Literature Professor Kathleen O’Shea shares migraine knowledge with the public and health professionals to improve understanding and care.
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About fifteen per cent of people suffer migraine disease, with attacks occuring frequently and for days and weeks. They are “So Much More Than a Headache,” as author Kathleen O’Shea describes in her book of the same name. Migraine symptoms can be preceded and accompanied by visual or auditory auras, nausea, weakness, or sensitivity to light and sound. These attacks can be physically, emotionally and cognitively debilitating. They can be triggered by combinations of foods, alcohol, sound, fragrance, and stress, depending on the person. Stress and anxiety are common in migraine sufferers during and even after an attack, as they await the onslaught of their next unpredictable episode.
It was when she was in the midst of a three-month long migraine (Can you imagine!?) that Professor of Literature Kathleen O’Shea determined she had to do something positive about this life-long condition and companion. So, she turned of course to literature, where writers powerfully express the complexity of this disease. The authors in this collection either suffer(ed) with migraine or create characters and personas who have.
Two examples:
Virginia Woolf wrote, “English, which can express the thoughts of Hamlet and the tragedy of Lear, has no words for the shiver and the headache. . . . let a sufferer try to describe a pain in his head to a doctor and language at once runs dry.”
Joan Didion, from her essay “In Bed” wrote, “When I am in a migraine aura (for some people the aura lasts fifteen minutes, for others several hours), I will drive through red lights, lose the house keys, spill whatever I am holding, lose the ability to focus my eyes or frame coherent sentences, and generally give the appearance of being on drugs, or drunk. The actual headache, when it comes, brings with it chills, sweating, nausea, a debility that seems to stretch the very limits of endurance. That no one dies of migraine seems, to someone deep into an attack, an ambiguous blessing.”
With her love for writing and expression, and sharing that passion with her students, Professor O’Shea has combed the literature to bring descriptions of migraine into a single volume “So Much More Than a Headache” (2020, Kent State University Press). This book has been and can be a tremendous source of understanding for migraine sufferers, those who care for them, and health professionals who treat migraine patients. These writings make the hidden suffering of migraines more visible and understandable to others. It helps break the isolation and marginalization experienced by migraineurs, who are often superficially offered help from friends with an over-the-counter pain relief.
“Migraine is now understood medically as a disease of the brain, not just a headache,” O’Shea says. Migraine prescription medications are improving; however there is no cure, and insurance can sometimes cover fewer than the needed number of pills/injections for a particular month, she claims.
Professor O’Shea continues to write about her experience as a way to share patient knowledge and support to both the public and professionals in her Psychology Today Blog.
Kathleen O’Shea’s website: https://migrainelit.com/
Psychology Today blog: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/kathleen-o-shea
Kathleen O’Shea was recently interviewed by GoToHealth Media on her book and can be enjoyed here: https://gotohealthmedia.com/migraines-so-much-more-than-a-headache-professor-kathy-oshea/
Contact Info:
Name: Kathleen O’Shea
Email: Send Email
Organization: Kathleen O’Shea, Author
Address: 57 Marco Lane, Irondequoit, New York 14622, United States
Phone: +1-585-764-3079
Website: https://migrainelit.com/
Release ID: 89078172
