Invisible Illness Bestsellers

You’ve seen BookTok go crazy promoting the usual “literary” standards: stories you’ve seen thousands of times featuring characters accomplishing daily tasks without a problem. But what about the rest of us? Isn’t it time for a novel to hit the stands that glorifies our struggles and aggravation?

Well, you’re in luck!

Here are our top recommendations for the discerning Spoonie Reader! Guaranteed to soothe that need for a classic tale of invisibility and not-so-accomplished redemption!

1. Symptoms and Prejudice by Jane Doe (Patient #512)

2. The Great Hypochondriac by F. This Diagnosis

3. One Hundred Years of Medical Testing by Gabriel Gave-Up-on Medicine

4. The Call of the Normal Test Result by Jack in-the Box (Doctor)

5. The Adventures of Spoonie Finn by Mark My Words

6. Lowered Expectations by Charles Dicken-Around-With-Patients’-Hopes

7. Alice’s Adventures in Obtaining a Coherent Diagnosis by Lews Your-Cool

8. Charlie and the Incorrect Information Factory by Roald The-Dice

9. The Count of Misdiagnoses by Alexandre Dus-More-Research-Online

10. A Tale of Two Specialists by Charles Didn’t-Read-the-Chart

11. A Portrait of a Patient as a Screaming Hysteric by James Just-Wants-Answers

12. The Girl With the Mile-Long Symptom List by Steig Learned-Not-To-Complain

13. The Cost of Living With a Disease No One Actually Believes In by Deborah Lost-All-Her-Friends

14. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Suffering With Illnesses No One Can See? by Jeanette Wishes-She-Were-Dead

15. War and Peace: A Day in the Life of an IBS Patient by Leo Told-You-I-Was-Sick

16. The Brain Also Fails by Ernest Depression-Way

17. As I Lay in a Hospital Bed Contemplating My Decision to Go to the ER by William Fuck-This-Disease

18. Gone With the Brain Fog by Margaret Maybe-I-Meant-to-Say-That?

19. Waiting for Answers by Samuel Bet-They’re-Normal

20. Their Eyes Were Watching Doctors Shrug by Zora Needs Help

21. All Quiet in the Therapist’s Office by Erich May Regret-Speaking

22. The Pain, The Nausea, and the Brain Fog by C.A. List-of-Specialists

23. Twenty Thousand Pill Bottles Under the Sink by Jules Ventured-to-the-ER

24. The Strange Case of Dr. Idiot and Mr. Invisible Illness Patient by Robert Lost Sense-Twelve-Appointments-Ago

25. The Old Man and the Argument Over Diagnostic Testing by Ernest Hem-and-Haw

(My deepest apologies to these authors and their families 🙏)