Description

At the age of twenty-four, Paula Kamen's life changed in an instant. While she was putting in her contacts, the left lens disturbed a constellation of nerves behind her eye. The pain was more piercing than that of any other headache she had ever 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 Kamen—like so many others—tried in order to relieve the pain. Beleaguered and frustrated by doctors who, frustrated themselves, periodically declared her pain psychosomatic, she came to understand the plight of the millions who suffer chronic pain in its many forms. Full of self-deprecating humor and razorsharp reporting, All in My Head is the remarkable story of patience, acceptance, and perseverance in the face of terrifying pain.

Praise for All in My Head

"Kamen describes her descent into headache hell with verve and wit...Her prose is a pleasure...For readers who have headaches and for chronic pain sufferers, this book is a must-read."
—Boston Globe

"With the tireless consumer activism of Ralph Nader and the sardonic wit of Saturday Night Live’s Tina Fey, Kamen’s tale is essential reading for anyone suffering from chronic pain."
—Shape

"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."
—Chicago Tribune

"[This book] connects the dots on this issue of women and chronic pain in a way nobody else has done."
—Salon.com

"...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."
—Publisher’s Weekly

"Sharp, entertaining, informative, and blessedly free of poor-me-see-how-I-suffered-ism."
—Kirkus

"An expert look at a vexing issue, the book will enlighten Kamen’s fellow-sufferers that they are not alone."
—The Telegraph

"Her reporting and gender analysis are top-notch…Her story is both gripping and terrifying. But it’s her deadpan humor and fine, fine writing that make All in My Head so truly fantastic."
—Bitch

"If you have any kind of chronic pain, especially chronic head pain, you will find All in My Head a balm for your tormented soul. If you love someone with chronic pain and you don’t really get what they’re going through, you must read this."
—ChickLit.com

"Written with passion and a remarkable sense of humour in the face of the relentless headache, [this book] will reassure fellow sufferers that they are not alone."
—New Scientist

"Paula Kamen combines a sharp journalistic intelligence with a very welcome flair for the absurd."
—Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

"Paula Kamen’s comic gifts are the best prescription for protecting us against the insane realities of our pharmaceutically obsessed health-care system."
—Neal Pollack, author The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature

"Not since Norman Cousins’s 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."
—Barbara Seaman, author and co-founder of The National Women’s Health Network

"Kamen writes with the dedication of a muckraking journalist, the comic flair of Woody Allen, and the obsessive attention to detail of Spalding Gray. Tragically for the author, yet blessedly for readers, All in My Head is clearly a book that Paula Kamen was born to write."
—Adam Langer, author of Crossing California

"Despite the sobering topic, Kamen manages to magically bring in a dose of levity, letting her keen wit and hilarious eye for bizarre detail shine through right from the start. Perhaps laughter is the best medicine after all."
—Spike Gillespie, author of Surrender (But Don’t Give Yourself Away)

"All in My Head is a deeply human, witty, and courageous book and should be required reading for all."
—Jane Pincus and Judy Norsigian, co-authors, Our Bodies, Ourselves

Extended Copyright Infomation

Copyright 2005 by Paula Kamen. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Previously published by Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group.

Cover design by Cooley Design Lab.
Cover illustration copyright csaimages.com.

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About the Author

Paula Kamen is the author of All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution, and Feminist Fatale. Her commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and Salon.com, among other publications. She lives in Chicago.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

NOTE: This book was NOT made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from Merck, Allergan, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Endo Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Upjohn, Purdue Pharma, OrthoMcNeil, Bayer, Advil, or the icepack industry. Really.
I could interpret the strange fact that the title of my ...

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Copyright

Copyright 2005 by Paula Kamen.

All Rights Reserved.

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