Medicine and Health Books

Many women view the book Our Bodies, Ourselves as an essential women's health resource and also as a radically transformative influence in their lives. I hope Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth will become to pregnant women what the original book has been to women's health and empowerment.

The book is divided into five major sections: The Journey to Parenthood; Your Pregnancy; Giving Birth; Becoming a Mother; and Knowledge is Power. Subsections include an extensive chapter on prenatal testing and other important areas such as childbearing loss, coping with pain, and breastfeeding. A chapter titled "Relationships, Sex, and Emotional Support" was a particularly good one. The book has numerous contributing authors from a variety of backgrounds and organizations. Sprinkled throughout the book are italicized snippets of anonymous birth stories, often paired statements--i.e. an "I loved being pregnant!" segment and an "I hated being pregnant" segment. Then, inset into each chapter in box format, there are more complete stories or profiles that include women's names and photos. Overall, the book has very few pictures and only one series of photos of a woman actually giving birth (and she is in the semi-sitting position).

Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth is one of the only basic pregnancy books I've ever read that acknowledges the reality of violence against women during pregnancy and offers resources for seeking help if you are living with a violent mate. This book is also willing to address some unpopular or largely ignored subjects such as depression during pregnancy, HIV, STDS, and sexual abuse.

In the opening section of Chapter One the authors describe the "Climate of Confidence, Climate of Doubt" which becomes a thread running throughout the rest of the book. I love this way of articulating the messages swirling around pregnant women in our society.

The overriding attitude felt through this book is one that is the hallmark of Our Bodies, Ourselves in general--that ultimately, situations involving women's bodies are about each woman and what she wants and needs. The support offered is for HER regardless of the popularity of her choices with either the medical model or with childbirth activists---the woman wins out over anyone else's agenda. This is a truly woman-centered approach.

I had a minor critique of the persistent use of the term "breast-feeding" with a hyphen, which is not correct. In addition, the book's suggestions regarding overall newborn care routines in hospitals were surprisingly conventional and conservative.

Many of the most popular pregnancy books are rooted in medical model, conventional wisdom, and a climate of fear and doubt. This book is rooted in an empowerment oriented, woman centered midwifery model in a climate of confidence and competence. This book is a basic introduction to pregnancy and birth and is primarily directed towards the newly pregnant first time mother. I hope it finds a comfortable home on bookstore shelves next to (or in place of!) books about "what to expect" during pregnancy.
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An extended version of this review originally appeared in CfM News. Visit the Citizens for Midwifery blog at cfmidwifery.blogspot.com.

By far the most up to date literature available about women's health and childbirth. So many popular texts are out of date and propel inaccurate information. However OBOS uses the latest research to create a useful narrative for women. An example is that latest research indicating the risks/benefits of SSRI's during pregnancy; many old texts inaccurately tell women to discontinue medications while now research illuminates the physiological damage untreated depression can have on the fetus. Great reference book --

This book for pregnant women has all the best features of books written by the authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves. It has in-depth health care information on normal pregnancy and birth as well as problem and hi-risk pregnancies... and it offers loads of how-to's and practical advice, and of course lots of appropriate reassurance. In addition, it takes you from conception thru to post partum. One stop for all women who will become mothers... either the first, second, or more times.

Of all the books on pregnancy I've read, this one has been the most reassuring. As another reviewer mentioned, it's written in the same styles Our Bodies, Ourselves, which remains excellent through its many editions. It's not an especially thick book, and I would have loved to have seen more pictures, and personal excerpts, but everything important was covered, and the writing style was wonderful.

This book addresses itself to older women, teen mothers, single mothers, those with female partners, those living with diseases like HIV and diabetes; in short, all of the groups who got snubbed by most of the other books. It doesn't tell you how much weight the fetus should gain in each month, but that information's easy to find elsewhere. It does focus on making informed decisions about prenatal care, pain management, and maternal/fetal health, without talking down to the reader. Issues where there is normally controversy were handled gently; breastfeeding is encouraged, but formula feeding mothers aren't judged.

It's worth noting that the book does address some topics that may be upsetting, such as choosing to abort a fetus because of genetic testing, and stillbirth. These issues are very relevant, and handled calmly, but some chapters may be best skipped by the hormonal. I was glad to see that problems like depression took precedence over heartburn, and that a huge resources section was provided at the back of the book.

Highly recommended, and will be on my gift list for friends as they have their children. I don't want to give my copy up.

I've read loads of pregnancy books and have to say this is one of those rare ones that really settled a lot of my fears. It has lots of good, useful info for pregnancy and beyond. I learned a lot and will pass it on to friends in teh future. A recommend, along with You Know You're Pregnant When. Reflections on the Longest Nine Months of My Life

I sit behind a computer all day, then run off and play outside or participate in comeptitive contact sports, so the information and techniques packed into this CDROM are indispensible to me! The material is navigated by using a clickable "body map" for locating information by the location of your pain. While it took some repetition to learn to apply pressure to certain trigger points, with the help of the videos I am now able to feel remarkably better using only a handful of the techniques after a day at work followed by hockey or biking or riding or whatever!
I think the key to success with this information is repetition-- and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to stay active longer and recover from injuries quicker. I also use the Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches & Migraines: Your Self-Treatment Workbook for Pain Relief by the same author and can recommend it highly.

