The Invisible Kingdom
Reimagining Chronic Illness
(Sprache: Englisch)
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION
Named one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by NPR, The New Yorker, Time, and Vogue
“Remarkable.” –Andrew Solomon, The New York Times Book Review
"At...
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION
Named one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by NPR, The New Yorker, Time, and Vogue
“Remarkable.” –Andrew Solomon, The New York Times Book Review
"At...
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Klappentext zu „The Invisible Kingdom “
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION
Named one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by NPR, The New Yorker, Time, and Vogue
“Remarkable.” –Andrew Solomon, The New York Times Book Review
"At once a rigorous work of scholarship and a radical act of empathy.”—Esquire
"A ray of light into those isolated cocoons of darkness that, at one time or another, may afflict us all.” —The Wall Street Journal
"Essential."—The Boston Globe
A landmark exploration of one of the most consequential and mysterious issues of our time: the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases
A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: these are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.
Drawing on her own medical experiences as well as a decade of interviews with doctors, patients, researchers, and public health experts, O’Rourke traces the history of Western definitions of illness, and reveals how inherited ideas of cause, diagnosis, and treatment have led us to ignore a host of hard-to-understand medical conditions, ones that resist easy description or simple cures. And as America faces this health crisis of extraordinary proportions, the populations most likely to be neglected by our institutions include women, the working class, and people of color.
Blending lyricism and erudition, candor and empathy, O’Rourke brings together her deep and disparate talents and roles as critic, journalist, poet, teacher, and patient, synthesizing the personal and universal into one monumental project
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arguing for a seismic shift in our approach to disease. The Invisible Kingdom offers hope for the sick, solace and insight for their loved ones, and a radical new understanding of our bodies and our health.
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Lese-Probe zu „The Invisible Kingdom “
one"Gradually and Then Suddenly"
In the fall of 1997, after I graduated from college, I began experiencing what I called "electric shocks"-stabbing sensations that flickered over my legs and arms every morning, as if I were being stung by tiny bees. The shocks were so extreme that as I walked to work from my East Village basement apartment, I often had to stop and rub my legs against a parking meter; if I didn't, my muscles would twitch and my legs would jerk. My doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong-dry skin, he proposed-and eventually the shocks went away. A year later, they returned for a few months, only to go away again just when I felt I couldn't bear them any longer.
In my twenties, the shocks and other strange symptoms-bouts of vertigo, fatigue, joint pain, memory problems, night sweats, tremors-came and went. For a year, every night around two a.m., I would wake up in a sweat to find hives covering my legs, leaving me itchy and wide awake, my pajamas and sheets so wet I had to change them. Doctors prescribed a daily dose of antihistamines until the hives went away. There was a test that suggested lupus, and then a follow-up that showed nothing was wrong; my lab work looked fine. "The tests were all negative. It's just one of those things that will go away," a specialist told me. I remember thinking, Don't you want to know why I have severe hives?
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In the way of women who have internalized disordered ideas about food and control, I associated my strange bouts of fatigue and discomfort with eating poorly (even though I ate a reasonably healthy diet). It was easy, in those years, to feel that a lack of dietary discipline played a role in my exhaustion, because I could tell, vaguely, that certain foods made me feel worse, leading me to assume responsibility for my own unwellness. I toggled between the conviction that something had to be wrong-I didn't feel OK-and the conviction that I was to blame, and if I just stopped eating sugar, or pizza, say, I'd be fine.
One night, I woke up suddenly from a nightmare that a man in a dirty gray sweatshirt was stabbing me. My period had started, but in addition to the cramps I had a sharp pain in my lower right abdomen. The pain grew in magnitude until, heat flushing my body, I suddenly vomited. I thought perhaps I had appendicitis, but the pain went away an hour later, just as I was preparing to go to the ER. "Everyone feels cramps," my gynecologist told me when I asked about it.
At the advice of a friend, I went to see her gynecologist. This doctor listened and nodded when I mentioned the stabbing pain; I felt relief at the recognition. She did an exam and ultrasound. "I think you might have endometriosis, an immune-modulated disease where tissue from the uterus gets out and coats the abdomen and other organs, causing pain," she said. "But it doesn't really matter unless you want to get pregnant: it can cause infertility. Later we might want to address it with surgery. For now, I'd just take ibuprofen during your period." She gave me some tissues and I wiped myself, dressed, and left, puzzled by the way my pain had been relegated to a sign that my fertility might be compromised, not a problem in its own right.
