The Hidden Plague: A Field Guide For Surviving and Overcoming Hidradenitis Suppurativa


Tara Grant - 2013
    Only a small fraction of those affected have been properly diagnosed, leaving many others to suffer in silence or pursue ill-advised conventional treatment methods that fail to address the cause of this painful condition. Tara Grant, a twenty-year sufferer of HS, has become an underground legend to her Internet community of HS victims by presenting a methodical, self-tested action plan to heal naturally. The centerpiece of her holistic approach rests on the understanding that HS is an autoimmune disorder caused by leaky gut syndrome. With a few simple dietary changes that eliminate certain “trigger” foods, you can heal your gut, restore your skin, reclaim your health, and rid yourself of HS symptoms forever. That’s it—no antibiotics, no experimental surgeries, and no more pain, suffering, or confusion.Q&A with Tara1. What was it about the subject you chose to write about in your book that made you feel so passionate about spreading the word and getting your book published? My motivation for writing this book was the overwhelming response I received from people on the Internet when I originally posted about it in March of 2012. It turns out it’s a pretty common condition, but many people (and doctors) don’t know what it is. It’s pretty standard to visit various doctors, and be told that you have “acne,” or to be subjected to butchering surgeries. There is no treatment for HS, according to the doctors. People with it suffer immensely—in fact, HS is acknowledged to be one of most painful conditions in the world. I’ve even received letters from doctors and nurses who suffer from HS, thanking me for telling them what it is that they have—and for offering them hope. The primary motivating factor for writing this book, however, was an email I received from a 12-year old girl, who said she was going to kill herself because of the pain she was in. I immediately wrote her back, but I never heard back from her. I am desperate to know that she’s okay. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did as a teenager—I myself thought about suicide on more than one occasion. I’ve had many letters from people who say they want to kill themselves since.2. HS is hard to diagnose, and many doctors aren’t even aware of its existence. How did you get a diagnosis? I’ve had HS since I was thirteen years old, but wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my mid-30s. Up until then, I saw over forty doctors from four different countries - none of whom could tell me what was wrong with me. I eventually found the name “Hidradenitis suppurativa” in a book about PCOS (also known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, which I also had) and could finally put a name to the horrible condition I had suffered from for so long. I took that information to a dermatologist. That’s when I finally got a diagnosis—over twenty years later. At that time, I had already changed to a Primal diet and my HS was drastically better, so I declined the antibiotics and Accutane the doctor prescribed. I also refused to believe what she said: “You have to live with this for the rest of your life.” I knew, as a longtime sufferer of HS, that the doctors I had seen had no clue what they were talking about. My journey was extremely frustrating, and I went through it completely alone. Over the years, I was told I had “adult acne,” and also told that they didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was also told that I was overreacting, not keeping clean enough, and told to lose weight. Not a single doctor showed any compassion, or was willing to look into the matter further. I eventually stopped going to the doctors, and didn’t return until I had already made changes and knew I was on the right track. I knew that if I wanted answers, I had to do the research and experimentation myself. I wasn't interested in how I reacted to different drug, I was interested in healing myself naturally.  I knew that I was on the right track with diet, so I started investigating Robb Wolf’s Autoimmune Paleo Protocol, and made specific tweaks for skin conditions. Results I had seen from others (Dr. Terry Wahls, for example) who had healed themselves from crippling autoimmune conditions were the only motivation I needed. When I started treating HS like an autoimmune condition, it went into remission. There are literally thousands of cases of this happening with different autoimmune conditions all over the world. I was also able to induce flare-ups with specific experimentation. This completely checks with autoimmunity. There isn’t a cure—you will always have the predisposition for autoimmunity—but you CAN go into remission. 3. Do you have any relatives or close friends that became diagnosed after you?  There is no one else in my family with this condition. There is a mistaken belief that HS is hereditary. It is not. However, some families have more than one member affected by it. The reason for this is that HS is autoimmune. In order to get an autoimmune condition, you need to have the gene for autoimmunity. The fact that the autoimmune gene manifests as HS in more than one family member is complete coincidence. If you’re suffering from HS, you more than likely have other autoimmune conditions - and so does your family. Family trees littered with Crohn’s, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, restless legs syndrome, diabetes, Lupus, endometriosis, eczema, psoriasis, HS, and more—all of which are autoimmune—are very common. If you have HS, you have the autoimmune gene, which you did inherit. If your gut becomes leaky, then you will eventually develop an autoimmune condition.4. Do you have advice for anyone seeking medical help for this condition? Read my book first. The Western medical community is still under the mistaken belief that HS is caused by bacteria, hence the prescriptions for antibiotics. They will not be able to help you, and will suggest butchering surgeries and heavy hitting drugs, which often make matters worse. You can’t “cut HS out,” like you do with a cancerous tumor. When you remove an organ or tissue that is being ravaged by an autoimmune response, you open up all your other organs and tissues to attack. That’s why there’s over an 80% chance of reoccurrence of HS after surgery, and people will often start flaring-up in areas that had been clear before. Sometimes, they even develop brand new autoimmune conditions. Luckily, you actually hold the key to healing in your hands. You can heal yourself. If you can avoid infection, then you don’t need doctors—or drugs— to help you go into remission.5. What is the one thing you would stress most to anyone unable to get a copy of your book at this time? Many people with HS are on disability and don’t have a lot of disposable income, or they have been taken advantage of in the past. If this is you, go to your local library and ask them to carry the book. Then, you can borrow it for free. How much does a 1-oz jar of EmuAid cost? Turmeric capsules? Surgery? Doctor visits and prescriptions? We’ve all fallen for so much. I bet if you sat down and tallied up how much you’ve spent on Band-Aids alone for your HS over the years, $26 would be a drop in the bucket. The great thing about this book is that if you are not satisfied, you can request your money back. If you get this 300-page manual and find that there is nothing in it that is of any help, you can ask for a refund from the publisher. Try asking for a refund for EmuAid when it doesn’t work. That being said, I would challenge anyone with HS to read this book and find nothing in it that’s helpful.6. Your book is a very important first step in making the public aware of this illness. Besides the book, how do you plan to raise awareness of HS?My goal is to get on the Dr. Oz show. I figure that will give us the biggest bang for the buck. Many people have HS, but are unaware of what it’s called. They’re too embarrassed to go to the doctor about it. I would encourage all of you to write to the Dr. Oz show and ask them to feature me, and ask your local library to carry the book. The only way we’re going to raise awareness is to GO BIG.

