Customer Reviews

Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. The story is very compelling in itself, but Julie Gregory is also an excellent and occasionally hilarious writer. It did remind me of Augusten Burrough's work in the way she described the people around her with a child's blunt, uncompromising perspective. It breaks your heart that a child this perceptive and aware would have to endure what she did. Her mother has to be one of the scariest parents alive, but Julie opens the book with some hair-raising scenes from her mother's own adolescence so you can see that her cruelly bizarre behavior didn't just spring from a vacuum. Overall this is a fascinating and beautifully poetic read about twisted family dynamics and how the author carved out her own path to sanity.

This is the saddest book of child abuse I have read since
Christina Crawford wrote " Mommie Dearest " a quarter of a
century ago.It was written by Julie Gregory so eloquently,I
could not put it down.
Julie's mother convinces her, that she ( Julie )is an
invalid and must take medications like attenlol 25mg.,for
her heart.The medications make Julie feel sick and tired
most of the time.Sometimes the dose is doubled according to
her mother ((Sandy's) whim.This is what Munchausen by Proxy
is about.A caretaker,in this case the mother makes a helpless
child suffer, in order to garner attention for herself and
have re-affirmation from a Doctor in authority.
It is the worse scenario of child abuse,because it goes
unrecognized.
The father,who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic,does
not allow the mother to refer to their son,several years
younger than Julie as sickly,and nearly kills her the one
time she mistakenly does.This saves Danny some abusiveness.
The children witness these savage fights.
The family lives isolated in a trailer with concrete walls
and additions.The mother takes in veterans and foster
children,thereby making money for herself and wastes it on
pairs of hundreds of shoes,for herself and lifesize
ceramic animals for the trailer.
The foster chidren are mistreated, and the mother encourages Julie also to physically hurt them-but Julie has human feelings
and only pretends to.Her Mother thinks this will bind Julie to

her,making them closer.
Julie has no girlfriends,and the one time she did confide
in a new friend,the results were disastrous.Her new friend
did not believe her and dropped her after telling most
of Julie's classmates, that Julie made up stories.
By this time, Julie has reached her teen years.Her mother
continues to make sure she is sickly,and has had a heart
catherization performed on her.
Sandy, then convinces a physician to do a deviated septum repair
of the nose and to shape it less Roman.In other words,
repair the septum,so she can breath, then for no reason improve her nose structure.
Deviated septum repair is more painful than most people
realize.People used to be hospitalized four days and it was a
last resort for polyps and painful sinusitis. Most people decline having it done,when the procedure is described to
them.
I almost stopped reading at this point,but continued,
after checking the picture of Julie on the back flap of her
book.
I did this several times to re-assure myself,that Julie
survived her horrendous childhood.
There is a great deal more to the story,but suffice it to say
Julie survived this horrible Munchausen by Proxy.
Through,educating herself,and staying away from the woman
who was her mother,Julie states,she rose like a Phoenix
from the ashes.After much time and therapy,she checks out
Mama again, to convince herself,to look for change, for
apology?
Sandy,her mother,has adopted two children in Montana.
Nothing has changed but location.
Julie bravely saves their lives armed with her childhood
files and evidence from Ohio's childrens services.Julie who has grown into a beautiful woman with an ethereal quality, has
given us her story so we the public,and the professionals
she teaches,are made aware of this insidious abuse of helpless
children by their caretakers.
Thank You,Julie,and may the rest of your life be better.

I could not put "Sickened" down once I started reading it. As someone who is fascinated by psychology and the recovery of the abused, I found Gregory's memoir compelling and satisfying. It is all the more horrifying for having been a true story: yes, Gregory was abused by her attention-seeking mother, and not just in the Munchausen by Proxy context. Yes, her father was abusive as well. But what kept me reading until the end was to see how Gregory would work her way through this as an adult. At the satisfying end of the book, Gregory describes how she came to take responsibility for her own life. Although this book is certainly not for the faint of heart, it provides a heroine and a villain that are all as compelling as any in fiction.

