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Wormhole
A groundbreaking, deeply researched and big-scope non-fiction examination of alternative therapies, conspiracy theories and medical misogyny with a tragic personal story at its heart – the death of a young woman.
Lauren went down the alternative medicine wormhole. Two years after her tragic death, her cousin resolved to examine what happened.
In October 2022, Lauren – a young Australian woman in her mid-thirties – left for Malaysia to undergo an alternative medical treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease. She never returned.
Haunted by her cousin’s death, writer Hannah McElhinney retraces Lauren’s descent into the alternative medicine wormhole to investigate how she got there, and how easy it may be for others to do the same.
Amid society’s growing mistrust of the medical establishment, McElhinney argues it is those of us living in female bodies who have found that our pain and suffering is more frequently dismissed in clinics and ignored in research.
And if that’s the case, when our gut tells us there’s something wrong, would it be so crazy to get a second opinion? Or a third? Or as many opinions as it takes until someone says ‘I know exactly what’s wrong with you, and I may have a cure’?
Both a deeply personal account and a wide-ranging exploration of medical misogyny, wellness culture and misinformation, Wormhole is an urgent and empathetic addition to the conversation about the future of modern medicine and wellness culture.
Lauren went down the alternative medicine wormhole. Two years after her tragic death, her cousin resolved to examine what happened.
In October 2022, Lauren – a young Australian woman in her mid-thirties – left for Malaysia to undergo an alternative medical treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease. She never returned.
Haunted by her cousin’s death, writer Hannah McElhinney retraces Lauren’s descent into the alternative medicine wormhole to investigate how she got there, and how easy it may be for others to do the same.
Amid society’s growing mistrust of the medical establishment, McElhinney argues it is those of us living in female bodies who have found that our pain and suffering is more frequently dismissed in clinics and ignored in research.
And if that’s the case, when our gut tells us there’s something wrong, would it be so crazy to get a second opinion? Or a third? Or as many opinions as it takes until someone says ‘I know exactly what’s wrong with you, and I may have a cure’?
Both a deeply personal account and a wide-ranging exploration of medical misogyny, wellness culture and misinformation, Wormhole is an urgent and empathetic addition to the conversation about the future of modern medicine and wellness culture.
- GenresNonfictionAudiobook
319 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 26, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 31, 2026
As Hannah’s wife, friends assume that I have already read the Wormhole manuscript because she was writing it at home and we were naturally together when we received the news that Lauren has passed away. But I hadn’t and just finished today.
I’m obliterated. Without question this was bound to happen - I am reliving Lauren’s journey once more through the lens of the reader all the well knowing what happened to her in Malaysia at the hands of “professionals” she trusted to help her.
I was struck by the delicacy with which Hannah weaved Lauren’s story through the tapestry of broader wellness trends and wider political context, interviews with friends, and a self-awareness of how she too could lose herself down the wormhole, just like her cousin.
I couldn’t put it down and I was a bystander through Hannah’s experience.
I hope this book helps others find their way back or through the other side of the wormhole.
I’m obliterated. Without question this was bound to happen - I am reliving Lauren’s journey once more through the lens of the reader all the well knowing what happened to her in Malaysia at the hands of “professionals” she trusted to help her.
I was struck by the delicacy with which Hannah weaved Lauren’s story through the tapestry of broader wellness trends and wider political context, interviews with friends, and a self-awareness of how she too could lose herself down the wormhole, just like her cousin.
I couldn’t put it down and I was a bystander through Hannah’s experience.
I hope this book helps others find their way back or through the other side of the wormhole.
June 19, 2026
This is a really personal, and honest account of a loss in a family but also a look at why people turn to these unregulated, dangerous cult and cult like alternative “wellness” pathways.
I’m a GP and I work in this space in the (well sometimes it feels like ) endless well of suffering with people who just want to be heard and validated and listened to and supported to find what the author describes as her “toolkit”. I’m also a chronic disease sufferer and the desperation… how easy it would be some days to fall into the wormhole. (My toolkit is lifting weights, reading books, swearing copiously, heat packs and ranting in the internet while on painkillers ).
