Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller

9 reviews

atokuyama's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Grief, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Addiction, Death, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Ableism, and Gaslighting

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Excrement, Chronic illness, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Rape

katrinarose's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir, part self-help, part political/sociological analysis, this was a wonderfully realistic yet hopeful book. As someone who has her same diagnosis (but has not gone through the level of severity she has) I empathized with her harrowing medical trauma. Her writing style kept me hooked. I imagine the self-help aspects to be invaluable for those with severe chronic illness and are written with such tenderness. She also rounds the book out with many statistics and research articles both to infuriate the reader about the state of healthcare in America but also act as a call to action. Since I am able to forget about my diagnosis 90% of the time, I don’t feel I am the exact target audience, however I loved it and would recommend to anyone chronically ill, anyone who has a chronically ill loved one, or anyone interested in the topic of healthcare in America.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Blood, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This was a compelling, honest look at life with chronic illness. I felt seen and heard as a person with a disability while I read Miller's recounts of her life. This book gave me a lot to reflect on in my own experiences and beliefs about (dis)ability and a meaningful life with a chronic condition, while also validating me for the fears and emotions I experience. 

If you are chronically ill or disabled, I especially recommend this book to you.

This being said, please note the trigger warnings as this book may be difficult to read for some people. Miller discusses the abuse she experienced from her alcoholic father and drug-addicted ex-boyfriend, the nitty gritty of Crohn's (including detailed references to excrement, blood and vomit), medical trauma and ableism of many kinds, and sexual assault. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia and Racism

wickedgrumpy's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

I find myself torn about this book.

I think the thing that frustrates me is that the intended audience switches between the chronically ill, those who are close to chronically ill people, and anyone who is curious about what it's like to live with chronical illness.  To me, that is too broad of a scope.  Since I fit into the first category, I find myself irked when the tone shifts to address the others.

That is to say, it's partly a memoir, partly a self help book, and partly reference material.  I do think that there are some parts that are beneficial and good, but there are others that are so bizarre that I struggled to finish it.  Also, reading it might be a triggering experience.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Blood, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Eating disorder, Drug use, and Confinement

gracegeeks's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Vomit, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

imstephtacular's review

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, Classism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Excrement, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Miscarriage

spaghettireads's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder

diversifyyourshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Miller places a heavy emphasis on the mental and emotional toll of chronic illness, issues I don’t see discussed nearly enough! It is lonely and hard and exhausting being sick all the time, and she 1) shows us we’re not alone and validates those feelings and 2) offers help and advice from someone who has been there. 

 

I really enjoyed this book, and I do highly recommend it, with some caveats.  On one hand, I want everyone I know to read this, but on the other, Miller’s experiences, even before her diagnosis, are quite traumatic. There are descriptions of physical abuse, addiction, domestic violence, sexual assault, eating disorders (check the content warnings for the extensive list of possible triggers). 

 

I’m not at all saying that Miller shouldn’t have written this part of her story – in a lot of ways, I feel it was necessary to give a holistic view of her life experience - but it can be difficult to read. While a lot of Miller’s writing is highly specific to her and to her own diagnosis of Crohn’s, she does a good job towards the middle and end of each chapter in connecting her story to the broader chronic illness community. For sensitive readers, it may be helpful to skip the starts of each chapter. 

 

This book undoubtedly helped me, and there are actionable steps that I plan to take based on it! If you are chronically ill or are close to someone who is chronically ill, I advise you to pick this up. Thank you to Tessa Miller for using your voice to help the rest of us. And thank you to Henry Holt for sending me an advanced copy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, and Grief