Title: Awakenings
Author: Oliver Sacks
Performed by: Jonathan
Davis and Oliver Sacks
Genre/Category: Non-Fiction/Memoir 616.832
Published: originally/1973
Published: currently/Audible, Inc./2011
ISBN: 978-1-4805-3037-9
CDs/Hours: 11/13.25
Dates Listened to:
3/25/17 – 4/10/17
Encephalitis lethargica.
This phenomenon reared its ugly head after World War I. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people, men
and women alike, suffered from this trance-like state from which they were not
to awaken until Dr. Sacks came along. He
had seen how patients with Parkinson’s disease had rallied from taking Levodopa
or L-DOPA. From 1966 to 1991 Dr. Sacks
worked at a hospital in the Bronx and it is during this time that he ministered
to about 60 patients with this condition.
The book covers the case histories of some of these zombie-like
creatures. While many of them responded
to some degree from the use of L-DOPA, it was short-lived. Some reacted favorably like one man who went
on to live a productive life, others less so and were constantly having the
dosage changed or regressed to their early stage of their condition. Each patient, of course, has their own story
of how encephalitis lethargica affected their lives and it is in the
compassionate telling of each of these vignettes that we see the humanness of
both doctor and patient emerge.
It is a fascinating book, one that may be more to the liking
of those with a medical background. The
prelude that describes, in medical terms, what the epidemic is all about, was far over my head but I enjoyed the case
studies. Since the original publication
of the book in 1973, Dr. Sacks has updated the book five more times. The edition I listened to includes
information about the movie based upon the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment