Recommended Reading

I have been taking full advantage my local library. Actually I've been taking advantage of all of the libraries within 15 miles, which in my urban neck of the city, includes nineteen fully stocked libraries. I just go to their website, peruse their catalog at will, click the "request" button on as many as ten titles at a time and wait to get the email letting me know that some or all of my order is waiting for me. I LOVE my local library.


I'm going to try to make it a regular thing, to be reading something about chronic pain, migraines, chronic illness or the like, and share my thoughts and recommendations. It's good for me to have as many perspectives as I can. It keeps me tethered to something. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, my first batch of reads (with amazon links) included:

Life Disrupted, Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties by Laurie Edwards, which I really loved. I mean, I inhaled this book. It's mostly light, as light as chronic illness talk is, anyway, and is mostly personal stories of experience from people who are young, sick, and dealing with it. I read this at the perfect time. It was like craving a favorite food all day and coming home to find it waiting for you on the plate, piping hot and perfect. I came away with it feeling a little more capable, and a little less alone.

Managing your migraine: a migraine sufferer's practical guide by Susan L. Burks was recommended to me by a fellow migraineur. On first glance, I figured I would know everything in the book and then some. It was published in 1994, for god's sake, that was an eon ago! But the presentation of the information was different, and I found the chapters on alternative treatments and dietary recommendations very interesting. I'll probably be renewing this one so I can read through it a few more times.

Trigger point therapy for headaches & migraines: your self-treatment workbook for pain relief by Valerie DeLaune was another good resource, but I mostly skimmed this one. I found the physiology lesson interesting, but was in it more for the exercises. It's definitely worth a look.



I have a whole new stack waiting for me, too. I'm reading like it's my job, and it's nice to have a job again.

I would love recommendations of new titles to check out. Read any good books lately?