Reviews

Migraine: Inside a World of Invisible Pain by Maria Konnikova

alexgramworth's review

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informative medium-paced

5.0

sammystarbuck's review

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5.0

Honestly, it would have been beyond great if my neurologist had given me even the tiniest fraction of the information found here when he diagnosed me. Instead of "You have migraine" before all but shoving me out the door. No explanations, no advice, no guidance on where to go for any questions, just a piece of paper with a medication printed on it that would prove not to work (yet to find one that does, frankly) and a "goodbye", leaving me bewildered in the hallway wondering what I had done (possibly in a former life) to the man to inspire such an uncaring, unhelpful attitude.

I wish I could say this was an unusual experience, but I've found this to be the treatment to expect as standard when dealing with medical professionals in the town where I live. So being left with only a name of what ails you (which half the time is so unfamiliar you've forgotten it already by the time you've dug out something to make a note on), you find yourself left to your own devices in figuring out first of all what the term means, and then what you can do to at least minimise the disruptive effect it has on your life.
In this situation you'd think the internet is your friend, but it turns out that is far from true. For even the simplest of ailments there are countless different, and usually conflicting, ways of dealing with it, and no two people seem to be able to agree on anything. This counts for medical websites just as much as "user generated" ones. And migraine is far from simple...

So should you find yourself in that situation when it comes to migraine, this is the book you want. It provides a good overview if nothing else (seriously, I've been dealing with this for the better part of a decade now, and had no idea that so many of the "other" things I was suffering from were actually common effects of migraine!), and it's especially good at making you feel like you are not alone, and someone out there understands what you're going through. Once you have a grasp of the scope of this thing, you can look into whichever parts are most relevant to you personally at leisure, but first, you need to know what to look for!

So very glad I listened to the audiobook today. It's set my mind at rest about several things, and has given me an idea of where to go from here.

In the meantime, I'm joining the masses that are waiting for the "it gets better with age" thing to kick in...

bibliotecaria_tanisha's review

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informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

If you do not know how to explain to a non-migraine-sufferer how a migraine feels like, this is the book to find the words for it.