Read this when
Sick
Years of being told it was just anxiety before anyone said Lyme. Sick is for everyone still waiting to be believed.
Who it's for
Khakpour, born in Tehran and raised in the Los Angeles area after her family fled the Iran-Iraq war, spends years with symptoms that doctors treat as anxiety, depression or insomnia before she is diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease in her thirties.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Sick: A Memoir (HarperCollins, 2018) is Porochista Khakpour's account of chronic illness, misdiagnosis, addiction and what its subtitle calls 'the myth of full recovery.' Khakpour, born in Tehran and raised in the Los Angeles area after her family fled the Iran-Iraq War, describes years of health problems and mental-health struggles before her 2012 diagnosis of late-stage Lyme disease.
Where to find it
In print (Harper Perennial; Canongate in the UK) and available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla); audiobook available.
Before you start
Heads up: Sexual assault and drug dependence.
Age: Ages 16+
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.William Ernest Henley, “Invictus”
