Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away

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Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away

by Jennette Fulda (Goodreads Author)

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 295 ratings · 85 reviews

Jennette Fulda went to bed on February 17, 2008, with a headache, and more than three years later, it still hasn’t gone away. Yes, she’s tried everything: intravenous drugs, chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, subliminal messaging, marijuana (for medical purposes only), heavy drinking (which just made it hurt more), and lots and lots of chocolate. A pint of ice cream ma...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published February 22nd 2011 by Gallery Books (first published February 10th 2011)

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Feb 20, 2013 Dierdra Byrd rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this book up because of the cover and the awesome, awesome title! I really have to stop picking books bases on covers. I doubt I will but I should.
This book is about the authors struggle with a headache that is there 24/7. I do have to admit I did not even know this could happen and I am so sorry for what Jennette is going through. I learned a bit about headaches from this book and do agree there really should be more funding and research for this problem because I am sure most people d...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Laurie Donovan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Read when it first came out. I'm a sufferer of daily migraines, status migranosus,etc... and was hoping this book would help deal with living with this. I was not impressed and, frankly, got tired of her complaining and feeling sorry for herself; it was not uplifting at all and was actually depressing. It was frustrating to me that she would rather eat the things that gave her migraines than stay away from those triggers. The only thing I got out of it, which I have found useful is her motto " I...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Liseuse rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, I really did. And it was OK. I like chocolate a lot, and when I really need it, vicodin does the trick. I have some of my own pain issues.

Jennette Fulda takes us through her journey of a year of hell caused by and awful headache. Boo hoo you think, get over it. Yeah, well her headache was pretty debilitating from her descriptions. I related to a lot of her issues with the medical institution, the reactions of people around her, and just plain feeling miserable a lot....more I wanted to like this book, I really did. And it was OK. I like chocolate a lot, and when I really need it, vicodin does the trick. I have some of my own pain issues.

Jennette Fulda takes us through her journey of a year of hell caused by and awful headache. Boo hoo you think, get over it. Yeah, well her headache was pretty debilitating from her descriptions. I related to a lot of her issues with the medical institution, the reactions of people around her, and just plain feeling miserable a lot. Especially poignant for me was that she also got a lot of people trying to help her with outlandish ideas and diagnosis on her blog, something I also get from others. She also hit upon something that I agree with: no one gets it unless they are also suffering through chronic pain too. It’s true, people can have a lot of sympathy, but they won’t know what to say or do unless they’ve been there themselves. Then the still may try to bombard you with the cure that worked for them. One cure does not fit all folks.

Even though I think that if someone read this book they’d understand my situation better, and I could really relate to her, I just felt the book was boring. Probably because it was too similar to my life: going to doctors’ offices all the time, lying on the couch, trying new medicines, barely hanging on. Been there, lived that, don’t need to read about that. Also, there is an unclear reason why she does get better, which makes even less dramatic of a story line. Plus, I was jealous. I wanna get better.

Does it make me want to write a book about my own chronic pain? Not in a minute. She is supposedly really funny and wrote another great book about losing half of her bodyweight, but I found this book dull. So I wouldn’t want to expose people to more of that. Her book wasn’t really even designed to help anyone, just merely to groan about it and provide an excuse as to why she was depressed and gained some of her weight back. I feel a book about pain should be a bit more focused and less apathetic. With more chocolate, perhaps a bar inside the flap.
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Aug 04, 2011 Stella rated it 4 of 5 stars

I chose this book because I am a lifetime sufferer of migraines plus I suffer daily from a chronic pain and energy sapping disorder called fibromyalgia. To suffer daily is a terrible experience and every person copes differently. I wanted to read what paths Ms. Fulda took in seeking relief for a headache that wouldn't quit.

