Meghan O'Rourke

I wrote this review a while ago, but it obviously did not stay. I enjoyed this book to an extent, but it is very heart-wrenching. It will make you cry from the beginning through the end. It really is not a feel-good book because it delves so deeply into the reader's mortality and guilt that only those who have been through what the author is talking about can really understand. O'Rourke's writing is very engaging, and in that respect the book is masterful and a delight. The subject matter is best left for those who need understanding (or to show understanding) in the wake of tragedy.
… (meer)

In The Invisible Kingdom, author Meghan O'Rourke seeks to understand the mysterious, debilitating illnesses that dominated her life for a decade. Does she have a complex autoimmune disturbance, chronic Lyme disease, or a vexing combination of both? To get answers, O'Rourke maxes out her credit cards traveling all over to meet with experts and to try both Western and integrative therapies, neither of which is completely satisfactory. She is particularly critical of Western medicine’s tendency to dismiss women’s suffering as being “all in their heads”, if an immediate, convenient cause is not found. Eventually O'Rourke achieves a state of relative health that allows her to resume teaching, have two children, and write this book.

One thing I noticed that O'Rourke did not do in her travels was meet with other chronic disease sufferers, although she does quote some she reads about online.

I thought I would really like this book, but I grew tired of the self-absorbed nature of the narrative. Still, I recommend it to those with chronic diseases.… (meer)

As a woman who has sought out doctors for a range of symptoms, only to be told that my levels are normal and I just have anxiety - I relate to this book more than I'd like and appreciate its existence. The author explores chronic illness on a macro and micro level and highlights how difficult it is to be seen, heard and truly understood as a person with hard-to-identify auto-immune disease(s). She stresses how important is it for the medical and scientific community to reevaluate how we view the individual when it comes to healthcare, looking at the person as a whole -- rather than a collection of separate organs or body systems -- and considering the totality of the condition. This book doesn't give any answers but rather points out how hard finding answers can be.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone whose life is impacted by an auto-immune disease or chronic illness.… (meer)