I'm in a Book!And Basically an Unofficial Spokesperson
- Courtney Colclasure
- Mar 31
- 2 min read
Hi, everyone! After a few months of laying low after my second surgery and a few more months of writer's block, I'm back with a fun announcement! My migraine story has been published in a book! In between my first and second surgeries, my surgeon, Dr. Lowenstein, emailed me asking if I'd share my story of migraine and life post-surgery. I obliged, and Doc's book was finally published at the end of February! The book goes into the science behind nerve decompression surgeries for migraine and cites the various research and studies done on the surgery's effectiveness. I am super honored to have been asked by Dr. Lowenstein to be one of the patient testimonials at the end of the book.
Dr. Lowenstein is truly doing everything he can to raise awareness about nerve decompression surgeries for migraine patients, and I'm so glad to help in any way that I can! Back in September, I visited Dr. Lowenstein's hired PR team, Branding LA, for a sit-down recorded interview to talk about my life with migraine. There was a makeup artist, cameras, fancy lighting and everything! For anyone on TikTok, I've chronicled my surgery updates through a few videos, and Dr. Lowenstein's office featured one of them on their socials last week. I even took to Reddit to share my experience, but that was met with much less positive feedback from the internet. A couple of Redditors let me know that the surgery was a sham and that they regretted their choice to have the procedure. One commenter even tried to persuade others not to listen to my story because I'd probably change my opinions in a few months when I end up in worse pain than ever before. These comments were kind of shocking to me since I was trying to offer up my story to anyone who hadn't heard of the surgery before. The internet is brimming with negative stories, and my goal was to be an example of a positive one because I realized happy people post-surgery are out living their lives and not sharing on the internet. However, unhappy people post-surgery are complaining on the internet for anyone to hear. After a few days of sharing my experience and trying to spread some positivity, I decided that was enough "awareness spreading" for me. I felt as if I was defending my choice to get surgery rather than informing people who are suffering that there's still hope. Some people want to stay miserable and make people around them miserable, too. Their misery was messing with my mental health, so I pretty much abandoned my Reddit post and am only replying to DMs about the surgery.
The editor of Dr. Lowenstein's book changed some things from the writing I submitted to him, but I'm going to attach my (unedited) testimonial so that you all can read it here. I highly encourage anyone interested in medicine, understanding the human body, or invested in my journey to living a pain-free life to purchase a copy of my surgeon's book- Headache Surgery: Understanding a Path Forward by Adam Lowenstein, MD, FACS.
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