When I was twenty-four, I started waking up with a feeling that a foggy miasma filled my brain. I would go for long runs before work to clear my head, lacing up my shoes, sweating off the sleep hangover. I thought everyone felt this way, that I was just fighting off a cold. But why was I so often on the verge of a cold-more than anyone else I knew? Periodically, I would start digging a little. In 2005, around the time of my twenty-ninth birthday, I was strangely enervated. I remember googling my symptoms and being struck by how much they matched those of several autoimmune diseases. I showed the results page to Jim; as the screen c
In the way of women who have internalized disordered ideas about food and control, I associated my strange bouts of fatigue and discomfort with eating poorly (even though I ate a reasonably healthy diet). It was easy, in those years, to feel that a lack of dietary discipline played a role in my exhaustion, because I could tell, vaguely, that certain foods made me feel worse, leading me to assume responsibility for my own unwellness. I toggled between the conviction that something had to be wrong-I didn't feel OK-and the conviction that I was to blame, and if I just stopped eating sugar, or pizza, say, I'd be fine.
One night, I woke up suddenly from a nightmare that a man in a dirty gray sweatshirt was stabbing me. My period had started, but in addition to the cramps I had a sharp pain in my lower right abdomen. The pain grew in magnitude until, heat flushing my body, I suddenly vomited. I thought perhaps I had appendicitis, but the pain went away an hour later, just as I was preparing to go to the ER. "Everyone feels cramps," my gynecologist told me when I asked about it.
At the advice of a friend, I went to see her gynecologist. This doctor listened and nodded when I mentioned the stabbing pain; I felt relief at the recognition. She did an exam and ultrasound. "I think you might have endometriosis, an immune-modulated disease where tissue from the uterus gets out and coats the abdomen and other organs, causing pain," she said. "But it doesn't really matter unless you want to get pregnant: it can cause infertility. Later we might want to address it with surgery. For now, I'd just take ibuprofen during your period." She gave me some tissues and I wiped myself, dressed, and left, puzzled by the way my pain had been relegated to a sign that my fertility might be compromised, not a problem in its own right.
When I was twenty-four, I started waking up with a feeling that a foggy miasma filled my brain. I would go for long runs before work to clear my head, lacing up my shoes, sweating off the sleep hangover. I thought everyone felt this way, that I was just fighting off a cold. But why was I so often on the verge of a cold-more than anyone else I knew? Periodically, I would start digging a little. In 2005, around the time of my twenty-ninth birthday, I was strangely enervated. I remember googling my symptoms and being struck by how much they matched those of several autoimmune diseases. I showed the results page to Jim; as the screen c
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Autoren-Porträt von Meghan O'Rourke
Meghan O'Rourke
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Meghan O'Rourke
- 2022, Internationale Ausgabe, 336 Seiten, Masse: 15,1 x 22,8 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Riverhead Books
- ISBN-10: 0593541456
- ISBN-13: 9780593541456
- Erscheinungsdatum: 28.02.2022
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Praise for The Invisible Kingdom:An authentically original voice and, perhaps more startlingly, an authentically original perspective .The book is not only a memoir of her illness, but also a document of years of research. Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon, in The New York Times Book Review
The Invisible Kingdom is an important and powerful book in many ways, but perhaps its most valuable contribution is the way it articulates the loneliness and frustration of having symptoms that superficially resemble the pains and pressures of contemporary life in the United States while being much more severe. The Nation
[O Rourke] gives shape and color to the invisible life of patients whom society has failed. She offers hope for patient-driven change. Most important, she provides an account that many will be able to relate to a ray of light into those isolated cocoons of darkness that, at one time or another, may afflict us all. The Wall Street Journal
In this elegant fusion of memoir, reporting, and cultural history, O Rourke traces the development of modern Western medicine and takes aim at its limitations, advocating for a community-centric healthcare model that treats patients as people, not parts. At once a rigorous work of scholarship and a radical act of empathy, The Invisible Kingdom has the power to move mountains. Esquire
O Rourke boldly investigates the origin of her ills and possible cures. More crucially, she probes the cultural, psychological, and medical experiences of people with poorly understood or immune-mediated illnesses The Invisible Kingdom couldn t be more timely. The Boston Globe
"[A] personal and deeply moving exploration of life with chronic illness. . .[The Invisible Kingdom] may serve as an affirmation that people living with chronic illness are not alone. . . both moving and educational."
