Women's mysterious illness: When pain is not all in the head

Sarah Ramey suffered from an undiagnosed illness for years, which lead to a string of inconclusive medical tests. She talks to Suzanne Harrington about what she learned on the long journey back to health.

During this global virus crisis, all other illnesses are taking a back seat. Serious diagnosed diseases have been marginalised by the virus, as we scramble to contain and survive it. Imagine then what it might be like, before this current pandemic took hold, to have a serious undiagnosed illness. An illness which drags on for years, shapeshifting, and confounding doctors, who tell you it’s all in your head and send you home with anti-depressants.

This is what happened to American writer and musician Sarah Ramey. It happens to a lot of people, mostly women. In a coruscating memoir, The Lady’s Handbook For Her Mysterious Illness, she writes about her own illnesses, and all the women who struggle on for years, undiagnosed, unheard, untreated. She calls them Womis – women with mysterious illness.