Invisible

I've been reading a lot of fiction lately, so it's about time to sprinkle in a nonfiction volume! As soon as I learned this book existed, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. I've been living with two autoimmune disease most of my adult life, and in the past three or four years their impact on my life has grown quite a lot. I struggle with fatigue, with my weight, with muscle pain, with migraines, with intestinal issues if I eat the wrong thing. Some days it's just hard to function like a normal person when my brain is full of fog and every movement hurts. So this book? This is my life.

The author of this book did a LOT of research. She's not only disabled herself, but she interviewed SO MANY PEOPLE, with all kinds of different disabilities, diseases, and experiences. Mostly patients, but she also interviewed a few doctors.

The book is divided into six chapters: “Could Someone Love This Body of Mine,” “The (Foggy) Glass Ceiling and the Wall,” “It's Cool Guys I'm Totally Fine,” “Why Don't They Believe Me? or the Case of the Lady Lab Rat,” “To Raise Small Humans - Or Not,” and “Sick Like Miss America.” I really enjoyed her divisions here. The first chapter is about romantic relationships, the second about work, the third about friendships. “Why Don't They Believe Me” covers women's relationships with their doctors, the next chapter is obviously about fertility and parenting, and the last chapter is about society's expectations of beauty and how to be sick.

“Could Someone Love This Body of Mine” touched on some of my personal insecurities, as one of my autoimmune diseases leaves pretty ugly scar tissue on my skin. It talks about how men tend to leave women with disabilities or chronic illness, but women don't. (The book has extensive footnotes detailing sources and studies to back up claims like this one.)

I think the only chapter in this book that I didn't really directly relate to was about raising children. I was child-free before being diagnosed, and it hasn't changed my mind. We don't want kids.

If you or someone you know has a chronic illness, I'd recommend reading this book. There's valuable information and insight here, even if all you get out of it is “I'm not alone in this!”

Now I'm off to take a nap.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

Most interesting, most heart rending, best acknowledgement section I've read in a while. Pair this with those other books about how medical ppl don't take women or minorities's pain and experience seriously.