What starts as an interesting examination of migraines becomes a diatribe against discrimination against women offering little clarity or hope for the topic at hand.

For sufferer's of migraine, you might actually find something interesting here. A word of warning: it may trigger a migraine. It did threaten to, for me, towards the end. Apparently this is actually not as silly as it sounds, and is touched upon in the last chapter.

I feel guilty about even thinking about attending to myself. You power through, not because you aren't in pain, but because it's the only option. Because you'll be met with a complete lack of understanding if you don't. I wish I could make so many people listen to this. It's only 2 hours long or so, but it paints such a vivid picture about what living with migraine is like. You very rarely are given the option to stop. Life goes on, with or without you, and so you push through most of the tim

Get off the elevator! This book is one part light science, and five parts rant. If you need validation for your migraine pain, this is for you. “The department store isn’t designed around me! I had to pretend I wasn’t sick at a dinner! I had to share an elevator with someone wearing perfume for like 30 floors and it stopped at every level!!!”*eye roll* Then get off the damn elevator.

As someone who suffers from migraine, I felt seen with this.

A short summary of the history of migraines and their medical treatment, including the lack of investment and research and gendered stigma. Konnikova notes that, like herself, most of the researchers she spoke to for this book either suffer from migraines or have someone close to them who does. While I found the book informative, I wanted more substance on the available science. Overall 3 out of 5

3 stars. Listened to this as an audiobook on Audible. Interesting but it was a very basic overview and mostly anecdotal. I know that migraines still are misunderstood but I think this book would have benefitted from more research or maybe speaking to more experts. I sometimes get a sharp shooting pain in my right temple and right eye that ends up being an awful headache and I’ve often wondered if it’s related to migraines, so I did find this somewhat interesting. The writing was decent, the narr...

As a lifelone sufferer of migraines, I found this short book to be both interesting and a source of comfort. It's nice to hear from someone else who has similar experiences to me and articulates the pain and frustration that migraines bring. My only criticism would be that I would have liked to have read more from her on this subject.

A great short read. It doesn't provide answers or solutions for migraine but it paints a clear picture on how migraine is viewed in society. Being a migraine sufferer, I feel seen and understood. Worth the read!

It was brief overview and reflection about living with migraines.

Honestly, it would have been beyond great if my neurologist had given me even the tiniest fraction of the information found here when he diagnosed me. Instead of "You have migraine" before all but shoving me out the door. No explanations, no advice, no guidance on where to go for any questions, just a piece of paper with a medication printed on it that would prove not to work (yet to find one that does, frankly) and a "goodbye", leaving me bewildered in the hallway wondering what I had done (pos...

An interesting introduction, not to migraines, exactly, more to the fact of the subject of migraines. The author is the narrator and she does a good enough job. Best thing about it is that it indicates that the study of migraines has advanced and is being taken more seriously (at least by some) than it was when I first started experiencing them and decided that I'd just have to deal with them and power through because there wasn't another option.

If you’ve ever suffered from migraines or know someone who does, you need this book. Maria is one of my favorite psychology writers, so I was a little skeptical going into this book because it’s different from her others. Maria surprised the hell out of me with how great this book is, and now I see she can write about just about anything. Personally, I used to suffer from migraines regularly that were so bad that I’d throw up, and now they’re far less frequent. I never understood what was happen...

DNF 60%. A mix of History, Medications, Symptons and a lot about HER LIFE. Well, it is HER life and not mine, so I lost interest after some time...

I’ve been dealing with migraine for a long freaking time at this point in my life. I’m not a chronic sufferer experiencing around 9 migraine days a month. Isn’t that fun? You can spend 25-30% of your month at suboptimal functioning, and still count yourself in the lucky category of migraineurs. Anyway, this piece wasn’t such a revelation for me because I spend a lot of time thinking and reading about migraine, but it was a delight to have it all so concisely together. One thing that did startle

Nice to be heard.

I’ve suffered from migraine since my late teens, and this book was good validation. It’s also a useful perspective to understand why society views migraine as it does and why doctors still don’t know much about it. It was a good reminder to be kind and gentle with myself as I experience and manage them because I know I often try to push through them (ha! I never learn) to my own physical detriment. Maybe you do that, too? Anyways, migraine sucks. But it was nice to hear the author’s personal jou...

Start with awareness, and use this book. No, you will not find answers, remedies, or cure-all solutions; in fact, Konnikova actively explains that these are not solutions for all people because migraine (yes, that is singular) is far more complex than many have understood. Instead, many can read this and learn more about historical contexts, social implications and biases, and genuine pain people suffer because of migraine. Again, this is an excellent introduction because it addresses a need for...

This was such an accessible, fascinating, and thought-provoking read/listen. I had no idea that migraine was so complex. I realize now that my previous understanding of it had been very much tainted by dismissive depictions in popular culture. I definitely recommend this book for people who want a comprehensive albeit brief introduction to migraine. This book may just spark another medical history reading obsession.

I never knew...I recently had an opportunity to listen to a someone describing a devastating migraine episode and how it knocked them out completely for several days. They described the nausea, vomiting, severe dizziness, loss of balance, and of course, the head splitting headache that takes destroys their sanity and takes them out of commission for a few days. That person also was incredulous about the physician's choice of prescribing Migraine medication at a low dose for starters. That person...