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Chronic Illness and Living Vicariously Through Books

I have had a migraine for the past THIRTY SIX days. Surprisingly, I have not yet gone insane. I have been more or less glued to my ultra cozy bed in my dark room. Trying to make myself as comfortable as possible has become my full time job. My muscles ache, my head is pounding, the room is spinning, my ears are ringing, and my stomach is churning. I feel like I have been violently struck in the head every day for the past 36 days.

Seriously, even my hair hurts. Thanks to the magic of the central nervous systems, migraines manifest themselves in a variety of bizarre symptoms like allodynia. Allodynia is the experience of pain from touch that should not be painful. When I have a migraine, the pain nerve cells in my brain and spine get over-excited. The sensory signals in my central nervous system get mixed up and cause normal touch to produce an abnormal painful result. A neurologist recently tested me for alloydnia by lightly running a paintbrush over the skin on my forehead. Just that light touch caused intense pain in my head.

Migraine sufferers who experience allodynia are more likely to find that their migraines don’t respond to triptans, which are one of the most effective families of migraine drugs. Despite years of trial and error triptans have never worked well for me. Because I haven’t found a medication that aborts my migraines, I run the risk of developing migraines that lasts for weeks. These long-lasting migraines are called status migrainosus or intractable migraines. They are pure hell.

I have kept my sanity intact through these long weeks of pain using the most powerful tool at my disposal: distraction. I binge watch every episode of Parks and Rec through half open eyes. I crochet beanie after beanie. I listen to podcasts and gentle music. I take more naps than a toddler. Nothing takes me away from my pain, however, like the emotional power of a good novel. I recently finished listening via audiobook to the final novel  in Italian novelist Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series, The Story of the Lost Child, and I enjoyed it so much I am ignoring my angry head to tell you about it.

Me circa 2000. Wishing I wasn't a muggle.
The author circa 2000. Wishing I wasn’t a muggle.

The Neapolitan novels follow the lives of two women, Lenu and Lila, who were born and raised in the slums of Napes in the 1950s. Through the lens of their friendship, Ferrante paints an intricate portrait of life and death that is impossible to not get swept up in. While reading the novels, my life became entwined in the loves and losses of the two girls. I ached with them and loved with them. I grieved with them and grew old with them. Thanks to the Ferrante’s skill as a writer, I peeked into the dusty corners of their lives and I saw myself.

The Story of the Lost Child (Neapolitan Novels, #4)The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am blown away by Elena Ferrante’s skill as a writer. The Neapolitan novels are some of the most honest and moving pieces of fiction I have read in years. These novels are about many things: friendship, loss, childhood, daughters, violence, politics, writing, reading, love, feminism, mothers, sex, education, Italy. Through the experiences of two Italian women, Elena Ferrante beautifully captures the complexity of human relationships and all of the suffering and joy they bring.

View all my reviews

Truly great novels offer distraction and connection at the same time. Truly great novels soothe broken hearts and aching heads. They offer nourishment, solace, and comfort. Truly great novels simply make life more bearable. My pain is powerful but so are words. They allow me to live many lives and they help me fall in love with my own.  And for that I am grateful.

“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

 

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