"Hogwarts Headaches" seen as result of Harry Potter "Spell"

[matcom]

<snip>

BOSTON (Reuters) - The spell cast by the latest Harry Potter (news - web sites) book may have an unintended side effect.

A Washington doctor warned that he has seen three children complain of headaches caused by the physical stress of relentlessly plowing through the epic 870-page adventure.

Call them Hogwarts headaches, named after the wizard school that Harry attends.

Dr. Howard Bennett of George Washington University Medical Center wrote in a letter to this week's New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites) that the three children, ages 8 to 10, experienced a dull headache for two or three days.

Each had spent many hours reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=5&u=/nm/20031030/od_nm/harrypotter_dc

[Bozola]

1. That's nothing!

I've had a headache ever since I was required to read Joyce's Ulysses...and that was twenty-five years ago!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I swear...We want to get our kids to reading, then complain when they get headaches...TAKE THEM TO THE EYE DOCTOR...they more than likely need glasses. Why didn't this ever happen before? BECAUSE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO BLAME SHIT ON...and Harry Potter books are the closest thing around...How lame...I swear...what's next? Are they going to sue JK Rowling because her books are so long their kids are having headaches? Ridiculous.
Duckie

[demnan]

3. Shows how f***king stupid this guy is

you don't need a syndrone for every g**durned thing that happens in this world. This guy is just seeking publicity.

Three kids got headaches, big deal!

[MaineDem]

4. Gimme a break!

This is ridiculous.

I get a headache reading in the car and I have since I was a kid. Should I blame it on whatever I was reading? Good lord!

(Rest assured, I am never driving when I'm reading...wouldn't be prudent, don't you know.)

[curse10]

5. I got a tension headache while reading the damn thing

I was laid up in bed with a cold so I read for 8 hours straight- it does put a strain on your body.

[DrGonzoLives]

6. What a moron

How horrible - children reading books, instead of watching TV! The horror! The horror!

[supernova]

7. How lame

LOL!

This guy can't think of a legitimate research paper to submit to NEJM so what does he do? Write a LTTE about "Hogwarts Headaches". Dumb. He'd probably rather be doing plastic surgery in Hollywood.