So this is the story of Jennette Fulda who went to bed on February 17, 2008 with what seemed an ordinary headache and woke up with a headache that didn't want to go away. In...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Crys rated it 1 of 5 stars

I'm a nice person (for the most part). Somehow Jennette Fulda made me loathe a total stranger! That's no easy feat. I found her to be insufferable at times in this book. I teetered from wishing her headache would stay forever to wishing she'd developed some kind of narcotic addiction that would end this drawn out story or at least take it in anohter direction. Once I started reading this, I remembered why I was irritated by first book, "Half Assed" too. She's just not likable. I'm all for sarcas...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Maria rated it 3 of 5 stars

What I Can Tell You:
Oh my...I can't even begin to imagine what Jennette has been going through. I have had headaches that make me nausous but they are gone within a few hours or a day or two. Jennette has been living with a headache for over 3 years. Basically this is a book about her headaches, the numerous ways she has tried to cure it (medically, drugs, alcohol, chocolate, etc) and how she has realized that she has to deal with this new version of herself. This is something she has done befor...more

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Feb 17, 2011 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't know how to review this book. Essentially, the summary says it all yet doesn't do the book justice. Bottom line is that Jennette got a headache. It hasn't gone away. She's tried everything including things that are probably illegal in most states. She still has her headache but she has learned to live with it.

Why the summary does not say it all: Ironically, I just spent the last hour and a half soothing my 5 year old. He has an earache. Chances are 100% he has a ear infection. All pharma...more I don't know how to review this book. Essentially, the summary says it all yet doesn't do the book justice. Bottom line is that Jennette got a headache. It hasn't gone away. She's tried everything including things that are probably illegal in most states. She still has her headache but she has learned to live with it.

Why the summary does not say it all: Ironically, I just spent the last hour and a half soothing my 5 year old. He has an earache. Chances are 100% he has a ear infection. All pharmacies are closed so even if the doctor would see him, I still have to treat the pain right now. So he sleeps sitting up but on his left side for tonight with a heating pad on his right ear. He is drugged to the hilt with Ibuprofen and Tylenol.

Meanwhile, my back has hurt for well over three years. I've spent time and money on physical therapy, massage, exercise, gadgets, and pain medication. I've even done "downward dog." I've learned some tricks but it's always on my mind. The difference is that I know the cause. I'm neurotic. Jennette can not claim the same cause, although she just might still be neurotic. Who knows?

The real enjoyment is reading Jennette's writing style. I can not, in good conscience, refer to her as Ms. Fulda. I feel like she's my friend. She makes me laugh. What could have easily been a depressing book flew by and I found myself, oddly, uplifted.

In 2005, she gained fame by blogging about her epic weight loss. Epic makes it sounds like she was morbidly obese but in reality, it was epic because she was morbidly obese. Sorry, Jennette. And those pants do NOT make your butt look fat. Do mine?

So she wrote a book, published it then got a headache. She blogged about it too, although she got really, REALLY tired of it. The irony is that she saw something she could change about herself and undertook that challenge with success. Then she found something she could not change and accepts it with humor. Which really sets her apart from just some morbidly obese (Sorry again) young woman who blogs. She is HILARIOUS. In fact, if I hadn't just insulted her, I think we'd be pretty good friends.

Love her humor. She's a good writer and meets the nitty gritty life with solid research and a sense of humor. I'll take three of her.
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Feb 26, 2011 Curvy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: challenge-2011

Finished this book in about a day... very compelling read. I’ve been an avid reader of PastaQueen for nearly three years. Back when I was trying to lose some weight (never did manage to outrun those lbs, the suckers) I was looking for inspiration and someone linked her blog and I was hooked, right away. I love a success story, and when Jennette Fulda, the Queen of Pasta herself, announced that she was writing a book, I was ultra excited.

Chocolate and Vicodin is her second book, about the headac...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-book, i-own

Another excellent memoir from the immensely talented Jennette Fulda. Unlike her first, the weight loss memoir "Half-Assed," in which she lost over 200 pounds in two years, this book starts immediately at crisis point, and escalates from there. The book is only about 20 pages young when the headache strikes, sharp and fast, and you're immediately drawn in. You've read the back-cover copy, so you know that it's going to hang on, so you're immediately thinking, "oh no, there's the villain!"

