Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain by Abby Norman

9 reviews

idk_indigo's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed this book! It was very informative, very enlightening. Some of the book’s Amazon reviews are quite negative, primarily because it’s a very self-reflective book. Norman acknowledges that this book is more of a dive into her personal experience & what research she has compiled in an effort to better understand her illness & her pain. Less of a know-all about endometriosis, which we see towards the end of the book when she is in the diagnosis stages of another chronic illness. The book talks about the author’s journey with chronic illness with an implied, “This is how it was for me. Others may relate, but I am not speaking for anyone else.” I appreciated the physician aspect; most physicians are trying their best, but they are also imperfect. It is a very true phenomenon that women’s pain is taken less seriously; this rings especially true for WOC & for disabled/chronically or mentally ill women. I enjoyed this book; definitely not a medical guidebook on endometriosis, but I don’t think it was ever trying to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Ableism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical content, Sexism, Excrement, and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Infertility, Abandonment, and Child abuse

smilagros's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

4.5✨

I listened to this on audio and then I decided to order the book on Pango. Reading this and highlighting made the entire experience really helpful. I do think that there were a lot of interesting facts about Endometriosis that I had no idea. What is really sad is that this book has so many similarities to my story. As I am getting ready to have my 4th surgery, this was a very interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

daniellemjoyce's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical content, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Sexual content

laureljeanreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

I always feel weird rating memoirs but I feel like this is such an important topic explored and done so with a really good mix of some medical research facts as well as personal experience that shines through. The fact that this is not just this authors story, but is the story of so many other people dealing with chronic pain, uterine issues and not being believed by medical professionals is both sad and enraging.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Eating disorder

Minor: Infertility, Transphobia, Miscarriage, and Suicide attempt

sammantha's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book is phenomenally written and so much more than I ever could have imagined. I’ve never dog-eared so many pages in my life. Highly recommend, especially to doctors and nurses. “I had never wanted to be right; I had only wanted to be well.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Blood, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Excrement and Miscarriage

shewantsthediction's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I didn't expect this book to go so deep into abuse, but I'm really glad it did. Emotional/physical neglect are so hard to put a finger on, but the way she described it made me feel so much less alone in my own childhood. I almost can't believe there's someone out there who had to "grow up" even faster than I did, with her being emancipated so young. Her audio narration reminded me quite a bit of the Youtuber bestdressed. The only thing I didn't really like about this book is she tended to ramble on too long, especially towards the end of the book, and referred to having sex for the first time as "losing her virginity." It was just a strange choice of words since she seemed so feminist in other respects. I was also quite curious about her autistic brother, but he was only briefly mentioned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

 - Part memoir and part history of doctors dismissing "female problems," ASK ME ABOUT MY UTERUS is gripping and enraging. I'd wager that even if you don't have endometriosis in particular, you'll see your own experiences with the medical system reflected here (me. I did, it's me).
- Norman doesn't shy away from describing exactly what her pain - physical and emotional - feels like. This book is a tough read but I think many will find it cathartic to be seen on the page.
- Norman is careful to point out that not only women deal with uterine pain and illness, and also that not all women have uteruses, and the extra layer of fear and frustration this can add to trying to get diagnosis and treatment. She's also up front about how being straight, white, and cisgender framed her whole situation and afforded her more privilege throughout this process than others (and the flip side of that, of how being a traditionally feminine woman led to instances of dismissal).
- It's in the content warnings listed below, but I want to point it out here as well since it's not obvious from the summary - major content warnings for child neglect, eating disorders and suicide particularly in the chapters discussing Norman's childhood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

rosalind's review

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Vomit, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Grief and Child abuse

hollandvk's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Medical content, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Vomit, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Cancer