All in Her Head
To learn more about Amazon Sponsored Products, click here. For the reader, the protagonist becomes lovable in her tenacious struggle. The precision of the description of her delusional states is very helpful, whether for a reader wanting to learn or a reader wanting to empathize. It impressed upon me Sunny's struggle to know "real" from "unreal. An erotic, intimate, tantalizing journey through a life like no other. The protagonist's development and upbringing is arresting, and the descent into psychosis is real, maddening, and mind-numbing.
The difficulties that the protagonist faces and often surmounts, are laid out in an explicit manner that is unmistakably personal. There are insights in this novel that demand thoughtful consideration, especially about the ways and depth with which we affect each other. I was inspired to write the book All in Her Head: A Novel after my diagnosis of severe mental illness and my battle with postpartum depression, psychosis, and delusional disorder. I come from a privileged, educated, and stable home; I grew up attending a small, private Christian school that my parents and their friends founded in our attic in Topeka, Kansas.
On my journey, the thing I needed was more role models to explain how to share. I needed to hear stories of people who told their stories, and see more stories explaining how to teach others to listen. This would have helped so much during my dark days and then during my early days of insight. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Learn more about Amazon Prime.
But when she experiences the psychological phenomena of orgasmic labor, it triggers a chain of bizarre events, and she gradually descends into a world of delusion and paranoia. Read more Read less. Sponsored products related to this item What's this?
All in Her Head?
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All in Her Head
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The protagonist's development and upbringing is arresting, and the descent into psychosis is real, maddening, and mind-numbing. POTS patients can often trace the onset of acute symptoms to a specific illness or event, such as a viral illness, major surgery or trauma. It makes me mad just talking about it. The way the book is written actually gives readers a chance to see her life as she saw it at the time. We watch Sunny Mera's walk through life as a young woman, through marriage and then through her pregnancy and then giving birth. Set up a giveaway. Sunny Mera writes so I could imagine clearly what it was like for her post-partum and during her delusional states of erotomania.
Diagnostic criteria for POTS. QSART test measure of autonomic nerves that control sweating Thermoregulatory sweat test measures sweat pattern Gastric-emptying tests Skin biopsy to examine small fiber nerves Source: If your heart rate is increasing by more than 30 bpm upon standing, then you have POTS and your autonomic nervous system is not regulating things. It took 1 minute to figure out. It makes me mad just talking about it. Despite her struggles, Tori Foles said she was lucky. It only took six weeks before she was diagnosed with POTS.
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The largest survey on POTS to date, done by Vanderbilt and the University of Calgary, found most people saw an average of seven different doctors over an average of four years before getting a POTS diagnosis. As bad as those statistics sound, it's better today than a decade ago, said Stiles. Those numbers were echoed by a study of patients in the UK: Elaine Atha and Valerie Kraft, both 18, are quite familiar with that attitude.
Kraft said her first cardiologist told her "it was a woman's thing" and was all in her head. I was getting weird, stabbing pains all over my body," Stiles said. Stiles was a successful New York lawyer with an active, athletic lifestyle when she suddenly developed POTS symptoms after a snowboarding accident in POTS patients can often trace the onset of acute symptoms to a specific illness or event, such as a viral illness, major surgery or trauma. Within four days Stiles was bedridden. She said doctors diagnosed her with everything from "It's all in your head" to a rare neuroendocrine cancer.
Doctors even started cancer treatment, but after two months of looking for a tumor "that didn't exist," she said the doctors were baffled and wanted to discharge her. You are not discharging me until you figure me out. I'm glad it's not cancer, but then what is it?
Frustrated and frightened, Stiles went onto the internet and began googling her symptoms. She found what appeared to be the answer: She printed 30 journal articles, highlighted her symptoms and wrote her test results in the margins where they matched a description. Then she handed the papers to her neurologist and asked him to read.
He read it overnight. Nov 15, Naomi Yaeger rated it liked it. I received an Advance Reader Copy. As readers we get to know Sunny as a girl and watch her grow into a young woman and a newlywed. We watch her through pregnancy and as she gives birth. It is during her labor that something strange happens to her.
