All In My Head: Summary and book reviews of All In My Head by Paula Kamen, plus links to an excerpt from All In My Head and a biography of Paula Kamen.
All In My Head An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache
by Paula Kamen
Hardcover: Feb 2005,
351 pages.
Paperback: Apr 2006,
320 pages.
At the age of twenty-four, journalist Paula Kamen's life changed in an
instant. While putting in her contact lenses, the left lens set off a chain
reaction, igniting a constellation of nerves that radiated backwards from behind
the surface of her eye. The pain was more piercing than with any other headache
she had experienced. More than a decade later, she still has a headache--the
exact same headache.
From surgery to a battery of Botox injections to a dousing
of Lithuanian holy water, from a mountain of pharmaceutical products to
aromatherapy and even a vibrating hat, All in My Head chronicles the
sometimes frightening, usually absurd, and always ineffective remedies she--and
so many like her--was willing to try to relieve her pain. Beleaguered and
frustrated by doctors who, frustrated themselves, periodically declared her pain
psychosomatic, Kamen came to understand the plight of the millions who suffer
chronic pain in its many forms.
Full of self-deprecating humor, and razor sharp
reporting, All in My Head is the remarkable story of perseverance,
acceptance, and patience in the face of terrifying pain.
Curled Up with a Good Book
Kamen's book succeeds as a book of investigative journalism. No stone goes unturned in her quest to find out the history of chronic pain, the social
mores that are associated with women and headaches, the history of pharmaceutics and treatments and the hundreds of way that pain is treated today. Kamen hits on an astounding number of subjects from Sigmund Freud to chiropractors to Xanax to disability payments from the state…The book really shines when Kamen talks about herself and her personal struggles…A must-read for those living with
chronic pain—especially those with chronic headaches…It's also an interesting read for the rest of us who suffer from pain only occasionally but want to know more about Kamen's ordeal…A groundbreaking book on a pertinent subject.
Chicago Magazine
[A] wry new memoir…[Kamen] intertwines her journey (which, mercifully, is often comical) with the latest medical research.
Nancy Pearl Book Reviews (KUOW Radio, Seattle NPR)
The well told story of the author's long and complicated trip through the medical profession – both western and alternative – to try to bring an
end to a headache that just mysteriously appeared…Kamen eloquently advocates for the need for a far better understanding by the medical community of the physical, emotional (and economic) impact of chronic pain on those who suffer
from it.
Chicago Tribune
Gripping...Kamen takes us inside the world of chronic pain and shows us how the constant disbelief and distrust she encountered were almost as bad as the pain itself...a necessary book.
Publishers Weekly
Kamen's irreverent sense of humor about her pain and herself makes the book a delight to read as she
unabashedly pokes fun at the corporate pharmaceutical industry (even while she hopes for a test-tube cure), doctors and other caregivers.
Library Journal
Engaging, informative, and at times humorous.
Kirkus Reviews
A darkly witty account of Kamen's long search for a cure for her headache, melded with a report on medicine's failure to solve the mystery of headaches and society's reluctance to take them seriously-especially when it's a woman who has them.....Sharp, entertaining, informative, and blessedly free of poor-me-see-how-I-suffered-ism.
Barbara Seaman, author The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed
Not since Norman Cousins' Anatomy of an Illness
has there been a medical memoir of such depth and compelling fascination. The detail, the beautiful writing, the triumph of this young author's will over paralyzing pain will make you cry for her and adore her on the selfsame page.
At least 28 million Americans battle chronic headaches.
About 18% of women and 6% of men experience migraine.
Up to one-third of women between the ages of 25 and 55 have migraine.
4-5% of the population get Chronic Daily Headache (CDH) - defined as a
headache at least 15 days/month lasting at least 4 hours per episode.
0.5% suffer from constant CDH, mainly women.
Chronic pain causes more disability than cancer and heart disease
combined.
Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the United States.
About the author: Paula Kamen is the author of Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual
Revolution and Feminist Fatale. Her commentaries and satires have
appeared in many newspapers and magazines, and in various anthologies. She lives in
Chicago.
'A brilliant book -- at once a powerful and moving biography of a great mathematical genius and an important contribution to American intellectual history.'
A revolutionary exploration of mood disorders by the author of the landmark bestseller Listening to Prozac.
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(552 words).
Chicago Tribune
Barbara Seaman, author The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed
