About Anneke Vliegen – Author
I am a one woman band, rather than an organisation, though I am firmly supported by my husband who is my main carer.
Last May my memoir Recognise ME was published. It describes the medical gaslighting I encountered and still due to a number of chronic, barely visible, fluctuating and rare conditions, including Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, adrenal insufficience and lupus.
I have spoken about medical gaslighting to various patient groups in different parts of the world online, to the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds UK, the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights, and the European Disability Forum but also to the general public to raise awareness.
My book got to third place in the Books and Bites Literature Prize Competition. No mean feat, I think for a first book about a subject that is rarely mentioned, written by and promoted by a chronically ill person with very limited energy and in a language foreign to the country in which the competition took place (Belgium).
This has lead directly to patients advocating for themselves, demanding further investigations, and in one case a diagnosis of a rare cancer. The person found it necessary to inform me and thank me personally. ‘Had it not been for reading Recognise ME, your posts and your blogs, I may not have found out. Even at the biopsy the endocrinologist said that it would all be for nothing as the result would be benign. They weren’t.’
On Rare Disease Day I will use my facebook page to post halfhourly messages throughout the day.
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