In today's modern medical world, the technology to diagnose chronic and complex illnesses has never been more cutting edge. Unfortunately, the treatment options for these conditions can be expensive, limited, non-existent, or otherwise ignored, leaving sufferers in the lurch when it comes to learning to survive and thrive with these often lifelong conditions. In "Invisible No More", Dr. Ilene Sue Ruhoy shares her own harrowing experiences as a suffer of chronic illness and her work as a neurologist with additional training in toxicology, environmental science, and integrative medicine, and how her background has led her to work with long-term sufferers of chronic illness. With her book - which combines autobiography, medical history, and guidelines for various topics, such as nutrition, supplements, and breathwork - her hope is that "Invisible No More" will help patients better take their health in their own hands.

I had a lot of conflicting feelings about this book, and I think there are things it did well, and things that I would be more wary about coming from the perspective of a (freshly graduated) physician and graduate student in biomedical sciences. I am not a suffer of chronic illness, but thought this might be a good resource for patients and am always looking for books from patient perspectives as someone who reads a lot of medical non-fiction.

The "Bad" (things I would think about more when deciding to recommend this book and which I don't have enough information on to make an informed opinion): I am always very wary of supplements as a cure-all for things, and even through the author offers a lot of caveats with regards to supplements and vitamin use, this portion of the book is somewhat based on her own experience and more in the realm of integrative medicine, and since I listened to an audiobook copy of this title, I was not able to see if an index comes with the book that would offer more avenues for research on supplement use, etc. There were some more examples of this kind of toeing-the-line on science versus pseudoscience for me, which I will leave the reader to decide for themselves, but another example that sticks out to me was the author's dogged support of juicing.

While the author does her best to offer practical suggestions and small steps towards improving health and well-being for chronic illness sufferers, I do have to wonder at the financial, emotional, and functional means many patients will have in abiding by some of the author's guidelines (juicing again comes to mind here with the state of the economy in June 2025), but the author also offers caveats with every suggestion she makes regarding financial and practical feasibility of the treatments and products she recommends - and could do a little more in my opinion, but also makes efforts to offer ideas that are low- or no-cost for those starting out. An improvement to a future edition of this book could be a supplement at the back of the book with suggestions for financial resources, free online materials, and/or organizations which could help connect chronic patients to the care they are seeking based on the author's suggestions.

I also wish the author had at least mentioned the even higher barriers to care that patients in marginalized groups might have seeking this care, let alone offering resources or suggestions for these groups in seeking specific care. If they don't have experience in providing care for marginalized groups, a section acknowledging this deficiency and a supplement offering resources for practitioners with this experience would have been a great addition to this book.

The "Good": Despite some of my (hopefully constructive) critiques of this book, I actually thought overall it did a good job of offering a balance of stories, medical knowledge, and some tips/guidelines which could be really helpful for those beginning to navigate their chronic illness journey, or for those with chronic illness patients in their lives (whether as family, friends, or patients). I certainly think the author has the relevant background to speak on this topic and thought the perspectives she brings from an integrative and especially environmental background gave me some food for thought during her explanations. I also think being able to speak from the perspective of both patient and physician really worked in this book, and I imagine would feel validating for patients who have struggled with finding physicians who understand what they're going through.

Most importantly, I think the author does a good job of highlighting the failures of the (American) health care system in helping patients from diagnosis to long term care - a sentiment that could be applied to conditions other than chronic illness, but which she demonstrates acutely through her own experiences and with anecdotes from her patients. She highlights that the way she practices medicine 'works' because she offers a multitude of treatments (not just pharmaceuticals necessarily) and spends a great deal of time with her patients. She also notes that her privilege as a physician married to another physician and with resources the average patient does not have access to allowed her the time and space to manage her own illness (and she still had pushback from colleagues in regards to her diagnoses) has helped her immensely, which I appreciated.

Overall, I think I would recommend this book anyone interested in this topic or who is a sufferer of chronic illness (or knows someone who is). I think it would be a great jumping-off point for those with general knowledge gaps or those who are interested in some possible further treatment options, or who need to be pointed in the right direction, and could serve as some good food for thought or provide some discussion points for patients to bring to their own care teams. I am hesitant on some of the suggestions the author makes and think there needs to be more emphasis on the financial, cultural, and emotional burden of organizing one's chronic care in the very messy, broken American healthcare system. However, the author is steadfast in imploring patients to make baby steps towards reclaiming their own healthcare and putting their future in their own hands and acknowledges throughout the book that the path to managing chronic care and the suggestions she offers are small parts of an broad picture, and never claims to offer panaceas, big fixes, or magic cures, which I think is really important in these kinds of books too.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this book. This very informative volume is a practical guide for people with chronic & complex illnesses. Its focus is on healing and empowerment of those who are ready and willing to take health into their own hands. Some of the included topics focus on breathing, nutrition, movement, sleep, regenerative therapies, and others. I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to feel better and is ready to do something about it.