Insomniac
by Gayle Greene
|
List Price: Our Price: $19.50 You Save: $25.50 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.08 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Insomniac
Book Review: Wonderful, unique, informative, and personal
Summary: 5 Stars
I think this is a wonderful book, and an incredible resource. It is a combination of an Insomniac's memoir with a summary of a huge amount of literature and research on insomnia, the status of sleep research and the lack of consensus among the medical community, treatments (both traditional and alternative), and the experiences and concerns of insomniacs themselves- what life is like with this "condition". Its a book for insomniacs, their friends and families, and the healthcare, healing, and therapeutic professionals who work with them. Nothing like it exists. Every case is different, but this book really does give some idea of how chronic insomnia impacts our lives. The author encourages readers to dip in, skip, and choose the parts that are interesting and helpful, and I think that is appropriate.
I've had serious, sometimes life-threatening insomnia for 20 years. That means, for the last 4 years, falling asleep at stop signs, and getting drowsy driving - I no longer drive for more than 30 minutes without wake-up medication (ProVigil/Modafinil, and alas, it worsens my sleep and gives me headaches, or I'd use it all the time). I don't know anyone with my kind of problem (my diagnosis is 'fragile sleep', the big expert told me, and he really did try to help, and did help, some.) The insomniacs I know are mostly people for whom sleeping pills seem to work. So it was really affirming to read Gayle Greene's story, her struggles, all the things she tried. She's right , we don't talk about it , and who wants to listen to all the miserable details. Yes, the discussion boards, [...] help. I got my best reference on Sleep Restriction there. And people do tell their stories, but at least when I hung out on Sleepnet, the stories were usually pretty abbreviated. I never told much of mine, it's too long and I didn't and don't now have the energy. She's put a huge amount of energy into this, and I so appreciate the results. She gives a voice to those of us who have been invisible. And so much information.
Yes she does complain a lot, as she acknowledges. That's part of the picture. And, she gives some sense of what it is like to live with managing this condition. Everyone is different. Everyone has to make their own decisions as to how to adapt, what to give up,what to try, etc. I do Sleep Restriction. It does help me, enough to be worthwhile, but it also complicates my life. And doesn't do as much as I'd hope.
I learned a lot from this book, about medications I've taken but not realized how they related to each other, about Sleep Restriction and the parts of the "recommended procedure" that I've forgotten about because they didn't work for me, about tools and strategies and supplements that I hadn't heard of or haven't tried. And insights into doctor's attitudes and comments to me, and the status of funding for insomnia research (appalling).
I was interviewed for this book, years ago, and had no idea of what to expect. It is so much more than I could have imagined, so much information, and the personal touch adds enormously. I highly recommend it.
Book Review: Me too, sometimes.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Insomnia" sometimes haunts me. Last night it did, after finishing this book, which is, fascinating and well written. So what is Gayle Greene's problem? She has trouble sleeping, so what? Most people do, don't they, sometimes? She takes pills and that helps her get "enough" sleep. She's happily married and successful in her career. Love and work, what else is there? I think this book is mostly about psychology; but Greene makes the case that insomnia is mostly about biology--hormones and genes. She gets about 2-4 "natural" hours of sleep a night, and a drug gets her another 3 to 4, if she chooses to take it, which she doesn't sometimes, and then she ruminates all the rest of the night, worrying about sleeping. She says she is not neurotic, that she has a hormone imbalance and has always had it. And the medical profession is wedded to profit (it is); which is a barrier to funding for proper research regarding sleep, and sleep disorders--which consume one third of our time on earth; and we ought to know more about it. I agree; but what I want to know more of is dreams. If she's not neurotic, what's her problem?
This year, I have watched two people, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, campaign for the presidency of the United States for the past eighteen months. They each get about four hours of sleep a night. I have never, ever, known of two more highly functioning individuals--persons "on their game." Are they on drugs? Adrenaline. Ill effects? I don't see any.
Greene denies she gets any "secondary" benefit from her insomnia. Really? How-a-bout a great book? She is witty, smart, articulate, loved and successful ... and neurotic and obsessive. I think she's fortunate. I hope she reads this. I'm glad she wrote the book. The book details a lot that is wrong, and right, with the practice of medicine. The story she tells does an excellent job of describing how people are different, and that what "works" for one, might not work for another. And also, that what "works" most reliably is belief, or the "placebo effect" (a sugar pill.) The placebo effect IS the most reliable (it explains the success of alternative medicine's sometimes efficacy); and that people often report getting better to please the professional (even when they're not.) But that doesn't work for her ... seems she is stubborn. So I think ... hmmmm.... Her father is a physician. I have/had a friend, an old one, who is mad at me for calling her out, who's father is this great doctor ... and she suffers from chronic pain--nothing works--NOTHING--to the point she contemplates suicide from time to time. Now, that is anecdotal evidence (if evidence at all) of the possibility of unconscious motivation; and I can't help but think that both my friend's, and Greene's, incidents of incurable malaise are related to daddy. And, moreover, that belief in being cared for is a powerful treatment for what ails a person. Nice work, Gayle. Get some rest, now.