Jennett...more

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Feb 24, 2011 Crystal added it

Shelves: arc, for-review, read-feb-2011

Chocolate and Vicodin is a must-read for anyone suffering with chronic pain or those that live with someone with chronic pain. Ms. Fulda will not solve your problems for you but she will make you feel much less alone with your pain and make you smile at the same time. I am honestly afraid of support groups because who wants to be around others complaining. Ms. Fulda is able to explain her situation and all that she goes through without sounding like she's complaining. She just shows you the real...more Chocolate and Vicodin is a must-read for anyone suffering with chronic pain or those that live with someone with chronic pain. Ms. Fulda will not solve your problems for you but she will make you feel much less alone with your pain and make you smile at the same time. I am honestly afraid of support groups because who wants to be around others complaining. Ms. Fulda is able to explain her situation and all that she goes through without sounding like she's complaining. She just shows you the real side of herself and how she is pulling herself through even though she still does not have a diagnosis. I understand the not-knowing. I can somewhat name my problem, though there is still some gray area to mine as well, but to not know at all has to be tough.

The book is written in a real yet a humorous manner. I love when she gets snarky at times (mostly in her mind), that is the same way I feel at times and to be able to get that out would be wonderful. Ms. Fulda proves that you can get through it like she does and there are days when you will be down but sometimes you just have to adjust your reality, change your life to suit it and move on. I think this is the core message. Another things I took away - it is normal to feel alone when suffering from something that others can't see. Like she says - it's easy for someone to see you are in pain when you are curled up in a ball, but when you are going on with everyday life the best way you can, then the pain is harder to see (I paraphrase).

I loved this book, I felt like I was talking with a friend when I was reading it and I saw so much of myself while reading it. I would like to thank Ms. Fulda for this excellent book and for showing me I'm not alone and also for teaching me some ways to express myself around others so they understand what I am feeling. I think she does a great job of showing all the different doctors and procedures she had done just to try and find a diagnosis and giving her real feelings. That is what I really loved.

I think Jennette is an amazing woman, to first lose 200 pounds, run a half-marathon with a headache and to continue to plow through life. She has given me hope that I can continue on as well and maybe one day I will run my half-marathon as I originally planned in 2008. I think her ideas of laughter as medicine is the best suggestion and I will go on trying to find the positive on the tough days and looking to my wonderful husband for laughter on the bad ones.

One quote I loved and could relate to from the book:

I’d read about other people’s experiences at these institutes on the headache forums online. I’d been surprised that people in that much pain had been able to set up and maintain online forums but there they were. I was a lurker on the forums and never posted or interacted with others. I wasn’t sure why I’d never struck up a conversation with my fellow pain sufferers. It was just easier to lurk, read up on the information I needed, and then log off without getting too involved in other people’s misery. When I’d blogged about my weight loss , I didn’t start commenting on other peoples blogs until I’d lost almost one hundred pounds. I wasn’t sure how long I’d have to have my headache before I felt comfortable to raise my hand in front of the class and talk about it.

I often feel the same way - I have lurked on forums for my problems but never post - I just don't feel right for some reason.

"Not having a name for my disease was almost as frightening as the disease itself. How could I fight something I couldn't name?"

"My headache no longer seemed like a big deal. I clearly wasn't the only person in the world in pain. I probably wouldn't even make the list of top ten most suffering people in the building. A dose of perspective might not be a cure, but it made me feel a lot better about my own situation. No matter how b ad your life was, there was always someone whose life was worse."(less)

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Mar 10, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lisa

Shelves: memoirs, sus

I went back and forth on this one - 3 stars or 4 stars? I wish I could give it 3 1/2. Anyone who has ever suffered from chronic pain of any kind can relate to what Fulda goes through (and -SPOILER ALERT- is still going through). I'm a migraine sufferer myself, but a few years back I got a "tension" headache that wouldn't go away for months and went through many of the different tests and treatments Fulda did- MRI's, CT's, different drugs, etc. I described my pain to people as the feeling you get...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Naomi Young rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

This is a book about chronic pain that will make you burst out laughing. That is no mean feat, I'm sure you will agree. Fulda chronicles a year of living with a headache, or perhaps I should say learning to live with one.