Vitamin D Revolution


Soram Khalsa - 2009
    Illnesses such as influenza, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and coronary heart disease have also been connected to a lack of this vitamin. Until not too long ago, not getting enough Vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) was only associated with rickets, the childhood bone disease. Now, Soram Khalsa, M.D., sheds new light on the power of this long-forgotten vitamin. He reveals how to recognize signs of Vitamin D deficiency, which has reached epidemic proportions in North America, and then shares insights from his Beverly Hills medical practice, where he normalizes his own patients’ Vitamin D levels for their optimal health.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right


Atul Gawande - 2009
    Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia


Mikkael A. Sekeres - 2020
    Your brain can't function. You are asked to make decisions about treatment almost immediately, when you are not in your right mind. And yet you pull yourself together and start asking questions. Beside you is your doctor, whose job it is to solve the awful puzzle of bone marrow gone wrong. The two of you are in it together. In When Blood Breaks Down, Mikkael Sekeres, a leading cancer specialist, takes readers on the journey that patient and doctor travel together.Sekeres, who writes regularly for the Well section of the New York Times, tells the compelling stories of three people who receive diagnoses of adult leukemia within hours of each other: Joan, a 48-year-old surgical nurse, a caregiver who becomes a patient; David, a 68-year-old former factory worker who bows to his family's wishes and pursues the most aggressive treatment; and Sarah, a 36-year-old pregnant woman who must decide whether to undergo chemotherapy and put her fetus at risk. We join the intimacy of the conversations Sekeres has with his patients, and watch as he teaches trainees. Along the way, Sekeres also explores leukemia in its different forms and the development of drugs to treat it--describing, among many other fascinating details, the invention of the bone marrow transplant (first performed experimentally on beagles) and a treatment that targets the genetics of leukemia.The lessons to be learned from leukemia, Sekeres shows, are not merely medical; they teach us about courage and grace and defying the odds.

