Book picks similar to
Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis by Jeffrey N. Gingold
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non-fiction
autobiography
Covid-19: What You Need to Know About the Coronavirus and the Race for the Vaccine
Michael Mosley - 2020
Based on the latest scientific discoveries, Dr Mosley provides a fascinating and detailed understanding of the secrets of this coronavirus, how it spreads, how it infects your body and how your immune system tries to fight back. With access to leading experts, he reports on the battle to find treatments and a safe and effective vaccine (ultimately, the only way to defeat the virus). Armed with the facts about Covid-19 you'll be in a better position to protect yourself and your family as the world begins to reopen. Eating well, sleeping soundly, exercising and managing stress are all vital for keeping your body and immune system in the best possible shape to fight the virus. These are areas where Dr Mosley, creator of the 5:2 diet, is well known for his science-based and practical approach.
Happy Healthy Gut: The Natural Diet Solution to Curing IBS and Other Chronic Digestive Disorders
Jennifer Browne - 2014
Jennifer Browne reveals the common denominator present in almost all chronic digestive angst: food. What we choose to fuel ourselves with has a direct impact on every part of our bodies, starting with the digestive system. Browne urges us to own responsibility for our own health and make conscientious decisions regarding the cause and effect foods have on our digestive tracts. Written in frank, humorous laymen’s terms and sharing her own personal success story along with others’, Browne passionately educates her readers on why a plant-based diet is the only prescription necessary for a happy, healthy tummy. Discover the direct correlation between digestive trauma and factory farming; the incredible benefits of juicing, fermenting, and sprouting food; the reason why GMOs lead to IBS; and what ingredients really just translate to “sugar” or “lab-created chemical.” Heal Your Gut is an easy read that is truly important and highly informative for anyone who has ever dreamed of a perfectly functioning digestive system.
Cholesterol Down: 10 Simple Steps to Lower Your Cholesterol in 4 Weeks--Without Prescription Drugs
Janet Bond Brill - 2006
Janet Brill offers you a revolutionary new plan for taking control of your health—without the risks of statin drugs. With Dr. Brill’s breakthrough Cholesterol Down Plan, you simply add nine “miracle foods” to your regular diet and thirty minutes of walking to your daily routine. That’s all. This straightforward and easy-to-follow program can lower your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by as much as 47 percent in just four weeks. Cholesterol Down explains Dr. Brill’s ten-point plan as well as the science behind it. You’ll learn how each miracle food affects LDL cholesterol and how the foods work together for maximum effect, as well as:• How eating whole grains helps reduce LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream• Why antioxidants keep plaque from building up in your arteries • How certain steps change the structure of LDL cholesterol particles (and why it’s best for them to be large and fluffy)• Why walking just thirty minutes a day lowers “bad” cholesterol and cuts dangerous belly fatWith everything you need to stay focused on the plan, including a daily checklist, a six-month chart for racking LDL cholesterol changes, tools for assessing your risk level for cardiovascular disease, sample weekly menus, and even heart-healthy recipes, Cholesterol Down is the safe and effective alternative or complement to statin drugs.
The Patient Paradox
Margaret McCartney - 2012
Explaining the truth behind the screening statistics and investigating the evidence behind the hype, Margaret McCartney, an award-winning writer and doctor, argues that this patient paradox - too much testing of well people and not enough care for the sick - worsens health inequalities and drains professionalism.
Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness
Ben Watt - 1996
He didn’t leave for two and a half months. Watt had developed a rare life-threatening disease that initially baffled doctors. By the time he was allowed home, his ravaged body was forty-six pounds lighter and he was missing most of his small intestine. Watt injects pathos and humor into his medical nightmare, writing about his childhood, reflecting on his family and on his shared life with band member and partner Tracey Thorn. The result is a provocative and affecting memoir about life, illness, and survival.
