Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood

"Sickened" is an autobiography about the victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MBP). MBP is a mental disorder in which a person (usually a mother) inflicts injury on another in order to gain attention and praise. In this case, the author's mother was the predator. It's hard to believe that anyone's childhood could be this awful. Ms. Gregory's childhood was not full of love, but of horrible abuse - such as being starved, given medicine to make her sick, subjected to rigorous and invasive medical tests and procedures for no reason, and being forced to work on the family farm for hours every day while trying to recover from surgery. Not only was her mother abusive, but her father was as well, beating her and (somehow worse) forcing her to eat his used Kleenex. It's shocking to read about how greedy and selfish they are, about the mother taking in foster children and elderly people for the money and then abusing them.

The author does a wonderful job of explaining the disorder, gives a lot of insight into her childhood and information about her family. The book isn't long and is relative fast-paced. It's equally interesting and horrifying. She definitely has a gift for writing. The book flows well, but does slow down a bit when we get to the part about her going to college, and living in her house of mirrors. Somehow, it doesn't seem that she got into much detail about when she found out about MBP her exploration of condition. She doesn't talk much about her therapy, either.

I'm disappointed that there's not much of a follow-up on the book. What happened to the mother? Has she been prosecuted? Is she still taking in foster children? The author has a website, but the link to the "update" page is broken.

This is a very personal and educational book. I highly recommend it to those who are interested in reading about mental conditions.

This was a very interesting book. I wish the author had included a little more detail of how she pulled herself together, how she discovered fruit and vegtables (vice fixing chocolate cake batter for breakfast) I would also have appreciated knowing how she persuaded the child protective services in Montanna of the truth of her mother's 2nd round of "Munchausen by Proxy" with her 2nd family and foster children.

I am fascinated by Munchausen By Proxy and looked forward to reading this book. I guess I learned a lot. The abuses ran very deep - way beyond what I expected. The Munchausen By Proxy was only the tip of the iceberg. Because of that, I found this a very difficult book to read. It upset me and put me in a very bad mood. I do think that the author's mission to educate people about this mental illness - especially to help people in health care and education to know what to look for - is important. That being said, if you are looking for an easy read, this is not it.

Julie Gregory was abused as a child. She was abused in one of the most undiscussed ways a child can be violated. Julie was the victim of her mother's mental illness. Her mother suffered from Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome. Julie's mother, Sandy, would feed 3-year-old Julie books of matches and tell her they were lollipops. She would give Julie pills that caused blinding migraines, all the while, taking Julie from doctor to doctor insisting Julie was seriously ill. At the height of her illness, Sandy was trying to have open-heart surgery performed on 12-year-old Julie. And when Julie tried to tell a nurse and her school friends what was happening, no one believed her.

Julie and her brother also endured physical abuse. They were beaten and Julie was constantly starved to make her appear ill. "Sickened" is Julie's heartbreaking, but uplifting story.

I was appauled and horrified by the treatment that Julie suffered. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to live with the knowledge that there was nothing wrong with you, but you were at the whim of a deranged mother. This book was an amazing tale of courage and spirit. If you are an abuse survivor, this book will be very hard to read, but it is definitely worth it.

I highly recommend this work.

Julie Gregory gives you the prospective of herself as she grows up, formed by her illnesses and mostly by her relationship with her mother. Her mother's cunning and needs dominate the family until Julie precipitates an event that changes everything. A little hard to read at first. I think the author wrote it as much for herself as for any who might read it. Yes, bad language in the book, but I believe she was conveying the life she lived. Toward the end I couldn't put the book down as I followed Julie's journey from the only life she'd ever known to begin a life toward recovery.

Story taken from the perspective of a child whose mother has a mental illness known as Munchausen's by Proxy and it's impact on her life. Followed her all the way from young years through adult life and its effect on her psychological since this is one of the worst forms of child abuse that goes undetected.

This book is an easy read. It gets you interested from the beginning and holds your interest throughout. It is a book that people should read including children. Munchousens by Proxy occurs more often than anyone knows and is very difficult to diagnose. I have worked in a well renowned children's hospital, where this diagnosis was suspected in several cases. It is very difficult to prove especially since the parent doctor shops and moves on when one physician is just getting to know them. Hopefully with computers, physicians/hospitals will be able to start to link together and get patient files and histories. It is a very dangerous road to accuse someone of this, yet it is also very dangerous to leave children in this situation. More times than not the parent will actually end up killing the child. I found this book to be informative and also very heartbreaking. It is about a mother with a serious mental illness who never admits to her problem or seeks help. It is also more so about a young girl who loved her parents no matter what they did to her, but through sheer will survived her abuse and moved on in life. In the end she let her mother go, but it would be nice to have a follow up with her in a few years to see how she has made out. Many children of abuse never see their abusers again, but they are never forgotten.

I would reccommend these sellers. They were quick about getting books out. the books were all in shape described. very very satisfied with their service and look for them in the future for other purchases.

This is a heartbreaking story about a child who goes through a terrible family life. I don't want to say much because i dont want to give it away, but I can promise, you will never be able to put this one down, especially if you love psychological memoirs.

Well done! This book inspired me. Finally someone who has brought out into the open what may be the rarest form of child abuse ever and how she both rose above and survived it! I couldn't put this book down and I still can't:)

Interesting story as I did not know much about this form of child abuse. That said I feel that it read more like a complaint than a story in that I didn't really feel I knew or could connect much with the writer. It is worth reading, however, in order to be aware of this phenomena.

Horrible story and yet inspiring that this little girl who suffered such abuse and missed so much valuable education came out the other side to become an educated, talented writer, and a normal, healthy person.

Great trauma survival memoir. It is referenced in other survival memoirs that I've read, so clearly former survivors identify with a lot of the themes presented in this novel. Even my best friend, a man, was impressed by the issues presented. One thing this memoir has that many others do not, which I greatly appreciate, is some discussion of the adult healing process and the rough road to recovery. There is no ride into the sunset with trauma - there is only learning to live with your scars. This author does not bulls**t you about that. My only complaint is that it's not long enough. I would have liked to see more expansion on themes at several points in the novel. But it's Ms. Gregory's story, and hers to tell it in her own way. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in the genre.

Not only was the author's mother mentally ill, her maternal grandmother and father were, too.

She writes well of her mother's abuse through Munchhausen's by Proxy, as well as general emotional and physical abuse, of physical abuse by her father goaded on by her mother, and of her mother's abuse of disabled veterans and foster children that they took in so that her mother would have more money to spend on clothes and expanding their trailer home by adding rooms.

Her mother was a malignant narcissistic.

The law prohibited vets and foster kids in the same home, so they removed one group or the other during scheduled visits by social workers, who were themselves under pressure to find places to put people.

Incredibly written book taking you through this journey of a sickness not well know or understood. Julie's grace towards her mother despite it all and poetic recollection makes this book a must read. What a courageous girl.

Beautiful and heartbreaking memoir. Gregory raises awareness of a little-known disorder that almost killed her. She uses descriptive language that makes the reader feel that he is suffering right there with her.

This story told very little about Muchausen by Proxy. It was very dark and violent but it was so poorly written that in my opinion it wasn't worth publishing. It was mostly about how this woman's mother mistreated her and other people. I have pity for her and in fact her mother who apparently was abused although the book was so badly put together that it was hard to figure out what was going on. I am sorry this happened to both of these women but the book did not teach me anything about the disorder.