Chocolate & Vicodin By Jennette Fulda Is A Tale Of One Woman’s Triumph Over Pain

Title: Chocolate & Vicodin

Author: Jennette Fulda

Jennette’s Sites: pastaqueen.com, jennettefulda.com

Jennette’s Twitter: twitter.com/#!/jennettefulda

304 pages | Publisher: Gallery

Genre: Memoir| Buy The Book: Amazon

Summary:

Jennette Fulda went to bed on February 17, 2008, with a headache, and more than three years later, it still hasn’t gone away. Yes, she’s tried everything: intravenous drugs, chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, subliminal messaging, marijuana (for medical purposes only), heavy drinking (which just made it hurt more), and lots and lots of chocolate. A pint of ice cream makes her feel better, but her insurance doesn’t cover mint chocolate chip.
In this painfully honest, smart, and funny memoir, the popular PastaQueen.com blogger who chronicled her nearly two hundred pound weight loss in Half-Assed shares her incredible journey to find relief from a chronic headache. As she visits countless doctors, indulges all manner of unsolicited advice from the Internet, and investigates every possible cause, from a brain tumor to a dead twin living in her brain, Jennette considers what it means to suffer, how to live with pain, and why the best treatment might be the simplest: laughter. (Summary provided by Gallery.)

My Thoughts:

Heartbreaking. Sweet. Funny. What do these words have in common? They are all adjectives that could be used to adequately describe Jennette Fulda’s memoir Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest For Relief From The Headache That Wouldn’t Go Away. Fulda’s story begins as she is about to start promoting her book Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir. With a new book out it seems like everything in the author’s life would be going great, right? Wrong. Shortly before the release of Half-Assed Jennette Fulda became afflicted with an agonizing headache that would not go away.

Some of the most poignant moments of the book were when Fulda described the frustration of having an invisible illness. In these passages  she shared her worries that her peers might think she was faking, because she didn’t have a diagnosis for the cause of the headache to tell  them. Fulda’s account of her search for a diagnosis and cure draws the reader into an endless cycle of doctor’s appointments and treatments.

Fulda described her struggle with chronic pain caused by the headache along with the many treatments she had to go through as a result of the pain. My husband is a doctor and I worried before I began reading that Chocolate & Vicodin was going to be scorching condemnation of the medical profession as a whole. However, this is not the case at all.The author does share lots of cringe worthy moments experienced in the offices of medical practitioners lacking in the bedside manner department and in some cases the basic medical knowledge department as well. Yet, despite all of the disappointment Fulda has faced while searching for a cure  – or even a cause- she remains hopeful. Jennette Fulda’s story of remaining optimistic in the midst of an inexplicable ordeal is truly inspiring.

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