Swimming Anatomy


Ian McLeod - 2009
     "Swimming Anatomy" includes 74 of the most effective swimming exercises, each with step-by-step descriptions and full-color anatomical illustrations highlighting the primary muscles in action. "Swimming Anatomy" goes beyond exercises by placing you on the starting block, in the water, and into the throes of competition. Illustrations of the active muscles for starts, turns, and the four competitive strokes (freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke) show you how each exercise is fundamentally linked to swimming performance. You'll also learn how exercises can be modified to target specific areas, improve your form in the water, and minimize common swimming injuries. Best of all, you'll learn how to put it all together to develop a training program based on your individual needs and goals. Whether you are training for a 50-meter freestyle race or the open-water stage of a triathlon, "Swimming Anatomy" will ensure you enter the water prepared to achieve every performance goal.

The DASH Diet for Beginners Essentials to Get Started


John Chatham - 2013
    Based on research by the National Institutes of Health, and chosen by U.S. News & World Report as its number-one choice in Best Diets Overall, Best Diets for Healthy Eating, and Best Diabetes Diets, the DASH diet rises above the noise of the gimmicky weight-loss plans.Created as a way for people with high blood pressure to enjoy the foods they love while working to reduce or correct their hypertension, the DASH diet uses healthful food choices, along with more nutritious ways to prepare favorite dishes, to allow people to eat a varied, delicious, and balanced diet. And although it wasn't created as a weight-loss diet, the DASH diet often does result in weight loss, which is a huge benefit to those who have diabetes or high blood pressure, or are at high risk of developing either disease.In The DASH Diet for Beginners, best-selling health and nutrition author John Chatham provides a straightforward approach to losing weight, reducing hypertension, and improving overall cardiovascular health. More than just a brief overview of the DASH diet, The DASH Diet for Beginners compiles everything you need to know to get started on a healthful new lifestyle. * 40 delicious and DASH-approved recipes include low-sodium versions of your favorite foods, from Creamy Spinach Dip and Beef Tostadas to Blackened Salmon Filets and Chocolate Strawberry Mousse. * DASH Diet for Beginners outlines much more than just the basic essentials to get started; it includes DASH diet guidelines and health benefits, scientific studies, a DASH diet foods list, and a healthy fitness and meal plan. * The Seven-Day DASH Diet Meal Plan provides an easy guide to jumpstart your health and weight loss.Lose weight, improve your health, and reduce your risk of heart disease with John Chatham's The DASH Diet for Beginners.

Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines


Suzanne Gordon - 1997
    Critics everywhere have hailed this book as a classic in the making.

Dissenting Diagnosis


Arun Gadre - 2016
    But while the unease is widespread, few outside the profession understand the extent to which the medical system is being distorted. Dr Arun Gadre and Dr Abhay Shukla have gathered evidence from seventy-eight practising doctors, in both the private and public medical sectors, to expose the ways in which vulnerable patients are exploited by a system that promotes unscrupulous medical practices. At a time when the medical sector is growing rapidly, especially in urban areas, with the proliferation of multi-specialty hospitals and the adoption of ever-more sophisticated technologies, rational and ethical medical care is becoming increasingly rare. Honest doctors feel under siege, professional bodies meant to regulate the medical sector fail to do so, and the influence of the powerful pharmaceutical industry becomes even more pervasive.

