Migraine: Understanding A Common Disorder (expanded and updated) - Softcover

Oliver Sacks, M.D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520058895 ISBN 13: 9780520058897

Publisher: University of California Press, 1986

Synopsis

In recent years the bestselling Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat have received great critical acclaim, but Oliver Sacks's readers may remember that he began his medical career working with migraine patients. In this new edition of Migraine, he returns to his first book and enriches it with additional case histories, new findings, and practical information.

For centuries physicians and migraineurs have been fascinated by the visual hallucinations, or auras, which often precede a migraine and which are similar to those induced by hallucinogenic drugs or deliria. In a remarkable new chapter, illustrated with startling full-color paintings by migraine sufferers, Dr. Sacks draws on recent advances in chaos theory and neural simulation to describe these "hallucinatory constants" and what they reveal about the working of the brain.

Another important addition to the 1992 edition discusses newly developed drug therapies for migraine, as well as alternative, nondrug approaches. Only Oliver Sacks's boundless curiosity and rich imagination could yield such a fresh, comprehensive view of one of humankind's oldest afflictions.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

"Balanced, authoritative . . . brilliant." --"The London Times
"Written by one of the great clinical writers of the twentieth century, Migraine . . . should be read as much for its brilliant insights into the nature of our mental functioning as for its discussion of the migraine." --"The New York Times Book Review

The many manifestations of migraine can vary dramatically from one patient to another, even within the same patient at different times. Among the most compelling and perplexing of these symptoms are the strange visual hallucinations and distortions of space, time, and body image which migraineurs sometimes experience. Portrayals of these uncanny states have found their way into many works of art, from the heavenly visions of Hildegard von Bingen to Alice in Wonderland. Dr. Oliver Sacks argues that migraine cannot be understood simply as an illness, but must be viewed as a complex condition with a unique role to play in each individual's life.
"I am sure . . . that any layman who is interested in the relation between the body and mind . . . will find the book as fascinating as I have." --W. H. Auden, "The New York Review of Books

From the Back Cover

The many manifestations of migraine can vary dramatically from one patient to another, even within the same patient at different times. Among the most compelling and perplexing of these symptoms are the strange visual hallucinations and distortions of space, time, and body image which migraineurs sometimes experience. Portrayals of these uncanny states have found their way into many works of art, from the heavenly visions of Hildegard von Bingen to Alice in Wonderland. Dr. Oliver Sacks argues that migraine cannot be understood simply as an illness, but must be viewed as a complex condition with a unique role to play in each individual's life.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0520058895
• ISBN 13: 9780520058897
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 270