Chapters One and Two Summary and Analysis

The author, Oliver Sacks, quotes German physician du Bois Reymond's writings from 1860 that describe the symptoms of his typical migraines that he says occurs every "three to four weeks." Those symptoms include a feeling of "disorder," pain in the right temple, nausea, and the fact that he can be certain not to have another attack for several weeks. Sacks says that headache and nausea are classic symptoms and that others may vary from one person to the next and even from one attack to the next. The first symptom discussed is the headache itself. Sacks says that the pain is usually violent and relegated to one temple though this is not always the case. Many patients note that the pain is more often on one side and this will be the case throughout their lifetime...