Mosby's Pharmacology Memory Notecards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses


JoAnn Zerwekh - 2005
    It is uniquely designed to help students master pharmacology both in class and in preparing for the NCLEX(R) examination. It will also benefit practicing nurses who'd like a refresher and memory device on pharmacology. Using a wide variety of learning aids, humor, illustrations, and mnemonics, it covers topics including administration, antibiotics, antivirals, anticoagulants, cardiac drugs, CNS drugs, diuretics, endocrine drugs, GI drugs, musculoskeletal drugs, OB drugs, pain, psychiatric drugs, and pulmonary drugs.Features 91 full-color illustrated mnemonics on individual drug topics and key drugs.Offers durability and portability with spiral-bound format and removable cards on sturdy stock.Perforated cards may be used as is, in spiral-bound notebook or removed for use as individual flash cards, which allows the reader flexibility when studying.Topics are listed alphabetically for quick reference.Offers easy referral, with tabs and color cover guide using a different color for each topic.Concise What You Need to Know drug monographs on the back of each image include quick information on drug action, use, contraindications/precautions, side effects, and nursing implications.

The Children's Nurse: The True Story of a Great Ormond Street Nurse


Susan Macqueen - 2013
    Susan Macqueen was 12 years old when she accompanied her mother to see her friend Ms. Fairweather, the matron at the local nursing home, and from that day on she knew she wanted to be a nurse. A few years later, despite being told that her grades weren't good enough, Susan was accepted on the three-year nurses training course at Addenbooke's hospital in Cambridge. It wasn't long before Susan knew she wanted to work with children and set her sights on a job at Great Ormond Street. Thirty-five years later, on her third attempt, Susan has finally retired from that iconic hospital and is enjoying a more leisurely pace of life. Hope, despair, laughter, and tears, Susan's stories move the reader through the incredible stories that she was faced with on an every day basis.

The Prison Doctor


Amanda Brown - 2019
    From miraculous pregnancies to dirty protests, and from violent attacks on prisoners to heartbreaking acts of self-harm, she has witnessed it all. In this memoir, Amanda reveals the stories, the patients and the cases that have shaped a career helping those most of us would rather forget.

EMERGENCY 24/7: NURSES OF THE EMERGENCY ROOM


Echo Heron - 2015
    EMERGENCY 24/7: Nurses of the Emergency Room, portrays thirty-one nurses, each with a distinctive voice and unique view of what really goes on behind the closed doors of the secret and chaotic world of the emergency room. Also included are the moment-by-moment chronicles of eleven nurses who worked in New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. These compelling accounts give new perspectives on the horrors and heroics of that tragic day. Ranging from inspiring to heart-rending to outrageously funny, these gripping narratives make EMERGENCY 24/7 a fascinating and provocative book—a fitting tribute to the frontline nurses.

A Paramedics Diary: Life and Death on the Streets


Stuart Gray - 2010
    A Paramedic's Diary is his gripping, blow-by-blow account of a year on the streets - 12 roller-coaster months of enormous highs and tragic lows. One day he'll save a young mother's life as she gives birth, the next he might watch a young girl die on the tarmac in front of him after a hit-and-run. His is a world of hoax calls, drunks and druggies, terrorist bombings and gangland shootings. A gripping, entertaining and often amusing read. About the author:Stuart Gray has been a guest on Saturday Live on Radio 4 and the Simon Mayo Show and the Donal MacIntyre Show on Radio Five Live.He has also appeared on TV in Bizarre ER. The Times named him one of the 40 Bloggers who really count and said that he 'encounters more blood-curdling drama on a single shift than most people would in a year' and that his writing is 'compelling and plainly written.'

Principles of Human Anatomy


Gerard J. Tortora - 1977
    A host of carefully crafted pedagogical aids support both the succinctly written narrative as well as the outstanding illustration program. Clinical applications, popular with students, represent a variety of clinical perspectives and provide both relevance and motivation for students as they study. The ninth edition of the text continues to break new ground in a modern day anatomy textbook by offering students a glimpse into the fascinating history of how we have come to know what we do, opportunities to explore structure from diverse perspectives, and insights into the vital contributions that anatomical knowledge brings to the understanding of functions and diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Goodman & Gilman's the Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics


Laurence L. Brunton - 2005
    Updated to reflect all critical new developments in drug action and drug-disease interaction. This is the desert island book of all medical pharmacology - if you can own just one pharmacology book, this is it.