To the author if you see this - I’m so sorry to you and your family for your loss and that our health system has so many cracks, and so many charlatans willing to exploit them. Thank you for the cost it would have taken to write this I’ll be psssing it on to my juniors x.
I’m a GP and I work in this space in the (well sometimes it feels like ) endless well of suffering with people who just want to be heard and validated and listened to and supported to find what the author describes as her “toolkit”. I’m also a chronic disease sufferer and the desperation… how easy it would be some days to fall into the wormhole. (My toolkit is lifting weights, reading books, swearing copiously, heat packs and ranting in the internet while on painkillers ).
To the author if you see this - I’m so sorry to you and your family for your loss and that our health system has so many cracks, and so many charlatans willing to exploit them. Thank you for the cost it would have taken to write this I’ll be psssing it on to my juniors x.
August 2, 2026
This felt like it would benefit from more time, as it appears that the author is still writing from their pain rather than from a place where they have had time to process. As a consequence the book was very raw, but not in a way that yielded benefits.
The first person accounts from Lauren’s perspective were really strange and had a disjointed feel to them. It felt challenging to trust a non fiction book featuring dramatised accounts of what occurred, without a caveat surrounding the inclusion. Every one of these chapters should/could have been cut.
The descriptions of Smith and Lauren’s relationship felt at odds with the very left leaning tone during the rest of the writing. Lingering on how Lauren never would have matched with him on tinder and the unfortunate nature of his body shape, detracted from the narrative. Smith’s inclusion in such detail, including unsubstantiated claims regarding his involvement with the alternative medicine practices, felt like a retributive attempt to punish someone who was a repugnant freak, but ultimately unlikely to be involved in a meaningful way with the story of why Lauren lived and died the way that she did.
Additionally, I was surprised that very little time was dedicated to discussing the role that mental illness plays in the behaviour described. Many things can be true at the same time, and it is possible to discuss how mental illness plays a role in certain behaviours without dismissing suffering.
The first person accounts from Lauren’s perspective were really strange and had a disjointed feel to them. It felt challenging to trust a non fiction book featuring dramatised accounts of what occurred, without a caveat surrounding the inclusion. Every one of these chapters should/could have been cut.
The descriptions of Smith and Lauren’s relationship felt at odds with the very left leaning tone during the rest of the writing. Lingering on how Lauren never would have matched with him on tinder and the unfortunate nature of his body shape, detracted from the narrative. Smith’s inclusion in such detail, including unsubstantiated claims regarding his involvement with the alternative medicine practices, felt like a retributive attempt to punish someone who was a repugnant freak, but ultimately unlikely to be involved in a meaningful way with the story of why Lauren lived and died the way that she did.
Additionally, I was surprised that very little time was dedicated to discussing the role that mental illness plays in the behaviour described. Many things can be true at the same time, and it is possible to discuss how mental illness plays a role in certain behaviours without dismissing suffering.
August 11, 2026
I was excited to read this book, it sounded right up my alley, especially after seeing it recommended by an author I admire and trust for book recs.
I was surprised when M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) was featured in a number of places. I hadn’t expected it to be apart of the book. Then I grew increasingly frustrated at the repeated misinformation about M.E. Ironic when it’s a book about how dangerous misinformation is. It made me start to wonder how much of the book I could trust as being factual if the author was getting the M.E. bits wrong. I suspect it was an honest mistake, but it wouldn’t have been that hard to fact check these points with reliable M.E. specialising sources.
It’s still absolutely wild to me that the publishing industry has no fact checking process to keep books accountable. This is a wide spread issue.
To list a few examples of misinformation in the book:
- Author says that M.E. Is a fatigue illness. Actually, the hallmark symptom is PENE (post exertional neuro-immune exhaustion), which has only been proven to exist in ME (so far). It is highly dangerous and requires specific management. Fatigue isn’t the main symptom, and spreading that myth contributes to stigma and clinically inappropriate harmful treatment.
