The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness

 Book 31 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from March 9 - 29

The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness

by Sarah Ramey

My Opinion

3 stars

This book is a labor of love and I may not have been exactly the right audience for it but I'm going to donate it and hope it finds the reader that will dogear, highlight, and cherish it because that reader is out there.

I'm rating it in the middle because it all evens out to a fairly neutral read.  I'm not upset I read it and there are some things I'll think about further but I don't know what kind of audience I would recommend it to.

The memoir/personal aspects of the book are soul-baring.  I have fibromyalgia and there was a definite feeling of "at least I'm not going through this much" which is an awful thing to think when there's a real person attached to the story.  I also thought about how "lucky" she is to have such a strong support system that could help her for such a long time.  I know it wasn't the support she needed and I'm glad she stood up for herself but not having to worry about a place to live or money for treatments (at least as far as she said) removes a huge boulder as she was able to focus on her recovery.

The other aspects, kind of scientific, kind of medical, kind of "woo woo", are what gives me pause.  I'm not saying the "kind of"s to discount what she's saying, I don't know what category to put the information in.  It should be medical but our system is fucked and it is scientific but it's also new and mostly unproven.  Although she acknowledges the many barriers that would prevent people from accessing everything she talks about (and also cautions many times that she's not advocating for anyone to take her word as medical fact), it did skirt a little too close to "you can overcome it if you focus on xyz" for my personal taste.  It was a little more palatable because "xyz" was lifestyle adaptations and not just positive thinking and sunshine but for most people it's still foreign and unattainable.  Even though the author's heart and mind is in the right place and there are lots of things to consider for the future, I think of those I know now with chronic illness and telling them to "eat healthier/stress less/sleep more" (which I KNOW is a gross oversimplification of what the author said) would feel accusatory and similar to a doctor suggesting weight loss for any ailment.

So that's how I'm stuck.  It was a good book and there are things I agree wholeheartedly should change and hope they will for the future but I'm feeling a little defeated as I finish it.