Allergies Books

After many years of research, the authors try to prove that our environment is cleaner now than it was twenty years ago. That's welcome new to Al Gore and to all of us who have sentitive noses (and throats -- what pesticides attack first in my body) and allergies. This town I call home is one of the most pollutted places you could find. A few times, when Spring gets here and my allergies have reached their peak (and I'm sure I'm at death's door), I declare that I am alleergic to this town I use to love.

Pesticides are my major enemy, not the lawn chemicals, but the strong indoor kinds which were forced on me despite doctors' letters backing up my allergic reactions. I have ended up in the hospital emergency rooms due to being severely poisoned. So has Star, my cat of many years, had to have treatment at the vet. clinic.

Toxic mold is another thing which slaps me in the face as soon as I enter a contaminated area. I was the first to detect it in the Tennessee Theatre before it was renovated, and at Oak Ridge High School auditorium. Both have gone through intensive mold-removing process. You'll be glad to know that foam insulation in attics is now dry enough to make it safe for the installer and inhabitantsof the house. This used to be a major health scare, and I was concerned when John L. did his own insulation this year. I was shocked to know he stayed home long enough for repair work in a stone house, notoriously damp with killer wet basements, hard on books.

To kill germs in polluted rivers which supply our water, the utility companies expose us to dangerous chemicals which kill germs. But, if you consume this "treated" water, it can harm your bodies on the inside. Even
cooking or boiling does not extract the danger from too many chemicals. My biggest challenge right now is toting "spring water" from the stores to my new abode for coffee, cooking, drinking, etc. Even the instructions which came with my new coffeemaker demanded bottled water to be used in the appliance.

When I moved, I left the cleaning to people who get paid to use toxic chemicals. I gave up my deposit as I had purposely been poisoned enough by the management. Cleaning products is a large hidded risk and should never be combined; they are strong enough alone to kill an ox. Rug cleaners and dry-cleaning products cause cancer in mice. They kept Star sick, so now they have my money to replace the carpet. Lead in paint is fatal to infants and can cause birth defects in newborns.

Asbestos is a killer! One of our major business on Gay Street is so full of this toxin, the developer leaves it setting empty. I've tried to interest the mayor into letting us use it as a bus center to get in out of the elements. It's not like we'd be living there. There is some kind of work taking place outside that building now that the Mayor has admitted he was wrong in selecting the bus site on property owned by someone who wants to keep it intact. I stayed sick for months and developed stomach ulcers when I tried to eat the Meals on Wheels because of the food additives which made the oft inedible and stinky. The meals contain preservatives as they are processed in advance and stored. By the time they reach their destination, the bread in mine even was moldy, Several years ago, my residence was a cold, cinder-block "house" under a huge electric transforer (we have those in abundance in the Tennessee Valley as TVA is based here). I was dying, I thought, and six months in a small rural town brought me back to life and ready to take on the big hometown again. Any question about poisons from chloroform, arsenic, the silent killer (radon and natural gas), environmental (real or overblown) and household items are explained in this useful reference book.

This book attempts to be thoroughly comprehensive but ultimately fails because often some vital information is missing. I believe that health books which really empower are ones which give real, useable answers, not vague outlines. For instance, Mr Null does not tell me where to get the vital allergy tests done, what they cost, what they involve or which laboratorys/methods he recommends. He refers to these tests numerous times as providing part of the answer, but I am left feeling that I have a vague idea of the problem, but a wholly inadequate idea of the solution. Mr Null is NOT an allergy expert and it shows. The book is not completely useless, but my advice is to look elsewhere for help.

I read the book a few years ago and one of the things that amazed me was the tendancy for people to develop allergies w/o a family history of it. For example:

High Fructose Corn syrup is a derivative of corn.... used to sweeten reconstituted fruit which thru manufacturing processes lost it's sweetness. Many people develop an allergy to corn because upon consumption releases endorphines and causes emotional feelings that need to be constantly fed... in other words an addiction, hence the obesity factor.

Person eats food w/ corn syrup. Person experiences a high associated w/ endorphines. Person comes down off high and experiences anxiety. Person, ON A SUBLIMINAL BASIS, continues to consume food w/ corn syrup thus the obesity factor and thus the impossibility for many to lose weight.

There are also examples of people who are alcoholic because of the same reason. Incredible.
It's in there w/ complete studies. Doctors don't acknowledge it because they make too much money on treatments of overweight people and so does the pill industry. It's there just read it.

Don't believe me? Read this book.