- ME is the original name for “CFS”, the author suggests the other way around. The WHO classified ME as a neurological disease in 1969, but the name was coined in 1955. With the condition believed to have existed long before that. Whereas the author says the condition was named in the 1980s, this is when the ‘CFS’ name was coined.
- Author says that it’s not a fatal illness. Yet many have died directly from it. The majority don’t, but a portion do. And a lot spend decades at deaths door. This contributes to the misinformation to say otherwise.
- A rheumatologist specialising in fibromyalgia is quoted saying a number of points of ME misinformation.
1. Central sensitisation is so far only a theory of a contributing factor to ME, it hasn’t been proven and definitely not believed to be the leading factor. There is a lot of other physiological dysfunction that has been proven, that can’t be caused by central sensitisation.
2. Is it dangerous to manage ME like other illnesses. PENE is unique only to ME and needs specific management that would be harmful to other illnesses, and vice versa.
- It was irresponsible to use this information in the book.
Mismanagement of M.E. Usually leads to recurrent or rolling PENE, causing the progression of the disease into a severe categories. Which can be permanent for a lot of people, and can be the catalyst leading to eventual death for some.
I really wanted to love this book. I wanted to be able to recommend it to people but I can’t because of the dangerous misinformation that will directly impact people’s lives.
If there’s this level of misinformation in the book, what else could be?
I was surprised when M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) was featured in a number of places. I hadn’t expected it to be apart of the book. Then I grew increasingly frustrated at the repeated misinformation about M.E. Ironic when it’s a book about how dangerous misinformation is. It made me start to wonder how much of the book I could trust as being factual if the author was getting the M.E. bits wrong. I suspect it was an honest mistake, but it wouldn’t have been that hard to fact check these points with reliable M.E. specialising sources.
It’s still absolutely wild to me that the publishing industry has no fact checking process to keep books accountable. This is a wide spread issue.
To list a few examples of misinformation in the book:
- Author says that M.E. Is a fatigue illness. Actually, the hallmark symptom is PENE (post exertional neuro-immune exhaustion), which has only been proven to exist in ME (so far). It is highly dangerous and requires specific management. Fatigue isn’t the main symptom, and spreading that myth contributes to stigma and clinically inappropriate harmful treatment.
- ME is the original name for “CFS”, the author suggests the other way around. The WHO classified ME as a neurological disease in 1969, but the name was coined in 1955. With the condition believed to have existed long before that. Whereas the author says the condition was named in the 1980s, this is when the ‘CFS’ name was coined.
- Author says that it’s not a fatal illness. Yet many have died directly from it. The majority don’t, but a portion do. And a lot spend decades at deaths door. This contributes to the misinformation to say otherwise.
- A rheumatologist specialising in fibromyalgia is quoted saying a number of points of ME misinformation.
1. Central sensitisation is so far only a theory of a contributing factor to ME, it hasn’t been proven and definitely not believed to be the leading factor. There is a lot of other physiological dysfunction that has been proven, that can’t be caused by central sensitisation.
2. Is it dangerous to manage ME like other illnesses. PENE is unique only to ME and needs specific management that would be harmful to other illnesses, and vice versa.
- It was irresponsible to use this information in the book.
Mismanagement of M.E. Usually leads to recurrent or rolling PENE, causing the progression of the disease into a severe categories. Which can be permanent for a lot of people, and can be the catalyst leading to eventual death for some.
I really wanted to love this book. I wanted to be able to recommend it to people but I can’t because of the dangerous misinformation that will directly impact people’s lives.
If there’s this level of misinformation in the book, what else could be?