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Library Journal, STARRED review
A call to arms in the fight for compassionate healthcare The Invisible Kingdom is a medical detective story with the drama and style of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. O Rourke s book has ignited a necessary conversation, proving the pen to be as mighty as the stethoscope. Oprah Daily
Meghan O Rourke s book is a searing and thoroughly researched exploration of the pain and confusion that many [chronic illness sufferers] go through in their quest to have their health issues taken seriously by the medical establishment and, often, the world at large. Vogue
An affecting portrayal of how we view disease, experience illness, and search for healing. -Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
With a poet s sensibility, journalist s rigor, and patient s personal investment, O Rourke sheds light on the physical and mental toll of having a mysterious chronic illness Readers will be left in awe. -Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The Invisible Kingdom is a vivid account of the lived experience of chronic illness. Meghan O Rourke exposes a system of thought in which people with poorly understood illnesses are dismissed and disbelieved, blamed for their own suffering, and left to take desperate risks in pursuit of treatment. Crucially, her perspective offers insight into how we can do better. Eula Biss, author of Having and Being Had
O Rourke s honest and insightful account of chronic pain is at once a page-turner and an education in cutting-edge science and the history of ideas. I couldn t put it down. Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
In this urgent and beautifully written book, Meghan O'Rourke lays siege to one of the last taboos in medicine: the chronic illnesses that govern the daily lives of millions of people, but are rarely acknowledged. As we confront the long-term impacts of COVID-19, O Rourke s lyrical analysis couldn't come at a better time. Michael Specter, New Yorker staff writer and author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives
With impressive clarity and depth, O Rourke explores the failure of current biological science to identify the causes of numerous maladies or offer effective treatment, leaving a sufferer adrift. Bracing in its intelligence and remarkable in its sweep of both literary and medical scope, this book is essential reading for patients and medical professionals alike. Jerome Groopman MD, author of How Doctors Think
Emotionally compelling and intellectually rich." Kirkus
O Rourke is a poet above all else, and it s with incredible, lyrical empathy that she not only shares her own story of and eventual diagnosis with late-stage Lyme disease, but puts it in perspective of an entire generation of patients who ve been dismissed . . . A must read. Lithub
A call to arms in the fight for compassionate healthcare The Invisible Kingdom is a medical detective story with the drama and style of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. O Rourke s book has ignited a necessary conversation, proving the pen to be as mighty as the stethoscope. Oprah Daily
Meghan O Rourke s book is a searing and thoroughly researched exploration of the pain and confusion that many [chronic illness sufferers] go through in their quest to have their health issues taken seriously by the medical establishment and, often, the world at large. Vogue
An affecting portrayal of how we view disease, experience illness, and search for healing. -Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
With a poet s sensibility, journalist s rigor, and patient s personal investment, O Rourke sheds light on the physical and mental toll of having a mysterious chronic illness Readers will be left in awe. -Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The Invisible Kingdom is a vivid account of the lived experience of chronic illness. Meghan O Rourke exposes a system of thought in which people with poorly understood illnesses are dismissed and disbelieved, blamed for their own suffering, and left to take desperate risks in pursuit of treatment. Crucially, her perspective offers insight into how we can do better. Eula Biss, author of Having and Being Had
O Rourke s honest and insightful account of chronic pain is at once a page-turner and an education in cutting-edge science and the history of ideas. I couldn t put it down. Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
In this urgent and beautifully written book, Meghan O'Rourke lays siege to one of the last taboos in medicine: the chronic illnesses that govern the daily lives of millions of people, but are rarely acknowledged. As we confront the long-term impacts of COVID-19, O Rourke s lyrical analysis couldn't come at a better time. Michael Specter, New Yorker staff writer and author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives
With impressive clarity and depth, O Rourke explores the failure of current biological science to identify the causes of numerous maladies or offer effective treatment, leaving a sufferer adrift. Bracing in its intelligence and remarkable in its sweep of both literary and medical scope, this book is essential reading for patients and medical professionals alike. Jerome Groopman MD, author of How Doctors Think
Emotionally compelling and intellectually rich." Kirkus
O Rourke is a poet above all else, and it s with incredible, lyrical empathy that she not only shares her own story of and eventual diagnosis with late-stage Lyme disease, but puts it in perspective of an entire generation of patients who ve been dismissed . . . A must read. Lithub
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