A must read for those who are sauna aficionados and desire more from their sauna than a warm bum.

First, let me be clear; I read this book. If you are looking for a book on "How To" use a sauna for Detox Therapy - this book is not it. The content of this books spends only one and a half pages on the actual Detox regimen but, even then, only in oblique reference to Scientology and one research paper. The remainder of the content is largely "How To Build A Sauna". The Bibliography is a recitation of sources, many of which are not in print, or not on point. The few Detox Centers listed are out of business or do not actually use Saunas. Finally, and regretably the Source Guide is a mere recitation of wholesale or retail sources many of which never carried chemically inactive material items.

Ms. McVicker's book is a very useful guide to anyone suffering from Chemical Sensitivities. Her writing is accessible to someone unfamiliar with sauna detoxification jargon. There need to be more books written like this one. I know because I've looked.

I've been looking at cookbooks for people with allergies to dairy, soy, eggs and nuts. I was excited by the title of this book, but after looking at many of the recipes (especially in the dessert section) I was disappointed. The author calls for margarine in many of the soy-free recipes--but as far as I know a soy-free margarine does not exist.

I recommend the cookbook "150 Vegan Favorites." Solomon has many soy-free, healthy and exciting recipes.

I was so relieved to find this allergy free vegetarian recipe book after being diagnosed with mulitple food allergies. The recipes are user-friendly and unlike other allergy cookbooks I didn't have to make a special trip to the health food store to purchase special food substitutes and expensive ingredients in order to start cooking. My husband and I take turns preparing dinner and he enjoys the simplicity of the recipes and actually looks forward to serving up a new meal that is both "safe " for me to eat and delicious for the rest of the family to enjoy. I am interested in learning more about Dr. Rettner's chiropractic treatment for curing food allergies and I plan to look for someone in my area who is familiar with this technique. I highly reccomend this uncomplicated cookbook for allergy sufferers who would prefer not to have to take formal cooking classes before preparing delicious meals while they adjust to a new way of eating. The book has been a lifesaver for me!

I did not care much for this book. The recipes provided can be found in any cookbook dealing with allergies, and there was only a limited number of allergenic foods for which recipes were given. However, there is some useful information given in the book that would be helpful to a person just beginning to manage food allergies. Also, there is a little information on how to manage allergies naturally, through chiropractic manipulation. The reason I only gave this book a 2-star rating is that the average chiropractor will not know the techniques used, but of course one can always purchase the videos advertised in the book explaining to one's chiropractor how to do these tests and manipulations. I feel that if an author is going to present information in a book, one should not have to pay extra (by buying videos) to get the information needed.

A simple clear and enjoyable read, with particuar emphasis on asthma. Stephen Holgate and Martin Church have produced a book which puts across simply all what is needed to be known by any student interested in Asthma

This book has excellent pictures and tables, however it lacks in depth and substance. For example, in the atopic dermatitis section, there is no discussion on differential diagnosis/other clinical conditions to consider. The drug allergy chapter has a nice chart for drug desensitization, but the chapter lacks a good discussion on any of the most important drugs...IE the PCN drug section is skimpy at best. And for some reason, they don't even have devoted chapter on food allergy. Overall, I am disappointed with this book. This book is best applicable to medical students and residents. In my opinion, it will not fit the need of Allergy/Asthma/Immunology fellows or practicing staff. I highly recommend "Pediatric Allergy" (also from Mosby) which is an excellent resource for Pediatric Allergy. Patterson's Allergic diseases is also good reference.

Bodies In Protest is an account of how people with environmental illness attempt to makes sense of a mysterious disease the medical profession, with few exceptions, failes to recognize. It is very well-written and insightful. I learned a lot about the day to day problems of living with the illness and how difficult it is for people who suffer from it to live dignified lives. I suspect there will be plenty of science about this disease, but little human empathy for those who have it. This book is an effort to provide a human face to environmental illness. That it does so while also being theoretically evocative is a feather in the cap of the authors.

While this book presents some very interesting points of view, it fails to accurately represent the science on MCS and environmental illness. There are too many misstatements of fact. Many, many people suffer from this life threatening condition and yet the authors fail to properly represent the true scope of their misery. While I very much enjoyed the abstruse philosophical perspectives the authors present in matter-of-fact ways, the plights of suffers are treated in a too cavelier way! Worth reading, but don't look here for accurate information reflective of the broad nature this emerging public health catastrophy!

My husband and I have 3 children who are ADD, this little book has helped us so much that I would highly recommend reading anhd followimg the authors suggestions.

