Reviews
This accessible and compassionate exploration of physical pain should be of great interest since, at one time or another, almost everyone has experienced severe or recurrent pain. As a neurosurgeon, Vertosick (When the Air Hits Your Brain) has treated patients with migraines, back problems, neuralgia, rheumatoid arthritis, angina and cancer. Drawing on case histories from his practice and on scientific research, he surveys the experience and the processes of pain, as well as the idea of it. He gives a brief, clearly stated history of painful conditions, explains how and why pain strikes and describes the various ways medical intervention can ease or eradicate pain. He also reflects on his wife's labor pains; details the history of anesthesia (a medical invention that he rates as "high among the greatest achievements of our age"); and tells a series of stories about how he and his patients have dealt with their pain. He recounts, for example, how he worked with Anne, a patient whose ruptured disc prevented her from walking on one of her legs. First he tried physical therapy, steroids and narcotic medications to alleviate her pain. Then, when all these treatments failed, he performed the back surgery that enabled her to recover. Combining personal narrative with scientific explanation, Vertosick, who describes himself as "a bit of a wimp" who dislikes seeing patients in pain, displays an enormous dedication to relieving suffering. (June), [Vertosick] tells personal anecdotes about his own migraines and crafts stories of emergency room horrors with a deft sense of suspense and timing., "[Vertosick] tells personal anecdotes about his own migraines and crafts stories of emergency room horrors with a deft sense of suspense and timing."-Chicago Tribune, If you've been paying attention, you've noticed by now that pain and suffering infiltrate nearly every part of life. Whether it's an executive nursing a quiet ulcer in the boardroom or a wailing child holding a skinned knee on the playground, this uniquely unpleasant signal must be important; if it weren't, we could more easily ignore it. Neurosurgeon Frank T. Vertosick Jr. explains the evolutionary, physiological, and psychological reasons for pain in Why We Hurt: The Natural History of Pain. Not a paean to despair, the book helps to ease suffering through understanding and learning just how far we've come in the short history of palliative practice. Vertosick's long experience working with sufferers of hideously intractable pain, and his own long battle with migraine, provides depth and illustrative stories that draw the reader into what might otherwise be dry medicalese.It's heartening to see more surgeons like Dr. Vertosick coming to accept the often-strong psychological basis of pain and appropriate nonsurgical, nonpharmacologic treatments for it. Certainly, as in the case of the woman whose trigeminal nerve was eroded by a circulatory tangle, cutting and suturing have their appropriate place. And the author found several years ago that simple acetaminophen was all he needed to stave off his headaches. His gentle explanations and usually uplifting stories help us prepare for our own episodes of suffering. Though it might seem like small comfort, learning Why We Hurt can be as powerful as the strongest narcotic, with no side effects.
