The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’ Sullivan
Published by Hodder Press
ISBN: 978-1-399-72764-8
I paid € 22.88 from Kenny Bookshop https://www.kennys.ie/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h4-9qoRj9U
Dr Suzanne O’ Sullivan is a Consultant in Neurology one time in The Royal London Hospital and now at the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery. With for over 20 years’ experience. Her speciality is in complex epilepsy.
Her book was so interesting. I had bought it last May after hearing her been interview on the radio.
I was totally engrossed from the first page but found I needed to slow down and reread several parts. She touched on so much and went through the complexities of making diagnosis.
Discussing the difficulty of DNA testing and the reality that testing isn’t that straight forward. It has its limitations. Science doesn’t have all the answers yet. She also discussed the biases of professionals.
She recalls the stories of families with Huntington’s disease. The cancer gene. Diagnosis of Lymes and long Covid.
Another area touched on human cost of prediction from DNA testing on genetic diseases. To know or not to know? So complex. The need for multiple support. The cost to the health care system. The falseness of over testing in the field of treating early, health checks on healthy people. Discrimination from a diagnosis that isn’t fully understood.
There was so much in this book that just overwhelmed my brain. Like I said I had to read parts a couple of times.
I loved her ability to touch on both sides of the argument. You can see that there was huge research into the writing of the book. Also, that it was important to talk to people in all aspects of this complicated world.
One thing I came away with was that its easy to be plunged into a sense of hopelessness when seeking a diagnosis, a desperate human need to have a label for how you feel but there is often a cost. I did like the way she had me thinking was a diagnosis a good thing rather than living as one is, working with the symptoms rather than a label. This isn’t always possible of course for many reasons but it is important to think about when on this journey.
Is the system over diagnosing conditions. Examples of ADHD when maybe some of us have a degree of ADHD. The risk of over diagnosis in the population is that the resources for those with severe symptoms aren’t able to get the help they need. Does everyone need help or are some burdened by the system in its aim for conformity. Autism was also discussed.
I loved this book for many reasons some personal but many professional. For many it is a really important read, for others it is a read of discovery. Also, the human stories she discussed.
For sure it is a very informative and educational read. Grained so much from this book. It is full of compassion, askes so many questions, important questions that need to be spoken about but are often shied away from. As one person said “ a book full of wisdom as well as compassion”