Rating: 
Summary: Impressive
Review: this is an impressive,impressionable book that deals with a subject that for many had no idea ever existed. "Munchausen by Proxy", a type of child abuse, as real as and as cruel as any child abuse i have ever read about. The book does well to make the reader understand what this author has lived through. It is courageous and inspirational like that of "Nightmares Echo",with pieces of "A child Called it", the devastational side of abuse written within it's pages. It ranks right up there with the two books mentioned and I consider it a must read book, and a well written memoir.
Lori Jacobs, Book Club Member
Rating:
Summary: Riveting, beautiful, painful, fantastic.
Review: 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.
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Summary: Disturbingly accurate--from former victim & former paramedic
Review: This book has been the best/most accurate book I've read with regards to the details, chain of lies, deception, fear, abuse--[triggering PTSD symptoms of this former victim & former medical pro]--of and by a 1st person account & narrative on the subject of Munchausen's by Proxy [MBP].I believe this is a must-read for all entering medical professions because MBP and Munchausen's Syndrome itself seemed much more common to me from my experiences as a paramedic and from experiences inflicted upon me when I was extremely vulnerable. If you are a victim of MBP proceed with caution if still vulnerable either emotionally or physically. Society does not understand either MBP or Munchusen's syndrome--[Example of Munchausen's Syndrome by comparison to MBP: I had a boss who was eventually fired for being discovered for literally drinking his own blood {extracted via IV catheter} to fake stomach bleeds in order to be hospitalized and given morphine for many surgeries that never proved any other illness than eventual diagnosis of Munchausen's Syndrome. He later died of self-inflicted AIDS from using known "dirty" needles, injecting himself with stolen morphine. As for my experience as a victim of MBP, I could relate to Gregory's forced [upon threat or actually carried out physical & verbal abuse] endless treks to doctor's & being hospitalized for surgeries resulted from my MBP abuser to gain access to drugs later used by my abuser on me to control my every move at times. I could relate to Gregory's self-loathing & feeling a "cure" was but another doc/another surgery away. As I read these previous reviews, it is good to see that others who may not be victims of this type of abuse can relate and realize the horror of this disease.
Rating:
Summary: Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
Review: This is a disturbing yet wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: horribly sad
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating, disturbing and ultimately winning
Review: Julie Gregory's brave recollection of her (literally) tortured childhood is an involving read that you cannot put down. Her account of her series of health issues and of her mother's illness has a morbid fascination about it, but it's her writing that really attracts the reader. She tells her story without anger, without regret or sadness but in the bold voice of a true survivor. She deserves a great deal of respect for this, and 'Sickened' deserves to be a bestseller for its inspirational heroine.
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Summary: Divine Story of Survival
Review: In terms of learning about abuse in an authentic voice of those who have somehow survived it and are willing to share their scars with others, SICKENED is one of the best. It falls in the middle between the detail-by-detail account approach of NIGHTMARES ECHO (hauntingly sad) and the narrative after-affects approach of MY FRACTURED LIFE (absolutely brilliant). Of the trio, SICKENED covers the most odd form of abuse (Munchausen by Proxy), which gives it an eeriness beyond even that of "normal" abuse stories. Although at times it will require tissues, SICKENED is a book that you will learn from - especially if read in tandem with NIGHTMARES ECHO and MY FRACTURED LIFE as a sorrowful but inspirational divine trilogy of survival.
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Summary: Family DYSfunction with a Capital DYS
Review: This book is written by a surviving victim of Munchausen by Proxy (MBP) syndrome. With MBP, Momma gets attention for having a sick child ("by proxy") and so induces the child to become sicker. In this case the Father, Viet Vet, schizophrenic with PTSD, did nothing except physically show up at hospitals when summoned as part of the play, then exit stage left during the victim's adolescence. Adult Survivor/Author Julie plays her victimology to the hilt. She whines that a Social Worker never extricated her from the bad situation - yet Julie herself perpetuatated her victimization by refusing to testify against her maxi-medicating Mommie Dearest. This case study for MBP is also a textbook on Stockholm Syndrome (like when Tanya a/k/a Patty Hearst identified with her Symbionese Liberation captors more than "outsiders" who could have "rescued" her.) This reviewer's Momma taught me that "The Lord helps those who help themselves." Even after reaching the age of majority (adulthood,) Julie keeps going back for more while the reader keeps reading this Train Wreck In Slow Motion and internally screaming "Run, Julie, Run!" At the end of book, Julie has gone home to Momma yet again - this time to discover that Momma has found a new little girl with whom to play doctors. Does Julie run to tell the authorities to save this new victim? No. Like Scarlett O'Hara out there in the fields of Tara, she decides to worry about it tomorrow. Does tomorrow ever come? At the abrupt ending of the book, which really is no end, the reader is left to wonder. And it was written after the Statues of Limitations had run on Momma's numerous frauds on the Federal (Department of Veteran's Affairs) and State (DCF Foster Care System) governments. One is reminded of crabs on the beach, being gathered into a bucket and taken home to be boiled for human supper. If one of those crabs crawls up and gets almost to the top of the bucket, where he can jump out and run for freedom, the other crabs grab him and pull him back down to share the group's doomed fate. The book is a vivid but gloomy view of a family run amuck. And yes, Owen, like any good "True Crime," there are pictures in the middle. Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Strength in Words
Review: It is a highly emotional experience to study "SICKENED." The experience moved me and changed me. It is difficult to experience or even know the unseen pains of the world, but it is knowledge we must not hide from in order to grow. Much as "MY FRACTURED LIFE" and other books of its kind are experiences that enrich our lives through re-cultivation of the pain of others, "SICKENED" is a book that can help heal and understand.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing story
Review: This story of a weird form of child abuse is both sickening and amazing. The prose is brilliant in many ways and weak in many others. I found the book fascinating and utterly convincing.
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