''Migraine'' is the first book written by
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurology, neurologist, Natural history, naturalist, historian of science, and writer.
Born in London, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford ...
, a well-known
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
-based
neurologist
Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...
and author. The full title of the first edition was ''Migraine - Evolution of a Common Disorder''. The book was written in 1967, mostly over a nine-day period,
and first published in 1970. A revised and updated version was published in 1992. (In the newer edition, the last chapter ''Migraine Aura and Hallucinatory Constants'' was written in collaboration with
Ralph M. Siegel.)
Summary
As with Sacks's other writings, ''Migraine'' is a comprehensive review of the subject aimed at the
lay population and uses numerous
case histories
''Case Histories'' (2004) is a detective novel by British author Kate Atkinson and is set in Cambridge, England. It introduces Jackson Brodie, a former police inspector and now private investigator. The plot revolves around three seemingly unc ...
.
Sacks describes the nature of and treatments for
migraine
Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...
in general and several various
subtypes
In programming language theory, subtyping (also called subtype polymorphism or inclusion polymorphism) is a form of type polymorphism. A ''subtype'' is a datatype that is related to another datatype (the ''supertype'') by some notion of substit ...
, particularly examining the visual
aura
Aura most commonly refers to:
* Aura (paranormal), a purported field of luminous multi-colored radiation around a person or object
* Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure
* Halo (religious iconography), glory, or aure ...
feature that is common to many sufferers, along with the
pre-migraine signs & symptoms. The particular focus of the book, however, is on the
neuropsychological
Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...
aspects of migraine.
Contents
The book is divided into five sections:
#The Experience of Migraine
#The Occurrence of Migraine
#The Basis of Migraine
#Therapeutic Approaches to Migraine
#Migraine as a Universal
Inspiration for writing the book
In an interview with
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysics, astrophysicist, author, and science communication, science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia Univ ...
about the possible merits of altered states of consciousness by means of psychoactive substance, Sacks revealed that in 1967 he had a revelation when he was under the influence of an undisclosed psychoactive substance while reading a book written in the 19th century about headaches and migraines. This book was written by
Edward Liveing, an early and important contributor in theories of migraine pathogenesis. As he was reading the book he had an awakening and thought to himself, "Who shall be the Edward Liveing of our time? And there was a very disingenuous clamor of names that came to me, followed by a very loud inner voice which said, 'You Silly Bugger! You're the man!'"
See also
*
International Classification of Headache Disorders
The International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) is a detailed hierarchical classification of all headache-related disorders published by the International Headache Society. It is considered the official classification of headaches ...
*
Management of chronic headaches
References
{{Oliver Sacks
1970 non-fiction books
1992 non-fiction books
Books by Oliver Sacks
Migraine
Books about diseases and disorders