August 17, 2026
this one just really wasn’t for me, for a few very key reasons that i’ll try to summarise:
• first, i think the topic may have just been a little bit too personal for the author to write an enjoyable piece of nonfiction on it. don’t get me wrong, there are ways to be closely connected to your topic of choice in a non-fiction book (think ‘one day everyone will have always been against this’ by omar el akkad or ‘hospital’ by sanya rushdi), but this one just missed the mark. it felt like the author was too concerned with trying to kind of portray lauren in a positive light and justify her decisions that nothing was convincing or motivating. a lot of sections came across as diary entries that shouldn’t’ve been published.
• a lot of the chapters felt very disjointed from one another. it was hard to find a convincing thesis that actually connected everything to one central idea. i guess you could try arguing that it was lauren, but a lot of the throwaways to her and her story seemed very underdeveloped, and certain times i’d pick up the book and just ask myself why a certain topic was being introduced.
• i really struggled with the random fiction-style chapters that tried to novelise things from lauren’s perspective. it was just weird and lacked any sort of emotional depth. i genuinely don’t understand how they made it through the editing process without getting cut. don’t get me wrong, there are ways to weave fiction and non-fiction together in a way that is very evocative (see ‘gone’ by michael blencowe) but this just added nothing. it heightened the feeling of everything being disjointed.
• my biggest problem with the book though was the way the author actually approached the idea of people who fall down the so-called ‘wormhole’. it felt like the author was removing any agency of these individuals and instead blaming the systems and influences external to them as a way to justify their descent into the alt medicine pathway. yes, those things are huge factors, but the individual person still makes their own choices. there is a brief moment in the last 60 or so pages where the author briefly acknowledges this, but it isn’t present enough throughout the whole text. i think again this is the problem of the author being too personally connected to the subject - it feels like they’re uncomfortable to go too hard on these people because that would be like they’re going too hard on lauren herself.
all in all, defs not something i’d recommend. it’s a shame, i usually love supporting local authors, but this one really fell short for me.
• first, i think the topic may have just been a little bit too personal for the author to write an enjoyable piece of nonfiction on it. don’t get me wrong, there are ways to be closely connected to your topic of choice in a non-fiction book (think ‘one day everyone will have always been against this’ by omar el akkad or ‘hospital’ by sanya rushdi), but this one just missed the mark. it felt like the author was too concerned with trying to kind of portray lauren in a positive light and justify her decisions that nothing was convincing or motivating. a lot of sections came across as diary entries that shouldn’t’ve been published.
• a lot of the chapters felt very disjointed from one another. it was hard to find a convincing thesis that actually connected everything to one central idea. i guess you could try arguing that it was lauren, but a lot of the throwaways to her and her story seemed very underdeveloped, and certain times i’d pick up the book and just ask myself why a certain topic was being introduced.
• i really struggled with the random fiction-style chapters that tried to novelise things from lauren’s perspective. it was just weird and lacked any sort of emotional depth. i genuinely don’t understand how they made it through the editing process without getting cut. don’t get me wrong, there are ways to weave fiction and non-fiction together in a way that is very evocative (see ‘gone’ by michael blencowe) but this just added nothing. it heightened the feeling of everything being disjointed.
• my biggest problem with the book though was the way the author actually approached the idea of people who fall down the so-called ‘wormhole’. it felt like the author was removing any agency of these individuals and instead blaming the systems and influences external to them as a way to justify their descent into the alt medicine pathway. yes, those things are huge factors, but the individual person still makes their own choices. there is a brief moment in the last 60 or so pages where the author briefly acknowledges this, but it isn’t present enough throughout the whole text. i think again this is the problem of the author being too personally connected to the subject - it feels like they’re uncomfortable to go too hard on these people because that would be like they’re going too hard on lauren herself.
all in all, defs not something i’d recommend. it’s a shame, i usually love supporting local authors, but this one really fell short for me.
August 30, 2026
Part gripping personal account of the author’s experience grappling with her cousin’s tragic death, part insightful investigation into the dark side of alternative medicine, how it preys on vulnerable people let down by our public system and the broader cultural and political factors that have led to this industry’s insidious growth.