Book Review: Thanks
Summary: 5 Stars
This isn't a `self-help' but a self-helping book. Here's just about everything you can try, with details about what happened to the author when she tried them. She is wonderfully careful to stress that everyone experiences insomnia differently, and the best she can do is share her own and a few other's experiences. And her indignation that medical science has simply given up on insomnia as just too hard.
This book will be loved by everyone with insomnia, and only hated by the true believers in the various (and self-contradictory) "cures". Greene is a grouchy insomniac with style, and a great sense of humor. Certain passages (alone at the sleep convention, packing for a trip, confronting male doctors with female issues they'd rather ignore, etc.) deserve places in illness humor books - assuming there are such things.
While there's nothing really you can do about insomnia, there are all sorts of short term things that, at least for awhile, help. Most of them aren't good for you, long term. For myself, I've worked through the whole range, running from alcohol through Ambien, by way of chloral hydrate, probably all the benzodiazepines ever in existence, and a period when I decided to not sleep at all by way of a very large (and very illegal) bottle of Dexedrine. Stay up 5 days and sleep for two. Works fine until the induced schizophrenia goes florid.
Greene's insomnia seems worse than mine, and she fights it every inch of the way. Thank God, because the rest of us seem to have been forced into servile mode: I know what a great favor you're doing for me and I don't deserve it, but please prescribe me some pills anyway. Doctors are in the horrible position of knowing that the pills available are all wrong in one way or another. Quacks, credentialed or not, have to believe in the virtues of their own panaceas or admit to themselves that they've mislead and mistreated their patients. There is no one more righteous then a questioned credentialed quack!
I'm tempted to thank Greene for not resting in trying to help us find our own voice.
Book Review: Beyond saying "no" to naps
Summary: 5 Stars
Gayle Greene does a first-rate job of putting a human face on insomnia, an affliction often described in dry, impersonal terms. A lifelong insomniac, Greene approaches her subject not from the strictly medical perspective proffered in self-help books but from the perspective of one who has been there and done that - and has a great deal to say about aspects of insomnia which ordinarily are overlooked. She speaks with conviction and her voice is consistent throughout the book. This is no mean feat: Greene integrates her own story and the narratives of other insomniacs with lots of scientific material. Her language is clean and jargon-free, and passionate and analytical, by turns -- exactly what one looks for in a work that aims to inform and persuade.
In addition, Greene's book offers a powerful critique of a medical establishment that historically has regarded insomnia as "all in the head." In fact, the physiological underpinnings of insomnia are what most insomniacs are waiting to hear about. Yet research in this important area has lagged. Greene's book gives us the inside scoop on why. She attended conferences on sleep disorders and gathered a wealth of information, including the sort of candid comments scientists are usually loath to make in public. Greene questioned the experts face to face, and their responses -- and the nonverbal messages they conveyed -- speak volumes. They're entertaining, too!
Any insomnia sufferer will find plenty of food for thought here. Insomniacs who have felt misunderstood or blamed will feel legitimized in reading Greene's account of her and others' experiences as they struggle to cope. Readers may also want to take some of Greene's suggestions for wooing sleep and try them out for themselves.
Finally, Greene's book poses a challenge to those who are conducting insomnia research. Will scientists in positions of power take note of the funding changes she proposes? Perhaps, she suggests, it's time for insomniacs to organize and push for them ourselves.
Book Review: For those of us who need more than 2 hours sleep ...
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered and read this book after hearing most of an interview with Gayle Greene on NPR ... I believe it was Talk of the Nation. I was impressed with what she had to say, her professionalism, and her obvious passion for the sugject. I wanted to hear more. Greene would like this book to give a voice to insomnia, and I believe she has done and excellent job of speaking for those with the complaint ... symptom ... disorder ... Even she seems unsure what to call it. "Insomniac" is a rewarding book, but if you are looking for a "How To" book, this is not it. I did not find answers in this book so much as more and better questions to ask.
Greene states in the first chapter that this is a cranky book, and she is right. I have difficulty sleeping, and even I found more irony than humor in the book. However, it is validating for anyone who has even mild insomnia, and is frustrated with the "I only need four hours of sleep" bragging so prevalent in our society. The discussion of these value judgements is just as enlightening as the medical research Greene has done.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is having trouble understanding a friend or loved one with insomnia. It will help you understand that insomnia is not just something he or she is doing wrong.
And for anyone who, like myself, is convinced that there is a physical as well as a mental component to the inability to sleep, this book gives an excellent look at the medical research that supports (and refutes) this opinion, explains some of its biases, and explains why there isn't more research. Greene also gives the pros and cons of most of the common "How Tos" out there, from her own point of view. If that's not enough reason to read it, I predict Insomniac will probably give you at least ONE idea of what to try next!