My Lobotomy: A Memoir
Howard Dully - 2007
Yet somehow, this normal boy became one of the youngest people on whom Dr. Walter Freeman performed his barbaric transorbital—or ice pick—lobotomy.Abandoned by his family within a year of the surgery, Howard spent his teen years in mental institutions, his twenties in jail, and his thirties in a bottle. It wasn’t until he was in his forties that Howard began to pull his life together. But even as he began to live the “normal” life he had been denied, Howard struggled with one question: Why?“October 8, 1960. I gather that Mrs. Dully is perpetually talking, admonishing, correcting, and getting worked up into a spasm, whereas her husband is impatient, explosive, rather brutal, won’t let the boy speak for himself, and calls him numbskull, dimwit, and other uncomplimentary names.”There were only three people who would know the truth: Freeman, the man who performed the procedure; Lou, his cold and demanding stepmother who brought Howard to the doctor’s attention; and his father, Rodney. Of the three, only Rodney, the man who hadn’t intervened on his son’s behalf, was still living. Time was running out. Stable and happy for the first time in decades, Howard began to search for answers. “December 3, 1960. Mr. and Mrs. Dully have apparently decided to have Howard operated on. I suggested [they] not tell Howard anything about it.”Through his research, Howard met other lobotomy patients and their families, talked with one of Freeman’s sons about his father’s controversial life’s work, and confronted Rodney about his complicity. And, in the archive where the doctor’s files are stored, he finally came face to face with the truth.Revealing what happened to a child no one—not his father, not the medical community, not the state—was willing to protect, My Lobotomy exposes a shameful chapter in the history of the treatment of mental illness. Yet, ultimately, this is a powerful and moving chronicle of the life of one man. Without reticence, Howard Dully shares the story of a painfully dysfunctional childhood, a misspent youth, his struggle to claim the life that was taken from him, and his redemption.
Sleepwalker: The Mysterious Makings and Recovery of a Somnambulist
Kathleen Frazier - 2015
Eyes wide open. I was standing at an open window, staring at the dizzying curve of Riverside Drive, five floors below. I’d stopped, somehow, poised, about to jump.Growing up the good girl in an Irish American family full of drinkers and terrible sleepers, Kathleen Frazier was twelve when her seemingly innocent sleepwalking turned dangerous. Over the next few years, she was a popular A+ student by day, the star of her high school musical. At night, she both longed for and dreaded sleep.Frazier moved to Manhattan in the 1980s, hoping for a life in the theater but getting a run of sleepwalking performances instead. Efforts to abate her malady with drinking failed miserably. She became promiscuous, looking for nighttime companionship. Could a bed partner save her from flinging herself down a flight of stairs or out an open window? Exhaustion stalked her, and rest and love were seemingly out of reach.This is the journey Frazier illuminates in her intimate memoir. While highlighting her quest to beat her sleep terrors and insomnia, this is ultimately a story of health, hope, and redemption.
Blood, Sweat and Tea
Tom Reynolds - 2006
He has kept a blog of his daily working life since 2003 and his award-winning writing is, by turn, moving, cynical, funny, heart-rending, and compassionate. From the tragic to the hilarious, the stories Tom tells give a fascinatingand at times alarming picture of life in inner-city Britain, and the people who are paid to mop up after it.
Cancer-Free: Your Guide to Gentle, Non-toxic Healing
Bill Henderson - 2013
This latest book gives you a precise regimen for self-treatment along with extensive information on other resources now available to you.
Healthier Without Wheat: A New Understanding of Wheat Allergies, Celiac Disease, and Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance
Stephen Wangen - 2009
For millions of people, bread, pasta, and many other foods are bad for their health. Thousands of people have already come to their own realization that they are healthier without wheat in their diet, but it can be difficult to figure out when most doctors aren’t knowledgeable on the topic. This book provides validation for what these people have discovered, and explains how you too can determine whether or not wheat and gluten are making you sick. In Healthier Without Wheat you learn the difference between celiac disease, non-celiac gluten intolerance, and wheat allergies. You will discover how hundreds of health problems are connected to wheat and gluten reactions and why sorting this out on your own can be more difficult than you might think. You will also discover how you can be gluten intolerant even if you don’t have celiac disease, and why non-celiac gluten intolerance can be just as severe as or more severe than celiac disease. You will also learn how to determine if your infant or child reacts to wheat or gluten. Healthier Without Wheat also covers nutritional deficiencies commonly seen in gluten intolerance, and equally important, what to do if you are avoiding gluten but not getting better. You should read this book if you or someone you know suffers from any of the following: abdominal pain, chronic anemia (iron deficiency), arthritis, autoimmune diseases, constipation, depression, diarrhea, eczema, fatigue, fibromyalgia, frequent illness, headaches, heartburn, hypoglycemia, irritable bowel syndrome, irritability, migraines, or osteoporosis.