Anyone who has dealt with a chronic condition will be able to relate to Fulda's descriptions of waiting rooms, questionnaires, and bizarre insurance restrictions. She runs a gamut of traditional and alternative treatments, takes supplements and narcotics (prescribed and otherw...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a regular reader of Jennette's blog, pastaqueen.com, and I have also just recently read her first book, Half-Assed: A Weight Loss Memoir.

Comparatively, this book is not nearly as light-hearted nor as funny as Half-Assed, but I found it to be easier to follow and better written.

Chocolate and Vicodin offers a great deal more insight into her suffering and how she overcame that suffering. While it seems counter-intuitive that a book about losing 200 pounds actually chronicles less suffering th...more

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Mar 07, 2011 Mandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-reviewed-for-wellreadwife-com

For the full review go to The Well-Read Wife

Heartbreaking. Sweet. Funny. What do these words have in common? They are all adjectives that could be used to adequately describe Jennette Fulda’s memoir Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest For Relief From The Headache That Wouldn’t Go Away. Fulda’s story begins as she is about to start promoting her book Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir. With a new book out it seems like everything in the author’s life would be going great, right? Wrong. Shortly before...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Celeste rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, readinthepast

I've read her blog and her first book, so I decided to read this one too.

This one was much darker than Fulda's last book. At times it was really whiney, so much that I would have to put it down. I found her interactions within the US health care system very interesting.

In the end she dealt with the changes in her life and came to terms with them. I admired that, but I wondered if I'd really needed to read so many pages of pure "woe is me." I often wondered who exactly she was trying to convince...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Darrow rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not quite as engaging as Jennette's first book, "Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir" but still very readable. The author tells about her search to end her endless headache and along the way discovers that there are thousands of people who deal with chronic pain on a day-to-day basis, some for year after year.

I've got a lot of books I'm in the process of reading but Jennette's book was a fast read for me because I was caught up by her quest for relief and wanted to find out what happened. An easy,...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book and I really thought I would...but I didn't. The author came across as boring and whiny and not someone I could relate to or sympathize with. I was put off by her unexamined skepticism and ignorant comments about alternative approaches to dealing with her headaches. I'm not an ardent fan of naturopathy and alternative medicine, but I am open to new ideas and willing to consider that allopathic medicine does not always have the answer. It was annoying that she wa...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Hanna rated it 3 of 5 stars

A lot of people with chronic pain symptoms adored this book, but the author annoyed me a little.

She often came across as quite smug that she belonged to the Pain Club and you don't, like it somehow makes her a better person. She doesn't even really accept her pain and takes it out on everybody around her, including the readers of her blog.

Self-righteous attitude aside, I did enjoy the book itself. Ms Fulda can write very, very well as it's not often that a pain memoir can make me laugh out loud....more

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Mar 26, 2011 Hillary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ipad

I enjoyed this book about the author's experience with chronic headache. I wasn't thrilled with what felt to me like an abrupt ending. I would have given an extra star if the ending had offered more in the way of closure or even a sense of looking foward to something specific...
I like the author's breezy, witty style. I certainly empathize with the feeling that living in chronic pain, while perhaps better than the alternative (death), is no walk in the park. I'm glad to hear that the author's h...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Charlotte rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-readers-copy, nook

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

I really enjoyed Chocolate and Vicodin. The author takes us on her quest of finding relief. Through every doctors visit and every alternative medicine suggestion, she details the constant pain, trying to remain upbeat and that is admirable. I really enjoyed the author, even in her pain, she writes a great book. Before I was even a few chapters into the book, I went and downloaded Half-Assed. I can't wait to read about her weight loss journey!

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Sep 17, 2012 Jamie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

As someone who gets a lot of headaches/migraines, I was interested to read this book. The author gets an unexpected headache that just won't go away, and this book is conceivably about how she learns to live with it.

