A book review of Cysterhood: Living with PCOS At the Intersection of Feminism, Medicine, & Medical Research by Amy R. Pallant.
Stars: *****
Smudgeworks Press (2024)
Health Memoir>PCOS
298 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: “My ovaries tried to kill me on more than one occasion. It’s hard not to take that personally.”
Amy Pallant was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) at age 12 at a time when doctors had little information about PCOS and almost no idea how to treat it.
In her memoir, Pallant tells honest and sometimes poignant stories of how she handled her PCOS symptoms as a young woman, recovered from both emergency and “elective” surgeries, and later treated her infertility, managed her menopause, and survived ovarian cancer.
Pallant also reflects on how her PCOS journey connects to the timelines of recent medical and women’s history. Pallant’s treatment for PCOS evolved through the decades not only because of advances in medical research, but also because of feminist advocacy around women’s health care.
Cysterhood: Living with PCOS
Cysterhood is a play on the words sisterhood and cyst as in the many cysts women with PCOS get. I’m not sure the author made it up but it’s a good name.
I received this book to read last year at least. I wasn’t reading as much for awhile then I put it off. I don’t know why because this book was VERY interesting. I knew a little about PCOS but not much and I learned a LOT more. Not only that but the author talks about the medical research or lack thereof, especially when she was diagnosed and then living through PCOS.
I knew that women’s health wasn’t studied as much or as often as men’s was but I didn’t understand to what extent. This book alone should be in every library and women’s health clinic library to further the education. Even though it’s a memoir she got very knowledgeable on PCOS plus her first hand experience.
I was hooked throughout the whole book. It took me a few days to read because of other obligations but otherwise I would have read it in one sitting.
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