The Invisible Kingdom

Reimagining Chronic Illness

De: Meghan O'Rourke

Narrado por: Meghan O'Rourke

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 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.

Humbling. Heart-Opening. Disturbing.

I have just finished listening to the audio book of The Invisible Kingdom. I heard an CPR interview by the author on Monday and bought the book directly after. The book was released this morning and I have just finished listening.

I was riveted by the narrative. I have known several people whose lives resemble Meghan O’Rourke’s. Going from doctors to spiritualists to nutritionists, etc.

My best friend is a primary care physician who talks about the broken system even as she advocates for her patients - patients that no other doctor will see. Hers are the difficult patients, one’s who are not healing, who are cranky and I’ll-tempered from a lifetime of inept medical care. Whose minds are filled with fear and loss and weariness. Who seek hope where none is available.

My friend is no fan of our way of working with healing, and set out to change it. Now she is slowing (well not so slowly) going bankrupt as her care far exceeds the payments made for it.
She works 7 days a week, and I worry for her.

This book has opened my eyes to so many things. Why the “wellness” model is so very inadequate for most Americans. Why the need for Universal Health Care is so necessary. Why treating the whole person, the whole family, and the whole community is necessary.

COVID-19 has changed us forever. Yet for Meghan and thousands of others it was another SNAFU. Long-COVID will demand - is demanding that the US health Care System change now. We must take Ms. O’Rourke’s message to heart. For far too many of us are suffering, everyday. Far too much potential is lying prone unable to stand, let alone work.

Listening to this unending story was uncomfortable for me. I am uncomfortable with illness, with illness that is unrelenting. I do not know what to say. I too have subscribed to the “meaning in the illness” narrative. I have not known what to say at the bedsides of my friends.

I still do not know, but simply sit and hold hands in the silence.

Every time I walk into a store I am repulsed by the amount of chemicals inside, chemicals that go into our ground water and into our bodies, and into every living creature on this planet.

Meghan reveals how fragile life is. In her well-told revelations I found myself leaning in, wishing to understand, but also not to turn away. Somehow, in this story I found the endurance to listen, to let the story work me. I am changed. I am sorry. I am humbled that this is not my story, and hope it never will be.

I am also grateful to know more than I did yesterday. I will also be thinking about healing, it’s many forms. This is a book I will be recommending often. It is important.

eloquent testimony

A powerful account of the author's journey through a debilitating and (still) mysterious chronic disease. Her description of the struggle is honest and clear, neither a plea for pity nor a triumphant tale of victory over illness. She is an amazingly talented writer and I am thankful that she chose to share her experience with us.

Great information on autoimmune diseases

Wish there were more books like this that brought awareness to the public. She showed how easy it is to have doctors dismiss what they can’t diagnose easily.

Unbelievable

A journey through chronic illness while learning to navigate a seriously flawed healthcare system, the author takes the reader into exam rooms with doctors, and her home as she experiences the deleterious effects of her illness. She makes clear that the American healthcare system is not built for patients with chronic illness, and physicians often have little tolerance and patience for the nuances of treating the chronically ill. This book should be eye-opening to anyone that has not experienced chronic illness, and validating to those who have as patients or caregivers. The book is bolstered by the author’s talent as a writer. Excellent, overall.

Milestone of understanding

This is a very important book and if it could be taught in medical schools it would make an astounding difference within a few years. For every person with a serious chronic illness, and there are some uncertain millions of those, multiply that by 10 for the number of family members who are seriously impacted and have a difficult time understanding. Another factor of 10 probably even higher, for the number of friends impacted. Now consider the millions in the medical world. Add that up and probably have the people United States would benefit from reading this book and understanding what friends and family with serious chronic illnesses go through to cope with and attempt to resolve their illness. I will never look at someone with one of these conditions the same way.

Gripping and essential reading

Meghan does a beautiful job weaving her own struggle into a broader narrative about chronic illness and the shortcomings of our medical system. I related to so much of her story.

incredibly well done

As someone who suffered for years undiagnosed and still struggles daily, this book hit home. For the medical professional in me, I found it enlightened. I cried several times and felt in parts, that it could have been my story being told. Thank you for sharing your journey and adding to, what I hope will be the start of a new outlook on how we see and treat the patient with vague symptoms and normal labs. I promise that no woman is so bored as to subject herself to endless testing, dismissive Dr.s, and endless ER visits. For those suffering and searching for answers, you are not alone. Don't ever give up and no, it's not in your head.

Wonderful memoir of frustrating events

The memoir aspect of this book is very touching and beautifully rendered, though of course the subject matter is full of the frustrations of having chronic illness, which I'm all too familiar with. She has taken those pains and frustrations and woven them into a detailed account written with a poet's heart. Many of the medical and historical aspects of the book I had already encountered, though there are a few new additions to what I've read online and in other books, such as those by Rob Dunn and Moises Velasquez-Manoff, the latter of which she cites on a number of occasions.

If you have such an illness as hers, or if you know people with autoimmune disease, long COVID, persistent Lyme's disease, or other chronic illness, this book is a must read. Others who may be curious about such diseases will certainly be enlightened as to what it's like to be in such a situation. I only wish I, and others I know, had the resources to seek the extensive network of practitioners she did in her pursuit of the elusive cure. Highly recommended.

It is excellent

This is the most realistic explanation of living with chronic illness I have ever come across. I’m so grateful she wrote this book now. I’m high risk and the complete isolation covid quarantining has caused has been absolutely brutal. I’ve been abandoned by friends, family, medical professionals, and now society as you all force the embrace of a new normal. No matter the cost. I wish my family would listen to it, but they won’t. If you have a chronically ill friend or family member it would probably mean the world to them if you read this book and talked to them about it.

the high i wont forget!

I've read lots of medical texts and different accounts on various topics but this one has lifted the curtain on people like me exposed us through the plight of our times