All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache [Hardcover]

Paula Kamen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2005

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Imagine the sensation of a fishhook lodged behind your left eye and tugging backwards. Now imagine that you live with that pain 24 hours a day for 15 years. That is Kamen's headache, one that she attempted at first to cure but finally learned to accept. Kamen (Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution) first tried all sorts of drugs—some were addicting, others made her gain 70 pounds in six months; none had any effect on the pain. She turns to alternative medicine: cranial-sacral adjustments, acupuncture, gluten-free diets, magnets, yoga. Kamen intersperses her account of these increasingly bizarre treatments with a look at how Western medicine, and even feminism, abandons patients with chronic pain and other invisible ailments: since her pain has no discernible physical cause, she has been told it's "all in her head." This book may not be uplifting, but it is undeniably funny. 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. Kamen makes the reader understand what it is like to be happy even while one is in pain. (Mar.)
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Review

"A must-read for those living with chronic pain...a groundbreaking book" -- Curled Up with a Good Book

"Documents the failures of our medical system to deal with chronic pain...Engaging, informative, and at times humorous." -- Library Journal 2/15/05

"Equal parts memoir, science journalism, and cultural critique, it looks at the headache and its treatment from every possible angle." -- Body+Soul May, 2005

"Gripping...Kamen takes us inside the world of chronic pain...a necessary book." -- Chicago Tribune 2/13/05

"Humorously self-deprecating...wonderfully insightful....Kamen takes her subject seriously because she's walked the walk...Highly recommended!" -- Biology Digest May, 2005

"If If you or someone you know suffers this malady, this is an excellent book on the subject." -- Bookviews, 9/6/05

"Kamen's personal story, and her quest for relief, is fascinating." -- MSNBC.com 3/25/05

"Written with passion and a remarkable sense of humor." -- New Scientist 3/26/05

"[An] unlikely and often hilarious memoir...will provoke anguished cries of recognition from anyone who's dealt with chronic pain." -- Salon.com 4/15/05

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; First Edition edition (February 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738209031
• ISBN-13: 978-0738209036
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,437,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Headaches

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a riveting odyssey through the minefield of chronic pain, February 24, 2005

By 

Judge Knott "judge_knott" (Upper West Side, NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache (Hardcover)

Paula Kamen, a thirtysomething author and lecturer from Chicago, has suffered from a mysterious headache (sometimes just bad, sometimes nearly intolerable) pretty much nonstop for the last fifteen years. In this smart, gutsy, no-holds-barred memoir, we follow her as she tries--with Herculean effort and Bhuddist patience--to find relief.

It is not a pretty journey she is forced to undertake. Kamen escorts her reader through the decade and a half of her headache hell, but somehow manages to do it (unbelievably!) with a quirky, never-give-in sense of humor. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in reading this book, you might well be doing a lot of crying and a lot of laughing.

The number of shills, quacks, charlatans, and snake-oil salesmen who parade throughout the chapters will give you a jolt. But the book is a lot more: Kamen spends a lot of time looking at how chronic pain, when it is not able to be quickly and successfully treated, starts creating resentment in the minds of medical professionals, in the minds of the families of chronic-pain sufferers, and (most tragically) in the minds of chronic-pain sufferers themselves.

Much more than just a memoir of a single person's frustrations and travails, this book also offers a broad look at chronic pain in the United States today. Kamen has done her scientific research, and shares it (without going overboard or turning her book into a medical study) generously if compactly with her readers. The appendix of resources at the end of the book is particularly helpful, as is the bibliography.

Like a pissed-off Joan of Arc, Kamen spends "All In My Head" wading in the medical, cultural, and social quagmire into which chronic-pain sufferers slowly sink, and, from the first page to the last, she's fighting. This book is a must-read for those with chronic pain, and highly recommended for their friends and families. In Paula Kamen they have found a co-traveler and ally.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent in breadth and depth, May 1, 2005

By 

Charlotte Vogel (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache (Hardcover)

This memoir approaches chronic headache pain from every perspective, developed through her own experience and urgent research: types, sources, doctors, drugs, the pharmaceutical industry, alternative medicine, spirituality, self image, coping, social attitudes, history of approaches and views -- you get the idea. Ms. Kamen is an excellent writer and I enjoyed her spirit and her wit, which she never over-uses as some writers do. She takes a massive amount of information and experience and integrates it in a meaningful way, which is an enormous accomplishment. I have had chronic migraines (though nothing as unremitting as hers), and learned a lot from this book.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most helpful book on Chronic Pain, March 4, 2005

By 

Booklover "Anne" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache (Hardcover)

Hooray for Ms. Kamen- after reading hundreds of books on chronic pain, this very gifted author has created a funny and very helpful path out of the Guilt Woods with this marvelous book.
If you suffer from ANY kind of chronic pain- do yourself a favor and read this book. For the millions of us who have been used as lab rats by the pharmaceutical industry- Ms. Kamen's book offers insight that can help you find your own voice again.