I bought this book for myself; I am an adult that was only recently diagnosed with ADD, and I wanted to try dealing with the problem naturally rather than always relying on drugs (which, if properly prescribed, are fine).

I will grant that there are some interesting ideas in here about nutritional deficiencies perhaps contributing to the symptoms, and they were helpful in pointing me toward researching more reliable sources on the same subject (the part about minerals like magnesium and zinc being common deficiencies I would never have known about). But they lost me a tad when they started discussing aromatherapy and Chinese medicine, and then I started questioning most of the book.

While I can appreciate this isn't a technical book, there is no attempt to show research studies backing up some of their claims, and some of the claims sounded like they were simply winging it in an attempt to paraphrase in an accessible way ("this causes heating in the brain"?? I'm hoping that was a typo). Other claims just sounded like pure BS, like they took the word of some schmoe in a pharmacy who claimed to know a lot about herbal supplements.

While I don't doubt a more natural and nutritional approach to treating ADD works best for many people, I believe there must be far better books out there on the subject.

Indeed in many cases a particular healthy fresh food may be detrimental to your little one. As a nurturing parent you clean, cuddle, and feed your child. But you sence that there is something wrong. A differential diagnosis to be considered is food allergy. Food allergy and intolerance is more prevalent than you might guess ( 8%). Unfortunately not recognizing it causes the affected child distress. A 15 minute visit with the doctor may prove beneficial. But there is no single reliable lab test that can prove that a child is intolerant to a spreific food or additive. Specialty consultations are in order. And thats where this well written functional book fits in. Comprehensive chapters range through symptoms - detection - diagnosis - prevention - treatment. Celiac disease, autism, eczema, atypical behavior are just a few conditions which are highlighted. Dozens of diets and specific food allergies are detailed in this informative book. Step by step processes are explained by a very well qualified author. She presents methods for analyzing and treating problems, never losing sight of the child's nutritional needs.

This book is ok, though I have found many bits of information that are either outdated or just plain misleading. Like recommending clarified butter for use if you should not have dairy. That may work for a small number of people with minor allergies who happen to get some that is 100% casein free, but it is very unlikely. There was also a doom and gloom attitude about the dangers of a restricted diet while breastfeeding and not a lot of support about sticking with it as being the best thing for your child. Plus outdated information on recommended breastfeeding guidelines and a lack of practical advice for living with food allergies and the emotional aspect of sticking to it made this book not worth owning, IMO. There are much better out there. So use common sense and research more in this book before you follow the recommendations.

Beware - there are NO recipes for pizza, bread and muffins in this cookbook as pictured on the cover.

If you are cooking for gluten sensitivity, allergy or Celiac Sprue, then buy this book. It's a good companion and a better outright cookbook to "Gluten-Free for Dummies".

If you have a lot of the common symptoms today, ADD, PMS, chronic fatigue, depression, belching, bloating, breaking wind, and the doctor says it's all in your head, check out this book and see if it's in your immune system instead. It's easy to use clinical ecology and rotation diets to eliminate or relieve most of the vague symptoms doctors don't know how to treat. It worked for me. I hope it works for you. This is good stuff!

This 'book' is nothing more than a short pamphlet. I bought it because 'Is This Your Childs World' (ITYCW) was not available. 'ITYCW' is a massive book detailing procedures to removing allergens of all kinds from our schools, but 'Recognize and Manage' is the sort of thing you'd expect to have handed to you by a doctor after a diagnosis of asthma.

Since 'ITYCW' is out of print, you may consider buying 'Is this Your Child' instead, but I would reccomend trying to get 'ITYCW' used if you can find it.

I tried hard to wade through this book, but it finally made me call out "Uncle." Since it was in paperback, I thought maybe it would be of interest to the general public, that is, people who do not have lupus themselves.

I don't think it would be of general interest to most people.

On the other hand, if you are a medical professional, a patient, or a family member, it could be exactly what the doctor ordered, so to speak.

The one part I did find interesting was the chapter on working, or otherwise receiving income, with this disability. Social Security did not, in those days, consider it a qualifying disability. But if you took the right steps, grieve, complain, grieve, complain, you could qualify.

It's the same today probably.

Diximus

Although this is a non-fiction book, it was very helpful in understanding the disease. Another book that does even a better job of this is the ficitonal novel, Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher . ..Ms Fisher has lupus and wrote this book with her heart! A fantastic read/ edited by her lupus specialist. ..It is enertaining, and captures every emotion known to men and women. And excellent book, meant to be shared. For sure you will love it.