Book review: Anatomy of an Illness by Norman Cousins

This may seem a little odd, but I'm reviewing a book that came out in 1979.
And I've read it before, in 1994.

Why would a I review a book I read 25 years ago, and one that is 40 years old?
Because it's a great book, it's still relevant and my memory is so sketchy that any book I read a second time may as well be new to me. I remembered just enough about the book to know I needed and wanted to read it again.

A little backstory on how I found this book in the first place, then on to my review.
In 1993, I was diagnosed with lupus (SLE). I had a pretty severe bout with it, involving kidney failure, anemia, exhaustion, joint pain, hair loss, trouble eating/ digesting. At one point, I wasn't sure I was going to live.

Once I got on the prednisone and realized I was going to survive, I got my fight back, and I wanted my quality of life back. I wanted better choices than strong doses of steroids, with their nasty and serious side effects. Most likely while writing in my morning journal, or when out for a walk, I had a flash of intuition telling me to look into mind-body connection. And so I went to the library and searched under that term (remember, there was no internet in 1994).

The 2 books I found in my local library were this one, Anatomy of an Illness by Norman Cousins, and Love, Medicine and Miracles, by Bernie Seigel (I intend to reread and review that book here as well). Both great books, both eye-opening and mind-bending, both very much worth reading.

And now, on to my review.

Anatomy of an Illness  by Norman Cousins

This book came about as a result of the author's experience with a life-threatening illness.
He was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (Bechterew's disease) and given a one in 500 chance of survival.

These dismal odds set him on the path of being proactive about his health. Being in constant agony, he could not sleep. And if you can't sleep, you can't heal. 

But somehow Cousins realized if he could get a good belly laugh, he could get two hours of actual restful sleep. So, someone wrangled a film projector for him, and some old episodes of Candid Camera (this was 1964 when this happened), and some Marx Brothers films. For this reason, he's seen as a pioneer in the field of humor and health.


Cousins also, through reading medical journals, realized the importance of Vitamin C in healing collagen (breakdown of collagen being a major part of what was happening in his body). 

He had to advocate for himself to get vitamin C therapy, and to get the film projector and films for his self-prescribed laughter therapy.

This book, however, is not a memoir. His account of his illness and recovery are a short part of the book, near the beginning. Much of the book is devoted to examples of the power of the mind to affect one's health, as well as the amazing things that can be done for "hopeless" conditions if the patient or the doctor is willing to think outside the box and look for the root cause of problems.

There are a few places in the book where he uses technical terms, and you may want to have google or dictionary.com handy, but it's only here and there. Mostly the book is very accessible.

Anatomy of an Illness is a book about advocating for yourself as a patient, working in partnership with your doctor, and about the power of the mind to affect one's physical well-being.

While it may seem strange for me to review a bestseller- Norman Cousins doesn't need my help in order to sell books- I found this book so valuable and empowering in my recovery that I wanted to share about it here.

40 years after publication, this book remains as relevant as the day it first appeared on bookstore shelves.

Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient (Twentieth Anniversary Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393326845/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_bk7mCb9K391Y0

cycles

So here's something I've been mulling over for a very long time: vicious cycles. And whatever the opposite of that is- heathy cycles?
When I'm in pain, I can't sleep. And when I can't sleep, it runs me down and I'm in more pain. Here I am, the person who needs sleep the most and I can't get any. How do I break this cycle? It has to be interrupted with something like ice, heat, massage, acupuncture, pain pills, death... The last option works, but it kind of misses the point of getting rid of pain, which is to me, to get back to my life. The problem with pain pills (and most pills) is that if you never get to the bottom of what is causing the pain and eliminate the problem, then you become dependent on the pills. But I digress. This post is supposed to be about cycles. So let's look at another cycle.

Let's say something really bums you out. Like you lose your job. It's much easier to find a job when you have a job, because you believe you are hire-able, desirable, kinda of like in high school when you tell your friend you like a boy and now all of a sudden she wants to go out with him. ( I really should have told that so-called best friend I had a crush on some dirtbag just to see if she would go after him, too. But I digress, again). So now you can't get a job because you don't have a job. The person who has a job is getting lots of offers, but the one who needs a job the most can't get one. How do we break this cycle? Volunteer work? Internships? retraining? more school? Affirmations? I don't know- something has to interrupt this cycle.

This happens in personal relationships as well. Like say someone doesn't help with housework, so the other person decides to stop cleaning and start hoarding junk in the garage. Then they get into a sort of Mexican standoff and neither one will change until the other does. It can get so bad that the only hope is to call the TV show CLean House and have them rescue them form their own behavior and broadcast their insanity for all the world to see.

When we are sick and in pain it can be hard to keep a sunny outlook. Chronic pain can really drag you down. Sleep deprivation can drag you down at least as fast. The double whammy of the two can make you forget how to laugh or even smile. But it is so important that we find a way to send positive vibes through our body, because unhappiness creates disease.

Something has to come along and cause a "pattern interrupt."
A good laugh, a fun activity, some affirmations, a massage (a bunch of massages...), playing with a dog, making a collage... What do you do to create positivity in your life?