Tinfoil + Raccoon

Review: All in My Head (Headaches)

I picked up  All in My Head: An epic quest to cure an unrelenting, totally unreasonable, and only slightly enlightening headache, by Paula Kamen, because it sounded like it would be a fun, smart-girl treatment of something near and dear to my brain: headaches.  And it is.  It's a cleverly written, funny and wry look at Kamen's ongoing struggle with Chronic Daily Headache (CDH) which zapped her, out of the blue, at the age of 24.  My expectations for a light read, thankfully, were quashed before the end of the first chapter. Kamen dares to talk about what many women keep under wraps: she outs herself as an intelligent, accomplished woman who experiences pain and fatigue nearly every day of her life.  Women who complain of regular headaches or unpinpointable malaise are often seen as high strung, attention-seeking, or as deeply unhappy people who transform mental anguish into physical pain.

It's a three-layered story that Kamen tells.   In addition to her personal narrative which is populated by clueless allopaths, incense-wielding alternative practitioners, boat loads of pharmaceuticals and cruel and unusual treatments of all sorts, Kamen expends her limited marbles (her way of deciding how to expend energy) to deliver a solid debunking of the “all in your head” notion. Kamen, a self-described third wave feminist, takes old school feminism to task for keeping this predominantly female health issue in the closet, in a wrong-headed attempt to bury the long held belief that women are the “weaker” sex, and, therefore, less reliable in the workplace.

If you’re hoping to learn of Kamen’s miracle cure, you’ll be disappointed. The Headache is still with her, but she has learned to stop looking for meaning in the pain itself. This book is highly recommended for anyone living with chronic illness, from fibromyalgia to migraine to multiple sclerosis. It’s self-help for those who tend to avoid traditional self-help works, delivered with attitude and without syrupy, soft-focus platitudes.  There is so much of value in this book that I'll stop talking about it and suggest you find a copy yourself.

You can stop reading here, or can go on to read entirely too much information about my personal experience with headache and malaise.

 

THC, IQ, Email and IM: Pot wins

Here's a CNN story about a study that demostrated that people lost more than twice as many IQ points from checking email, IM and other electronic communications than they did from smoking weed.  Researcher Dr. Glenn Wilson

found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.

I wonder what happens when you smoke pot and check email?  What about e-communications vs. a night of reality TV?  And, more importantly, how does one get into a research study where you get to smoke pot?  I'm looking for a link to the study itself.

Napoleon Dynamite Action Figure

Not quite sure how I feel about this, but at least my Librarian Action Figure will have some oddball playmates as soon as McFarlane Toys comes out with its line of Napoleon Dynamite Action Figures.

We're still a bit Napoleon-obsessed at my house, having watched it four times in the past week. I have to confess to being a bit puzzled by its broad appeal.  I like it because I grew up in a small, rural area, and find so much familiar in it.  Napoleon  also seems to be the perfect poster child for Asperger Syndrome, and we like it when the geek wins.  It's also one of the most positive, hopeful movies I've ever seen. One of the baristas at Coffee Hound had a really cool ND-themed t-shirt a few weeks ago, and when I asked her where she got it, she said that it was from her boyfriend's fraternity pledge class---?!?!?   What would someone at the top of the social chain find in a movie populated by underdogs and antiheroes? 

Here's a sort of wonky Wikipedia write up of the movie and the ND phenomenon.

Don't forget: Vote for Pedro.

Attention Deficit Trait

Here's an interview with Dr. Edward Hallowell, who has coined the disorder Attention Deficit Trait (ADT), which he distinguishes from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD or ADHD), saying that ADT is induced by culture and the way we work, rather than inherited. (from CNET). This goes along with Dr. John Ratey's coined disorder, pseudo-ADD.  What I wonder is: do ADD drugs work for faux ADD?

Hearing Colors: Assistive Technology

I've had a bit of involvment in assistive technology at work, and learned about its applications from an attorney friend who is blind. This Techdirt post tells of a blind researcher who has developed an assistive system that turns colors into musical notes, as a way to help him interpret atmospheric maps. Nifty!

In a related/unrelated (?) vein, this story reminded me of an acquaintance who sees colors when he hears/plays music, which is one form of synesthesia. From the website Mixed Signals:

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which a stimulus in one sense modality is involuntarily elicited in another sense modality.  For instance, someone with synesthesia (called a synesthete) may be able to see sounds, taste shapes, or read otherwise black-and-white printed words in color. 

Computers as Flow Interrupters

Good New York Times piece about the pitfalls of working at a computer where there are myriad distractions available (email, IM, music, etc.).  The article, in large part, deals with the

notion of flow, a concept coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (pronounced CHICK-sent-me-hi-ee), professor of psychology at the Claremont Graduate University and the author of "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" (Perennial, 1991). Flow, in essence, is a state of deep cognitive engagement people achieve when performing an activity that demands a certain level of focus, like writing.

Interviewed for the piece is attention researcher Dr. John Ratey, who refers to those who experience computer distractions as having psuedo-ADD, and researchers who are working on software that will help users maintain flow. 

I don't know that this article has much for those of us with clinical ADD, since this is just how life is for us.   I certainly don't need a computer to interrupt my flow.  And when I do have flow, it's more like a gush, and there's not much that can stop it. 
  Source: TechDirt

New Temple Grandin: Animals and Autism

Terry Gross (Fresh Air) interviewed Temple Grandin about her new book, Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior.  From the NPR website:

Temple Grandin is one of the nation's top designers of livestock facilities. She is also autistic. In her 1995 book Thinking in Pictures, she described how her inner-autistic world led her to develop an empathy for how animals cope.

Grandin was also profiled by Oliver Sacks and gave the title to his book An Anthropologist on Mars.  The girls and I all listened to most of the interview during dinner, and Juniorette, who is on the autistic spectrum, really dug hearing Grandin talk about being autistic and kept shaking her head in agreement, especially when Grandin talked about noise sensitivity and how she is always absolutely mesmerized by screen savers.  More about Grandin and her work at Grandin.com.  She's really remarkable!