Cheating Destiny: Living With Diabetes, America's Biggest Epidemic
James S. Hirsch - 2006
James Hirsch’s myth-shattering blend of history, reportage, advocacy, and memoir will speak for, and to, the 20 million Americans who live with this disease. Cheating Destiny offers revealing views of the diabetic subculture, the urge toward secrecy that many diabetics feel, the glycemic rollercoaster they ride constantly, and the remarkable perseverance—even heroism—required for survival.Hirsch is uniquely qualified to write this book. An award-winning journalist and best-selling author, he has lived with type 1 diabetes for twenty-five years. His brother Irl, also a diabetic, is one of the country’s leading diabetologists. Most poignantly, he knows firsthand the toll diabetes can take on parents: his three-year-old son was diagnosed with the disease while Hirsch was writing this book.Hirsch draws on all this expertise to craft an incisive, surprising portrayal of the fascinating science behind the disease and the skyrocketing impact of diabetes on our economy and society. Most striking is his candid, authoritative writing about the psychological and emotional hurdles that diabetics confront every day. Anyone who lives with diabetes—or loves a diabetic—will find here an empowering voice of empathy.
The Paleo Chef: Quick, Flavorful Paleo Meals for Eating Well
Pete Evans - 2014
However, following this way of eating doesn't mean sacrificing flavor or spending a long time in the kitchen. In The Paleo Chef, Pete Evans, one of Australia's leading chefs and food personalities, shows readers how to prepare gorgeous food that is satisfying, flavor-forward, and good for you. A graduate of New York's Institute of Integrative Nutrition and an enthusiastic supporter of the Paleo movement, Pete's mission is to revolutionize the way we eat and live. The Paleo Chef is his breakout book, a visually rich collection of more than 100 of his most inspired, no-sacrifice recipes for every meal of the day, from Sprouted Seed Bread to Chia Seed Pudding, Grilled Asparagus with Roasted Bone Marrow to Chocolate Beet Cake, and more.
You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness
Heather Sellers - 2010
Heather Sellers is face-blind-that is, she has prosopagnosia, a rare neurological condition that prevents her from reliably recognizing people's faces. Growing up, unaware of the reason for her perpetual confusion and anxiety, she took what cues she could from speech, hairstyle, and gait. But she sometimes kissed a stranger, thinking he was her boyfriend, or failed to recognize even her own father and mother. She feared she must be crazy. Yet it was her mother who nailed windows shut and covered them with blankets, made her daughter walk on her knees to spare the carpeting, had her practice secret words to use in the likely event of abduction. Her father went on weeklong "fishing trips" (aka benders), took in drifters, wore panty hose and bras under his regular clothes. Heather clung to a barely coherent story of a "normal" childhood in order to survive the one she had. That fairy tale unraveled two decades later when Heather took the man she would marry home to meet her parents and began to discover the truth about her family and about herself. As she came at last to trust her own perceptions, she learned the gift of perspective: that embracing the past as it is allows us to let it go. And she illuminated a deeper truth-that even in the most flawed circumstances, love may be seen and felt. Watch a Video
The Good Doctor
Lance O'Sullivan - 2015
After being expelled from two schools, Lance could have gone off the rails. Instead, he found his way at Hato Petera College, connecting with his Maori ancestry, and going on to study medicine. After a brief but outstanding career working as a GP in the public health system, Lance and his wife Tracy quit their day jobs to set up a ground-breaking practice in the Far North that offers free healthcare to the many who can't afford it.For his work, Lance has been acknowledged as a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader, Public Health Champion, Maori of the Year and, most recently, Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.Passionate, brave and free-thinking, Lance stood up when no one else would. The Good Doctor charts his inspirational, one-of-a-kind life story, while relaying an overarching hope for a better New Zealand.
The Beauty in Breaking
Michele Harper - 2020
Brought up in Washington, DC, in an abusive family, she went to Harvard, where she met her husband. They stayed together through medical school until two months before she was scheduled to join the staff of a hospital in central Philadelphia, when he told her he couldn't move with her. Her marriage at an end, Harper began her new life in a new city, in a new job, as a newly single woman.In the ensuing years, as Harper learned to become an effective ER physician, bringing insight and empathy to every patient encounter, she came to understand that each of us is broken—physically, emotionally, psychically. How we recognize those breaks, how we try to mend them, and where we go from there are all crucial parts of the healing process.The Beauty in Breaking is the poignant true story of Harper's journey toward self-healing. Each of the patients Harper writes about taught her something important about recuperation and recovery. How to let go of fear even when the future is murky. How to tell the truth when it's simpler to overlook it. How to understand that compassion isn't the same as justice. As she shines a light on the systemic disenfranchisement of the patients she treats as they struggle to maintain their health and dignity, Harper comes to understand the importance of allowing ourselves to make peace with the past as we draw support from the present. In this hopeful, moving, and beautiful book, she passes along the precious, necessary lessons that she has learned as a daughter, a woman, and a physician.