Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

4 reviews

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 against another edition

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