David Buchholz - Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain

When I graduated from high school in 1970, I was a lost soul. The only thing I knew for sure was that I didnt want to go to college. I dreamed of writing a book but didnt have anything to say. Harold Kundel, a radiology researcher at Temple University, took me under his wing as a lab assistant for three years. With his help I grew up a lot, eventually going to college and beyond. I shudder to think where I would have wound up without him; yet until now Ive never really said thanks.

During my college years Martin Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, encouraged me to go to graduate school in psychology rather than medical school, but I leaned the other way. His argument was that as a medical doctor I might directly care for as many as tens of thousands of patients over the years, but as a research psychologist I could make a discovery that could catch on and benefit vastly more people. I didnt follow his advice, but I never lost sight of his challenge, and I smile to think how great it would be if it turned out, after all, that this book might have such impact.

After I completed my neurology training at Johns Hopkins, Guy McKhann, the department chair, welcomed me to the faculty even though I was strictly a clinician, a people doctor, and not (as is generally the rule at Hopkins) also a researcher. In that position I met my many headache patients and gained the special experience from which grew the understanding of headaches that lies at the heart of this book. Thanks also to Chip Moses, who I suspect twisted Guys arm.

In 1991 the Johns Hopkins University Press sent me a headache manuscript for review. I panned it (the same old stuff) and suggested I could do better. Jackie Wehmueller, the acquiring editor, offered me the opportunity to put my money where my mouth was. It took me more than seven years to get around to a first draft, but Jackies been a devoted proponent every halting step and misstep along the way. Without her, Im not sure that this book would ever have materialized.

Two other people played vital roles in the development of this book. For years I worked side by side at Hopkins with Stephen Reich, and together we tackled the problem of migraine, me pushing the envelope and he reining me in with much-needed reality checks. And then there was Charles Wasserman, who helped me overcomeeven if not understandthe forces that had held me back from writing all those years.

Scott Sherman, then a dean at the medical school, contributed by making sure that my first draft found its way into the right hands. Through him I eventually contacted Channa Taub, my agent, who understood that it was critical for me to write the book myself, in my own words, rather than with a ghostwriter. It was also through Scott that I connected with Susan Bolotin, editor-in-chief at Workman, who shepherded the project into print and showed me that skillful editing is the greatest gift a writer can receive.

Harold Nussenfeld and Christian van den Bos provided helpful feedback along the way. Michael Kandel was always there with his strong support and faithful friendship. And my extraordinarily competent, dedicated and tolerant former assistant, Carolyn McCormack, managed to juggle this project along with her usual three handfuls of other work, all with a smile on her face, laughter in her voice and kindness in her heart. Thank you all.

Steffi Neumann, my wife, paid a dear price in putting upnight after night and year after yearwith my endless musings and rantings about the book. More substantially, she is responsible for most of the Appendix. (Try the recipes; shes a wonderful cook.) And more importantly, the love and friendship we share has sustained me at times when this book felt more like an ordeal than an accomplishment.

Too often, my work has kept me from my children, Brittany, Alison and Max. I thank them for their patience and for believing in me as much as I believe in them.

Finally, I thank my parents.