As a parent it is nearly impossible to comprehend how a mother could perpetrate such methodical, premeditated abuse upon her child. The abuses this mother subjects her child to are unthinkable and there are many passages in this memoir that will make your skin crawl. The author tells her story in such a matter of fact way that at times I found myself wishing I could crawl into the pages to rescue this girl. Even though it was obvious the author's mother had suffered her own horrible abuses as a child, it was difficult not to despise this woman to the core. It is amazing that the author survived this nightmare of a childhood. Her memoir makes for a powerful and disturbing read. 4.5 Stars

This book does not flinch from reality. The book starts with the childhood of the mother. Her mother came from a world where incest was usual and it was not uncommon for the babies to be born deformed. It then launches into the life of Julie, the author of the book. Her mother is determined that Julie is fatally ill. She drags her from doctor to doctor, coaxing the child on what she should tell the doctor. The child is not aware of what she is saying. She tells the doctor that she has a headache when she is too young to know what a headache is. The child is starved and overworked so of course she always looks sick. The saddest part of the book for me is when her parents burn their double trailer leaving their dog inside. They then abandon their children. Julie is left with a legacy that never leaves her. Is she actually sick? She know longer knows. I have not been so moved by a book since White Oleander.

After having seen Julie interviewed on television, I was immediately drawn to her story. I cannot believe the extent of her abuse and how she somehow managed physically and emotionally to overcome it and be the survivor she is today! Her story is something I will never forget and was written very well. The story is heartwrenching and brought me to tears several times. A horrific story, but a great read!

This heart wrenching memoir by Julie Gregory is both difficult to read and impossible to put down. The reader is compelled to remind herself often that this is abuse that actually occured in a real family; it seems impossible that a child could live through so much. Munchausen by Proxy is a confusing mental illness which causes a mother to cause physical symptoms in her own child for the attention it will bring her. In Julie's case, she was fed matches, virtually starved, and punished if she didn't tell her doctor the "right" things while on the examining table. Besides the MPB, there were other types of abuse and torture... brutal, but extremely well written. Julie Gregory is a hero.

I bought this book because of my interest in memoirs and because I'm an avid reader of Augusten Burroughs, who has recommended this book. While I had heard about Munchausen by proxy (MBP), the details I had heard were sketchy, and I never understood what it really was. Julie Gregory's account of her own experience with MBP is shocking, but she does not capitalize or overdramatize the grotesque elements. Rather than resorting to hyperbolic or extreme language, she writes in a sparse, direct, almost journalistic prose. Especially illuminating, given the relative brevity of the passage, is her description of what it was like for her to develop her own sense of identity & self-esteem after a childhood marked by particularly twisted psychological & physical abuse. I can only imagine what it took to write this down and open oneself up, as it were, like a book. It will help people to better understand and empathize with those whose upbringing was radically different from their own; or, for those who have contact with MBP or are suffering from MBP, it should help alert people to the signs.

I rarely review books on Amazon but just having finished Sickened, I'm compelled to do so as I haven't been so moved by a book in ages. I'm a memoir junkie--and it the success of recent books describing others' journey to terrible places and ultimate redemption suggests I'm not alone. I happened upon Ms. Gregory's book by accident, not even knowing what Munchausen by proxy is, and read her memoir as if it were a mystery, skipping the introduction that explains the syndrome. She narrates her tale with such passion and precision that I was able to find parallels between her remarkable life and my own, to glean wisdom from her own individuation. This book offers many opportunities for enlightenment, but I was most moved by the author's dedication to conquering the demons of her past and to creating a new, personal truth for herself as an adult. Freeing ourselves from the damage of childhood: I didn't believe it was possible until I read this book.

Julie Gregory tells about childhood abuse that's dark, stark, and fascinating. If Munchausen syndrome is strange in its etiology and manifestations, then Munchausen by Proxy is off-the-charts bizarre.

Gregory's memoir provides readers a journey into the labyrinthine nature of mental and emotional illness that's aided and abetted by the medical establishment, albeit, sometimes unwittingly. She tells her story in a way that's both engaged and distanced; her damaged childhood voice juxtaposed against a thrust-into-maturity wryness. Reminds me of Karr's The Liar's Club in its horrifying beauty.

This book should be required reading for all medical residents, especially those specializing in so-called "Family Medicine," professional caregivers and counselors, and anyone interested in the very strange things that we humans do to those we allegedly love.