talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

Having been hit with another migraine which rendered most of yesterday afternoon and all of yesterday evening completely useless, I went out this morning--much clearer of mind--and purchased two books on migraine: one philosophical/historical, and one practical.

The first is by one talbotlucas favorite, Oliver Sacks. As noted in the foreword by William Gooddy:

The afflication of migraine has been described for at least the past 2,000 years; and no doubt every generation of modern man, with his history of perhaps 250,000 years, has its experience in this constellation of disorders. Yet it is a very common opinion of the public and the medical profession that little is known about migraine and even less to be done about it. . . . In no other condition may we find the complete physiological experiment in a human being which the migrainous attack provides. We see, we may feel ourselves, the gradual disintegration of function of the normal person, exactly as we do in a case of stroke or brain tumour, but without the disaster of the permanent disability.

In tandem I've also purchased a book that came highly recommended by a trusted friend and fellow migraneur. David Buchholz has supposedly crafted a program focused on eliminating the use of over-the-counter medications to combat migraine (because of their notorious rebound effects), making dietary changes to eliminate or reduce the effect of triggers, and using more effective and targeted migraine medications to prevent or abort migraine attacks. My last migraine series was the worst in a long time: five days of periodic migraines, with almost no relief provided by the Rx that had helped in the past.

Today we're cautiously optimistic, but one of the unfortunate characteristics of my migraines is that they often come upon me with very little or no notice. For the time being, though, we're going to proceed with caution, and start our reading tonight.