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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. One man experienced a ________ sensation in his left foot during the course of a migraine.

2. One woman who kept a diary of her life around her migraines found that skipping her ___________ led to the incident of a migraine.

3. What tends to increase over the course of an experience of a migraine headache?

4. What do many patients notice about the pain they might feel when they are experiencing a migraine?

5. Some people will continue on with their lives during a migraine, though they will still contend with __________ at some point.

Short Essay Questions

1. What can be confusing about an aura's presence, according to Sacks in this book?

2. What problems do some researchers and physicians believe can happen as the result of migraines that a patient might experience?

3. What does one researcher equate the migraine with, which might be helpful in treating them?

4. What does Sacks have to say are some of the causes of circumstantial migraine, according to the book?

5. What are the causes of serious losses of fluids during the experience of a migraine, according to Sacks?

6. What is something that Sacks has never seen, but he has heard of in relation to the aura before a migraine?

7. What is the German physician's experience with migraines, according to the beginning of the book?

8. What can often be a secondary factor to the migraine pain, according to the author of this book?

9. What happens with the aura during a classic migraine, according to the findings of Sacks?

10. What causes it to be difficult to determine the difference between migraines and epilepsy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Some people seem to be prone to migraines when they are in highly emotional situations.

Part 1: Why do you think intense emotions can cause pain?

Part 2: How do you feel when you are in intensely emotional situations? Does your health status change?

Part 3: Do you think people who respond to emotional situations with physical pain are weak?

Essay Topic 2

Case histories are used to illustrate the concept of a migraine.

Part 1: Why are case histories important in medical treatment of disorders?

Part 2: Is there a case history in the book that doesn't seem to help the discussion of migraines? Why not?

Part 3: How do you think case histories might be harmful to the discussion of a condition?

Essay Topic 3

Sacks points out that the idea of a migraine can make a person feel disordered in their life.

Part 1: Do you think that migraines are disorders? Why or why not?

Part 2: How do you think a person's life is affected by migraine headaches?

Part 3: Why do you think disorder might not be an applicable descriptor for migraine sufferers?

(see the answer keys)

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