Overview

'A visceral, scathing, erudite read that digs deep into how modern medicine continues to fail women and what can be done about it' Booklist The darkly funny memoir of Sarah Ramey's years-long battle with a mysterious illness that doctors thought was all in her head - but wasn't. A revelation and an inspiration for millions of women whose legitimate health complaints are ignored. In her harrowing, defiant and unforgettable memoir, Sarah Ramey recounts the decade-long saga of how a seemingly minor illness in her senior year of college turned into a prolonged and elusive condition that destroyed her health but that doctors couldn't diagnose or treat. Worse, as they failed to cure her, they hinted that her devastating symptoms were psychological. The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness is a memoir with a mission: to help the millions of (mostly) women who suffer from unnamed or misunderstood conditions--autoimmune illnesses, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic Lyme disease, chronic pain and many more. Ramey's pursuit of a diagnosis and cure for her own mysterious illness becomes a page-turning medical mystery that reveals a new understanding of today's chronic illnesses as ecological in nature, driven by modern changes to the basic foundations of health, from the quality of our sleep, diet and social connections to the state of our microbiomes. Her book will open eyes, change lives and, ultimately, change medicine. 'Ramey's uncanny grit and fortitude will deeply inspire the multitudes facing similar issues' Publishers Weekly 'This is a book for anyone who has ever asked a question that didn't have an immediate or easy answer, anyone who has worried about themselves or a loved one who isn't getting better - despite following all the experts' advice - and anyone interested in their own health, public health or medicine; in other words, it's a book with something resonant and useful for all of us' Chelsea Clinton

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9780708898857

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Reviews

Sarah's candor in discussing more than a decade of pain, confusion and dismissal by countless doctors isn't matched by self-pity but by compassion, for herself and every woman who has been told that her symptoms are only in her head, even when she knows her body is screaming. This is a book for anyone who has ever asked a question that didn't have an immediate or easy answer, anyone who has worried about themselves or a loved one who isn't getting better - despite following all the experts' advice - and anyone interested in their own health, public health or medicine; in other words, it's a book with something resonant and useful for all of us. It's also, not incidentally, a terrific read -- Chelsea Clinton

Author Information

Sarah Ramey is a writer and musician (known as Wolf Larsen) living in Washington, DC. She graduated from Bowdoin College in 2003, received an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Columbia in 2007 and worked on President Obama's 2008 campaign.

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