all and she wants to help people with Lyme, at the end of the day, she spent I don't even know how many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars on various treatments that the rest of us could never afford.... it seemed inconsistent.

However, this is her story and helpful for what it is. Because I also have Lyme, I could relate to a lot of the symptoms and the frustrating attitudes of the people around her that she had to endure.

"Determined to figure out what is wrong with me, I continue to go to different doctors but their basic diagnostic testing shows absolutely nothing. No answers. It's mind-boggling because I know something is really wrong as I have experienced declining brain function and am now starting to lose the ability to be social." p 29

"Although I'm starting to feel better, I use the word 'better' loosely, very loosely..." p 74

I do think the book lost some momentum in the last several chapters and wish the entire book had been better edited (the typos drove me crazy).… (meer)

In this memoir, Yolanda Hadid narrates her years of struggle fighting chronic Lyme disease, and makes a point to detail all the different doctors she goes through and which of the protocols she follows are beneficial for her Lyme symptoms. Her emotional ups and downs are also captured, which I found very relatable.

I think this book is a great source of information, mainly support for Lyme sufferers as myself, since as Yolanda explains on the book through her experiences, this is a very unknown illness, not only to the general public but also to the medical circles. I didn't know about Yolanda Hadid until this book, but I appreciate she is making an effort to visibilize Lyme disease, an illness hard to diagnose and treat. The book, though, may not be for all, and unless I would not empathise so closely with her experience, maybe it would have been ardous to go through these 300 pages.… (meer)