diff --git a/docs/notes.md b/docs/notes.md
index 1d53f93..f4ce8ee 100644
--- a/docs/notes.md
+++ b/docs/notes.md
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
 
 # ``numerary`` release notes
 
+## [0.4.4](https://github.com/posita/numerary/releases/tag/v0.4.4)
+
+* Fixes guerrilla patching of ``#!python RationalLikeMethods.__doc__`` to work with ``python -OO`.
+
 ## [0.4.3](https://github.com/posita/numerary/releases/tag/v0.4.3)
 
 * Migrates from [``setuptools_scm``](https://pypi.org/project/setuptools-scm/) to [``versioningit``](https://pypi.org/project/versioningit/) for more flexible version number formatting.
diff --git a/numerary/types.py b/numerary/types.py
index b3d394e..8e4aa72 100644
--- a/numerary/types.py
+++ b/numerary/types.py
@@ -1313,14 +1313,15 @@ def __hash__(self) -> int:
 {RationalLikeMixedT!r}
 """
 assert RationalLikeMixedU.__args__ == RationalLikeMixedT  # type: ignore [attr-defined]
-assert RationalLikeMethods.__doc__
-RationalLikeMethods.__doc__ += rf"""
 
-    ``` python
-    RationalLikeMixedU = {RationalLikeMixedU!r}
-    RationalLikeMixedT = ({", ".join(cls.__name__ for cls in  RationalLikeMixedT)})
-    ```
-"""
+if RationalLikeMethods.__doc__:
+    RationalLikeMethods.__doc__ += rf"""
+
+        ``` python
+        RationalLikeMixedU = {RationalLikeMixedU!r}
+        RationalLikeMixedT = ({", ".join(cls.__name__ for cls in  RationalLikeMixedT)})
+        ```
+    """
 
 
 @runtime_checkable
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 7c680f1..972ae9b 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -163,6 +163,9 @@ allowlist_externals =
 # * <https://pycodestyle.readthedocs.io/en/latest/intro.html#error-codes>
 # * <https://flake8.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/error-codes.html>
 ignore =
-  E203,  # whitespace before ':'
-  E501,  # line too long (... > ... characters)
-  W503,  # line break occurred before a binary operator
+  # whitespace before ':'
+  E203
+  # line too long (... > ... characters)
+  E501
+  # line break occurred before a binary operator
+  W503