Endometriosis book

My book was published in June 2012, in time for the Festive Book Week, by Medicina Publishers. It is available in major bookshops and can be ordered from the publisher's website.

In the meantime, read what Rita Abody, renowned writer, journalist and head of the Penna Alternative Literature Studio, wrote about my book!

 

 

ÁRVAI NÓRA: When my uterus turns against me - Endometriosis

How to get hold of this book?
First of all, the questions, a whole mass of questions: why hasn't this book existed for so long, when it's been a known disease for a hundred years? How is it possible that the author had to consult dozens of doctors, argue and demand, before he managed to make them understand what he himself had discovered, that he was suffering from a disease called endometriosis?

Why did he have to sacrifice an inhuman amount of time, money and energy, who will compensate him for all this? And for being considered hysterical, a hicpohonder? That he almost lost his marriage?

How many times did she have to go from her infant son to the hospital? That doctors and other health workers dismissed her with snoot, contempt and derision when she brazenly came forward with her self-diagnosis? That they were not even worthy to consider the possibility - until a series of crises brought him almost to the brink of bleeding to death? What might be the fate of someone who might suffer from the same disease, but lacks the stamina and intelligence to investigate, find out and coax out the truth and the cure? It is horrible to even think about.

And another set of questions: how is this young woman able to be so cheerful, energetic, optimistic, positive and ready for the future after all she has been through? That after she has recovered, the first thing she can do is write this book, to help and to teach others, how can she say, after eight operations, after much suffering and after the removal of her womb, that what has happened has been of benefit to her and that she is a better, wiser person because of it? How is it possible that, beyond the subtle irony, he does not in any way condemn the Hungarian health service, more than one of whose players has been badly beaten in this story? - Truly, I say: few are capable of this.

But Nóri did. Not to be a hero, nor to prove you right. But only to help all those in the same situation. To prevent what happened to her from happening again, to prevent anyone with endometriosis from going so long without a correct diagnosis and possibly going through the same ordeal.

However: the book is incredibly thorough and thorough, covering everything the author could find on the subject of endometriosis, from the initial symptoms to a careful account of childbearing and treatment options. The story of her own illness and her own hellish journey is a personal illustration, modestly hidden in the flood of factual information for the sake of authenticity - but it is a shocking, harrowing story, in which the positive outcome is almost entirely due to the extraordinary grace of fate - and a few brave doctors - and not to the incredible perseverance of the author.
It is an exemplary book, in its vitality, in its attitude, in its willingness to help, as well as in its professional thoroughness. It is one of the few books on medical subjects that the reader, as a layman, without being involved in a specific illness, can read with a keen interest, in the hope that he or she will not be dissuaded from being right and having the right to an accurate diagnosis, for which he or she pays the social security fee, in any medical matter concerning him or herself or a loved one...

And if they do, if patients do not allow themselves to be mocked and shaken down by pompous and modest doctors, it can only be to the benefit of the Hungarian health system in crisis.

I did not meet Nora Árvai as a patient or a friend, but as a novice writer who seems to have already found the field in which she has created something indispensable. By now I could perhaps call her a writer and a friend.

Abody Rita