She experiences what she calls a birthgasm. An orgasm during the birthing process. After bringing the baby home she begins to get paranoid and loses items. Sh I received an Advance Reader Copy. She believes people are sneaking in her house, moving items around and screwing around with her mind. She has several wrong numbers. She becomes obsessed with her obstetrician and believes he is in love with her, clinically called erotomania.
She wonders why it happened to her. If something goes wrong with her computer she believes that it is someone playing a game with her. She thinks lots of things are secret messages for her, like signs along the highway or license plates. As I read, I recalled that after my father died I took lots of coincidences as signs to help me make decisions. That lasted only a short while, and I believe it was a normal part of grief.
I found the first part of the book easy to read.
The second part of the book sometimes was confusing for me to understand. But if it's confusing for the reader to understand what's going on or why she can't just accept random events, just imagine how confusing it must be for her. It is amazing that she was able to finish graduate school and hold down jobs through this. A testament to her intelligence, tenacity and supportive family.
Mar 03, Patriotic Bookaholic rated it really liked it. Sunny deals with her father cheating at a young age and then once she finally thinks she has it all, while giving birth to her daughter, she has a orgasmic labor that changes everything she knows. Sunny starts having delusions about everything including thinking that there are signs everywhere and dealing with doctors that just want to put her on drugs. As the years pass by Sunny realizes that to get better, she is g All In Her Head is Sunny Mera's story of dealing with post-partum and paranoia.
As the years pass by Sunny realizes that to get better, she is gonna have to give up some things to be happy for herself. I found this book to be interesting that someone can go through something like this and only to have people tell you that you are crazy when you're not. I hope that someone reading this, that is going through the same thing will take something from it and try to show doctors that it's not all in our heads that something is wrong. Thank You to Sunny Mera for telling your story so some people can know that they are not alone. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from BookSparks: I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley!
Nov 16, Kristin Kritters Ramblings rated it it was ok Shelves: Sunny had a very traumatic experience during childbirth and she feels as though it put her into a depressive state and set off her brain down a very painful path. It is always hard to rate and review a memoir because you know that it is all truth and that the author is telling you about a moment in their own life, so to rate and review is weird.
It makes it even weirder when you don't love the book. At the end of the book, she referenced Brain on Fire, which I reviewed here awhile ago and defini Sunny had a very traumatic experience during childbirth and she feels as though it put her into a depressive state and set off her brain down a very painful path. At the end of the book, she referenced Brain on Fire, which I reviewed here awhile ago and definitely enjoyed.
I wished this book had had more of the feel of that one, this one felt too stream of crazy consciousness for me where as Brain on Fire felt more methodical. I couldn't concentrate on the flow of her writing and couldn't enjoy it. Feb 15, Susan Tripp rated it really liked it. I couldn't put the book down and read it straight through. I needed to see if and how Sunny came through. Her story had me enraged with her doctors and husband, then I cringed and was even fearful as she shared her story with no many.
I was amazed she had such a strong support system around her and that sharing actually helped her, not hurt her. I was shocked to see how she was able to trust those around Amazing.
I was shocked to see how she was able to trust those around her to help when she was at her worst. I am utterly amazed she was able to be such a good mother, a student and a have a career through such mental chaos. Dec 31, Jennifer rated it really liked it. Glenn rated it it was amazing Aug 30, Cecilia Dunbar Hernandez rated it it was amazing Aug 28, Joslyn Smith rated it really liked it Feb 10, Julie AllisWell rated it it was amazing Dec 03, Shannon Love rated it it was amazing Jan 15, Meghan Ohlrich long rated it really liked it Dec 15, Shanna rated it really liked it Jan 27, Marie rated it liked it Jun 19, DaNeisha Moore rated it it was amazing Aug 29, Claudia Vieira rated it really liked it Oct 25, Patti Clark marked it as to-read Aug 10, Diana Paul marked it as to-read Aug 14, Leslie Nack marked it as to-read Aug 14, Frederick Rotzien marked it as to-read Aug 15, Carla marked it as to-read Aug 15, Theresa marked it as to-read Aug 15, Tammye marked it as to-read Aug 15,