It’s the intertwining of these deeply personal chapters with well-researched analysis and commentary from a variety leading medical professionals (incl dr Anthony Fauci), that makes this such a compelling read. I’d recommend to anyone struggling to understand a loved one’s seeming descent into the wormhole.
It’s the intertwining of these deeply personal chapters with well-researched analysis and commentary from a variety leading medical professionals (incl dr Anthony Fauci), that makes this such a compelling read. I’d recommend to anyone struggling to understand a loved one’s seeming descent into the wormhole.
June 9, 2026
Insightful, shocking, and profound. Hannah McElhinney managed to write a highly intriguing yet well researched educational book that is so colorful and suspenseful that you won't be able to put it down. It's a book everyone should read!
June 10, 2026
This book will stay with me. A haunting and powerful examination into alternative medicine, whilst also providing a searing commentary on how easy it is to fall between the cracks in western medicine. Deeply researched with stunning prose that made it a fast paced, thriller like read. The emotional insight broke my heart and had me hooked the whole way.
June 24, 2026
An awesome discussion on alternative and unregulated medicine, online communities that procure the clients for the industry and the cause, and the people that get caught up in it. I was thinking very quickly of Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein so I was unsurprised to see it mentioned a lot towards the end, and all the mentions of other media sources overall were super relevant and worthwhile.
I think eventually we will get to having conversations about why able bodied healthy people (particularly women) feel the need to identify as disabled and engage with echo chamber, algorithmically curated online communities to validate that, but I honestly don’t think society is ready to confront that discussion yet. The discussion on creating a “hero’s journey” and the narrative framing that these people engage in felt like a great start towards that conversation about loneliness, identity, loss of purpose, that will no doubt be quite difficult.
“I doubt I’ll ever feel anything but rage when I encounter people who convince others to choose the path of unproven treatments. But who am I to deny anyone the treatments they choose for themselves?” I think funnily enough, the book already counters this point, and that is where I find some of the cognitive dissonance of the narrative emerge (not to say that is a negative or incorrect aspect of the book) — discussions of the medical load these practices place on public systems, communities and other unrelated and related people I think clearly counters the idea that people should do whatever they want. The chapter on vaccine rejection feels incredibly clear in that sense. The conflict between the author’s understanding of the innate danger of unregulated, unscientific health treatments and her acceptance of her cousin’s path (even to the extent to feel woe over her cousin not seeing Trump destroy the world?!) is a fascinating admission, and I think very fairly explained throughout the chapters. I think it’s a sentiment that could really help with conversations on misinformation overall.
Overall I think this was a book really asking to be written with regards to the state of online media, and I imagine I’ll be thinking about it for a while — and trying not to think about brain parasites 🦠
I think eventually we will get to having conversations about why able bodied healthy people (particularly women) feel the need to identify as disabled and engage with echo chamber, algorithmically curated online communities to validate that, but I honestly don’t think society is ready to confront that discussion yet. The discussion on creating a “hero’s journey” and the narrative framing that these people engage in felt like a great start towards that conversation about loneliness, identity, loss of purpose, that will no doubt be quite difficult.
“I doubt I’ll ever feel anything but rage when I encounter people who convince others to choose the path of unproven treatments. But who am I to deny anyone the treatments they choose for themselves?” I think funnily enough, the book already counters this point, and that is where I find some of the cognitive dissonance of the narrative emerge (not to say that is a negative or incorrect aspect of the book) — discussions of the medical load these practices place on public systems, communities and other unrelated and related people I think clearly counters the idea that people should do whatever they want. The chapter on vaccine rejection feels incredibly clear in that sense. The conflict between the author’s understanding of the innate danger of unregulated, unscientific health treatments and her acceptance of her cousin’s path (even to the extent to feel woe over her cousin not seeing Trump destroy the world?!) is a fascinating admission, and I think very fairly explained throughout the chapters. I think it’s a sentiment that could really help with conversations on misinformation overall.
