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

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Hachette Books, Feb 15, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 351 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.

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Contents

65
23
The Pleasant Patient Reading Between the Lines
81
Hysteria and the Founding Fathers
97
REPRIEVE
113
The Foot Orgasm
137
Ayurvedic Medicine
147
The Tired Girls Women Pain and Fatigue
159
MindWallet Connection
177
The Hangmans Noose
221
The Yellow Wallpaper
243
Urologists in Orlando
261
CLOSING REMARKS
273
From a New Generation
295
Notes
319
Bibliography
327
Patient Resources
337

The Nose Doorknob
195
Down the Rabbit Hole
207

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About the author (2005)

Paula Kamen is the author of All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache. Her commentaries have appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post, among other publications. She lives in Chicago.

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