Book Summary: Recognise ME:

A memoir of medical gaslighting by author Anneke Vliegen, diagnosed with a combination of chronic, rare, barely visible, and fluctuating diseases.

Book Review: Recognise ME:

Anneke has done a wonderful job writing, editing, and polishing her book Recognise Me into a captivating read that summarizes how an extremely common, rarely discussed struggle impacted her life.

Her memoir is full of moments I’m sure were incredibly painful to recall and disclose to the world as well as moments of joy, triumph, love, and humor.

Anneke’s voice is certain to resonate with people living with similar conditions and limitations or with a similar history with medical gaslighting.

Her memoir is also a valuable tool for those in the medical profession that hear the phrase, “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”

Generally speaking, that’s sound advice. I would never deny that. Most health issues truly are relatively straightforward.

If you look around, though, and you don’t see any horses, only zebras? Maybe you want to look at the zebras instead of searching for invisible horses.

That is something that I think Anneke’s story highlights very well.

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This review was originally posted August 24th, 2024. Since reading Recognise ME, Anneke has become a friend of mine as we live with similar conditions. 

Something I have not discussed much on here is my recent diagnosis with thyroid cancer. I am about to have my thyroid removed as part of my treatment plan, but before I had confirmation that I had cancer, I had a suspicion that felt more like wordless knowledge that something was not right.

I had to convince my endocrinologist to do a biopsy on these growing masses on my thyroid using guidelines from the American Thyroid Association as an unspoken promise to file a complaint if denied.

I was given an appointment. No one told me it was for a biopsy. When I was taken to a procedure room, I asked if the biopsy was being done right then, as I thought it was a consult.

The endocrinologist replied, “Well, that’s what you wanted,” with a tone that implied I was wasting his time. He told me after the biopsy he guaranteed it was going to come back benign. My mom was there as a witness to this whole exchange.

Lo and behold, it is cancer.

Anneke was one of the first friends I told about my diagnosis and the biopsy experience because she has been instrumental in inspiring and motivating me to self-advocate in situations just like that one. That’s the incredible value that Recognise ME, and she, brings to the table.

I gave her full permission to use that story to help promote the importance of her book and her work.

Currently, Recognise ME is only available in English, and Anneke is seeking funding to have it translated into her mother tongue, Dutch, to make it more accessible to people in her home country.

If you’d like to contribute to that cause, you can do so here.

You can find all the ways to buy her books on her website.

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J.A. Steckling believes in authors supporting authors and feels strongly that reading makes us better writers. She does not take ARC requests.