Suggested Reading: The Empowered Patient

I know I am supposed to give up the constant remedies, regimes and research, and focus on just ‘being’ for a while. This means, amongst other things, only fun reading allowed – mainly fiction and superficial non-fiction – basically fashion or anything written by a celebrity or, of course, those special occasions when it’s both. Anything medical is obviously strictly forbidden.
Sometimes, though, instinct kicks in and your gut tells you this is something that you need to know about. Such was the case with a @lissarankin tweet touting the Owning Pink Book Store. I barely took a glance before Elizabeth Cohen’s The Empowered Patient found its way into my shopping cart.
As it says on the back, Cohen’s book will give you “crucial advice on receiving the best possible health care.” I started with a highlighter, but soon realized that I didn’t need it.  I will never need a refresher as the contents are forever fixed in my mind. I’ll admit the heartbreaking stories of medical errors were tough to read, but the lessons they taught will never leave me.
There were hints, checklists and websites throughout, but organized in such a manner that I never felt confused or overwhelmed. Which is impressive, because when it comes to medical talk, unless you’re in the field, who doesn’t feel overwhelmed? Besides, I have it on good authority that even if you’re in the field, fear or doubt can render you just as lost as a novice. Cohen acknowledges this and gives you the resources to overcome whatever hesitation you may have.
The book felt very much like a cheat sheet on how to handle everything that goes with being ill – understanding your disease, finding your best way back to health, and handling all the bills that go with that process. It took me eight years of constant appointments, prescriptions, referrals and little progress to learn how to dump a bad doctor and to make the most of my five minutes of face time. For anyone who doesn’t feel like learning those lessons over nearly a decade, they can just read Chapter 2.
I even followed the web research advice and put symptoms in from before I went gluten-free. An article appeared, published in 2003, which talked about Celiac Disease and my symptoms. Up until a year and a half ago, I had never heard of the disease. Had I known the tricks Cohen gives, I could have been alerted to it several years earlier. With the guidance of the book, I would have also been able to find a doctor who would have been open to testing me, instead of just handing me more pills to treat the symptoms and not the cause.
I will admit, my first reaction was that had this sleek blue and white book been published eight years ago, I could have spared myself constant frustration with doctors, not to mention been able to diagnose myself years earlier. But the what-ifs quickly disappeared and now I can just celebrate the fact that I feel more prepared for whatever may come. So when I am recharged and ready to try the regimes and research again, I now know exactly what to do to get a positive outcome.
I guess sometimes, as every Celiac person should know, you just have to listen to your gut.