A Pacemaker for the Brain: Deep Brain Stimulation Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe deep brain stimulation, mostly for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia, and in a few cases for epilepsy, Tourette, OCD and depression after eleven medicines. Writers include a maths teacher ashamed of her handwriting, a seamstress whose head pulled to one side, a general surgeon who lost his quiet hands, a wheat farmer five hours from his programmer, a truck driver who wanted his licence back, a violinist twisted at fourteen, and a woman with nine pill alarms on her phone, from Leeds to Cairo and Montana to Kuala Lumpur. Wives, sons, daughters and the mother of a twelve-year-old write from beside the bed. They cover awake and asleep operations, decisions taken by a whole family, a wrong diagnosis kept for four years, rechargeable batteries charged on Sunday afternoons, and the many clinic visits needed to adjust the settings. Some found steadier hands, fewer tablets and walks with the dog again. The book is just as plain about the rest: an infection at the collarbone, a battery that ran out mid-week, a softer voice, weight gain, a man told no, a woman who chose not yet, a year with no change in seizures, compulsive spending linked to a medicine, and Parkinson's that carried on regardless.

Who it's for

For people with Parkinson's, tremor, dystonia or other conditions who are weighing deep brain stimulation or adjusting to one, and for the spouses and grown children who drive them to every programming visit.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 281 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.