Publisher’s Weekly posted a positive review of CHOCOLATE & VICODIN this week, calling it “lively” and “entertaining.” I appreciate the praise, but need to note that my headache hasn’t gone away as the review states. I’ve just learned to accept it and manage it better.

In this lively memoir, Indianapolis resident Fulda (Half-Assed) explains how a health crisis took over her life for a year. At age 27, a chronic headache sent her to countless medical professionals, from neurologists to acupuncturists, only to be given diagnoses as varied as venous angioma, depression, a heart murmur, and scoliosis. Yet no treatment alleviated her pain, not even a slew of drugs. Fulda began blogging about her condition and received some well-meaning advice from her readers, from the way-out to the entirely reasonable (e.g., one writer suggested the headache was due to the halo caused by a supernatural spirit; another recommended eliminating from her diet sodas and artificial sweeteners). Mostly, however, Fulda just felt lousy and listless, trying to stay at her job as a Web designer and not overeat–the only course of action that gave her some relief. Was the electromagnetic field from the computer to blame, or the lack of a boyfriend? She would never know, even as she spends a good $10,000 on medical care. In the end, her story is entertaining if anticlimactic, as the headaches vanished as mysteriously as they’d appeared. (Feb.)