Overall I think this was a book really asking to be written with regards to the state of online media, and I imagine I’ll be thinking about it for a while — and trying not to think about brain parasites 🦠
July 29, 2026
What an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Hannah did an amazing job at explaining how ordinary people can slowly become entrenched in the extreme/ conspiracy side of natural medicine. When all of your doctors and medical professionals are dismissive, but a natural medicine advocate will give in to your every whim and delusion (for the easy price of 1k a visit), how could you not keep trying.
That with the added echo chamber of social media, where you’ll find thousands of people with the same illness who swear drinking bleach and coffee enimas were the answer to their prayers, and “big pharma” don’t care about people like they do.
You can see how anyone would fall into the wormhole. Great book but an absolute tragedy.
Hannah did an amazing job at explaining how ordinary people can slowly become entrenched in the extreme/ conspiracy side of natural medicine. When all of your doctors and medical professionals are dismissive, but a natural medicine advocate will give in to your every whim and delusion (for the easy price of 1k a visit), how could you not keep trying.
That with the added echo chamber of social media, where you’ll find thousands of people with the same illness who swear drinking bleach and coffee enimas were the answer to their prayers, and “big pharma” don’t care about people like they do.
You can see how anyone would fall into the wormhole. Great book but an absolute tragedy.
June 13, 2026
A brilliant and devastating look into alternative medicine and the absolute depths it can bring people to. I loved the mix of personal and scientific, and sceptical with understanding. I think it gave an overall very balanced and interesting insight into a range of important contemporary topics - medical misogyny, the alt-right pipeline, the popularisation of 'wellness', the ability for misinformation to spread like wildfire, the proliferation of small, insular groups through the internet, and the accessibility of grifters and harm that magically appears as soon as you are even a little bit vulnerable. This book is certainly worth reading!
August 18, 2026
Haunted by her cousins death, Hannah McElhinney retraces Lauren’s descent into the alternative medicine wormhole, to investigate how she got there, and how easy it can be for others to do the same.
Extremely well researched and at times, really confronting, especially when some of the alternative suggestions, were life threatening. Most of which were found on social media sites or by whack job politicians and right wing commentators.
Extremely well researched and at times, really confronting, especially when some of the alternative suggestions, were life threatening. Most of which were found on social media sites or by whack job politicians and right wing commentators.
September 10, 2026
Great examination of the strengths and pitfalls of Western medicine. Surprisingly honest personal contributions from the author as she recounted her experience of her cousin’s death and the subsequent investigations. Full of warnings about alternative medicine that have never been as relevant for me as they are now at this point in my life. As someone with a disabling chronic illness, I fully recommend this book.
June 27, 2026
An empathetic and important story for our time. Shining a light on the vulnerable people our society and systems leave behind and the desperate and dangerous places they find themselves in. This is a true crime investigation into the tragic death of a young woman at the hands of her doctors who ‘boiled her alive’.
July 20, 2026
Such an honest and important and at times shocking book. I learnt so much and it made me think a lot about the health and wellness industry. The author managed to also weave a deeply personal story with education. I was engaged and didn’t want to put it down.
This is a must read!
This is a must read!
August 22, 2026
I wanted to read this book to hear about Lauren’s story but I feel like that was only a sub plot. The majority of the book was about the health/wellness sector as a whole which didn’t particularly interest me. I was expecting more of a biography of Lauren’s life.
June 16, 2026
Brilliant, honest and heart breaking.
June 21, 2026
So smart, gracious and deeply sad. An eye opening and heartbreaking read.
July 28, 2026
Very interesting... and sad. It explores health in our lives, how we understand health practitioners and those who suffer from chronic illnesses and alternative medicine
Did Not Finish
August 3, 2026Haven't finished the audio version of this yet. It's a good discussion about the dreadful rabbit hole people fall down in desperation to relieve pain.
August 17, 2026
15% DNF - I just couldn’t get into this one, just dragged out. 😬
October 28, 2026
An incredible book about the slippery slope of alternative medicine, and some very well researched and personal reflections on the challenges of treating chronic illness
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews