The headache : the science of a most confounding affliction--and a search for relief / Tom Zeller Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zeller, Tom, Jr., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zeller, Tom, Jr--Health.

Zeller, Tom.

Headache--Patients--United States--Biography.

Headache.

Headache--Treatment.

Headache patients' writings.

Headache--Popular works.

Medical Subjects:

Headache.

Genre:

Popular works

Autobiographies.

Informational works.

Physical Description:

320 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Science of a most confounding affliction--and a search for relief

Place of Publication:

New York : Mariner Books, [2025]

Summary:

"Virtually everyone has experienced a headache--a nuisance arising from occasional stress or as payback for last night's overindulgence. But for hundreds of millions of people, headaches are a different beast. From blinding migraines to severe headache disorders known as 'clusters,' recurring head pain can upend entire seasons of life. And perhaps owing to the ordinariness of the very word 'headache,' these disorders are frequently trivialized. In The Headache, veteran science journalist Tom Zeller Jr. takes readers on an odyssey both intimate and panoramic, through his own decades-long struggle with excruciating head pain, and across the scientific landscape of a group of disorders that is--to the chagrin of sufferers--as much a curse as a cultural punchline. He visits cutting-edge clinics; interviews dozens of doctors, neurologists, and fellow headache patients; participates in clinical trials for multimillion-dollar new medicines; and even experiments with psilocybin in search of relief. Along the way, Zeller traces the longer arc of mystery around headaches, from prehistoric skull surgery to Virginia Woolf's assertion that, in the throes of a migraine, 'language runs dry,' to reveal how headaches became one of the most underresearched afflictions in medicine--and how that is slowly starting to change. With warmth, wit, and infectious curiosity, Zeller's search for the origins of his own headaches becomes a journey into the inner workings of the human nervous system, and an illuminating look at the nature of pain itself"-- Dust jacket flap.

Contents:

Prologue: Molehills out of mountains

A beautiful disease

The night of the train

Holes in the head

Blood vs. brains

Pillar to post

Painful thrusts

The malingerers

Awakenings (and cats)

Feast, famine, and the NIH

The blind men and the elephant

Epilogue: Our many forking paths.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-308) and index.

Other Format:

Online version Zeller, Tom, ‡c Jr Headache

Online version Zeller, Tom, Jr. The headache

ISBN:

9780358507758

0358507758

OCLC:

1523135784

Publisher Number:

CIPO000234774