Not a bad premise. The challenge, though, is executing this book in a way that is engaging and also somewhat productive in that it gives the reader a decent reading experience. I think this book failed on both counts.

A lot of the book is deadly dull descriptions of going to work, goi...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Erin by: Lori

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-memoir

Saw on Lori's feed and it looked interesting. It was on super-sale at Amazon, and now, here it is!

I spent the first half of 2011 desperately searching for the solution to a major health problem, so I thought that I would be able to empathize with Fulda's plight. However, she really put me off with her dismissive tone toward her blog readers and others who tried to help her. Granted, they often had theories that were a bit out there, but if someone cares enough to take time out of his/her day to...more

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Jul 06, 2011 LiteraryMarie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love memoirs. Absolutely love them! So when I saw Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away on the bare shelf of a closing Borders, I immediately grabbed it. It was so meant for me to own. Every time I have a migraine, I have a sinking feeling. What if it won't go away? Well, this book is about a 27-year-old with a chronic headache.

Jen Fulda went to bed on February 17, 2008, with a headache. Three years later, it still hasn't gone away. The pain caus...more

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Jul 17, 2011 Alana rated it 2 of 5 stars

I chose this book because I myself suffer from headaches and migraines for over 10 years and I was curious how the author dealt with her one headache that lasted for years... So awful. I feel for her. I've had headaches last for a few days or had separate headaches 9 days in a row but able to rid them with my prescriptions. I ended up skimming the book alot. I was really interested in what kind of prescriptions and doctors she went to for her headache. But overall I wasn't impressed with the wri...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Eileen Imbus rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I chose to read Chocolate and Vicodin, it was merely due to the fact that I needed a book to read. At that point, I had no clue what I was getting into. This book, about a women trying to find a cure to her three year old headache, sucked me right in. The way the author writes, how she deeply makes the reader feel all of the pain she was going through, makes you want her to go on and on about what she's going through at that very moment, and jump to the conclusion simultaneously. My favorit...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Angie Morton rated it 4 of 5 stars

It was so refreshing for someone in constant pain to keep her humor about her. I applaud her honesty and candor as she tries pretty much any option out there to rid herself of the pain. I am a chronic daily headache sufferer and I felt like she was writing the things that I thought were only locked up in my own melon of pain! Bravo and thanks for the laugh...it is the best medicine(not that any ever work)!!

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Oct 22, 2011 Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I gave this 5 stars because I should have written this book. I have said, in near exact words, so many of the things that she said and wrote about. As a sufferer of chronic pain for nearly 3 years, I just plain identify. AND, I had also lost a significant amount of weight prior to the pain's onset, like the author. It's all back now, with a vengeance. The worst irony is that the surgery I had after my weight-loss may have caused my back problems. So do I understand this book? Hell, yes. I have t...more

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Jan 03, 2012 RoseAnn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to RoseAnn by: Kristina Wilds

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 23, 2012 Shoshana rated it 5 of 5 stars

I would not have thought it possible to write such an entertaining book about a headache that would not go away. Jennette's dry humor mixed with very real frustration and hopelessness perfectly captures the reality of chronic pain. She does mock the people who try to give her advice, and perhaps that comes off as a little obnoxious, but it's not over the top.

The ending was actually better than I could have predicted. Again, it's real and honest and better than any fabricated storybook conclusion...more

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Mar 18, 2011 Susan Erhardt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-nonfiction

Jennette Fulda's book was a very witty account of her headache that came and stayed and stayed. I could soooo relate to the "pain" of living with chronic pain, but I found it odd that she got so impatient with blog readers who suggested various ideas to help her. Geez -- they cared about her enough to try and help, and she writes very snarky criticism about their advice.

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About Jennette Fulda

Jennette was born weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces, but eventually tipped the scales at 372 pounds before losing almost 200 pounds through diet and exercise. In 2008, she got a headache that still hasn't gone away and tried everything from pills, pot, and acupuncture to relieve it. These experiences are chronicled in her books "Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir" and "Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for...more

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