As a trainer and practicing therapist with over a decade of experience
in bodywork and natural healing, I found the techniques and video
within "Pain Relief with Trigger Point" to be very clear and well
demonstrated.

I have used them to relieve pain for many of my clients
and loved ones. Every therapist and those who manage pain themselves
or as a care-giver should own a copy. Superb!.

I own several books on pain management and physical fitness, but this little CD is the best "book" I have that addresses muscle/body pain and how to eliminate it. There are detailed drawings of muscles, body photos showing trigger point locations and referred pain, well organized text, and movies demonstrating the self-help technique that Ms. DeLaune teaches. If I were to own just one book on pain management, this would be it. Check it out! You won't be disappointed.

I recently bought this, and after a short time using it, I can recommend it highly. Besides very clear advice and tips about various muscle pain problems, the video clips are extremely helpful, showing clearly how to work on the trigger points. The video clips are one of the best things about this CD-ROM. There is also a very good website for this CD-ROM, that includes sample video clips - on www.triggerpointrelief.com

This is an amazing piece of work - so much effort must have gone into making this. The techniques were so helpful, I felt better almost immediately. The videos were especially good, since a lot of times I can't tell from written descriptions what I'm really supposed to be doing. The menus that showed where pain was coming from helped me figure out where my problem really was, and I realized my massage therapist wasn't getting to all the right areas. I would highly recommend this CD to anyone with pain!

This is the perfect book for Massage Therapists, it covers everything the therapist needs to know and how to treat client complaints through the gentle art of massage therapy.

I was disappointed to receive what I feel is a rather expensive book and find that in flipping through the pages, that some of them were upside-down. I expect perfection when buying a new item!

Excellent reference material...easy to find Pathology. As a praactitioner I do not work on medical cases at this time but find this manual a must...it is informative.

This book is very helpful to the massage therapist. It helps with having a short description of the disease, what strokes to use, and the best way to position the body, and a rough idea of how often you should give the client a massage

This is a great book for learning pathology. I'm a massage therapist and this helped me to learn certain conditions such as fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis for school exams and for the national boards. If you really want to know the kind of questions asked on the National Certification Examination get the following on amazon: "The Ulimate Study Guide for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Key Review Questions and Answers" (Volume 1), (Volume 2), and (Volume 3). Each volume covers each section of the National Certification Examination so thoroughly and the questions really help you know which areas you are weak or strong in.

This book was a great source of advise. It guided me and help me make some decisions. Dr.Cohen writes a very clear and easy for the lay person to understand.
D.Murphy

A group of instructors at The Institute of Continued Learning, Roosevelt University in Schaumburg, IL were so impressed with Dr. Cohen's book they are giving a summer course based on it.

The doctor dispenses vital information regarding the avoidance of medical errors as he leads the patient through the complex medical exam with the ease of clear writing, giving impressive examples to draw from while focusing on the importance of personal health care awareness.

This excellent book should be a staple in everyone's library. It's an easy read and the information on websites and recommended books at the back are well worth the price alone.

M. Temple
ICL-Roosevelt U.
Schaumburg, IL.

Dr. Cohen's thorough coverage of each step of your annual exam prepares you for an interactive exam with your physician.
Better communication avoids missed questions and helps prevent possible errors in your health care.
Thank you Dr. Cohen, for this user-friendly guide enlightening us all to be informed patients!

Kathleen Young
North Hampton NH

Everyone should take a more active role in monitoring his own personal health. Dr. Cohen walks the lay person through the physical exam and the areas where medical errors are liable to occur. He breaks down the mystery of medical data we are given and don't understand from our doctors. The book is well written and provides much insight into what a lay person may encounter during medical procedures. Highly recommended!

As a physician, I strongly recommend this important book.
Many if not most, patients have habitually accepted the advice of their physicians,their prescriptions and the meds handed out by nurses in hospitals or pharmacists without getting themselves informed about their own treatment. This invaluable book provides all the information and encouragment the public needs to get deeply involved in understanding their own care. The result of being well-informed could well-be life saving if it helps avoid medical errors.
A. Sommaripa MD

Product came as it was described-- like new. I was happy with it and it came in a very timely manner.

Campbell and the others are great authors, the textbook is easy to read and contains excellent information in an logical and beneficial format.

My primary practice is outpatient orthopedics with just a small portion of my patient population falling in the area of pediatrics. I love this book as a reference and have found it invaluable time and time again.

I have used this book innumeral times in the clinic whereI work. A must have reference for any pediatric therapist. Well worth the money if you are looking to learn more about the special need of children.

This book, now in its third edition, has now become the foundation of our field. In studying for the Pediatric Specialty Exam given by the American Physical Therapy Association, we, in our study group, have found this book to be an invaluable compilation of evidence-based therapy for virtually every major pediatric diagnosis requiring physical therapy intervention. We all thank you, Suzanne Campbell, for a thorough job well done.

very easy to read book with alot of information for the pa or future pa

This book was very helpful to me. It helped make up my mind about what career path to pursue. The authors give insight into the history and future of the PA profession. They give numerous charts and graphs showing statistics on the PA profession as compared to other professions. I especially found it helpful that they compared the Nurse Practitioner to the Physician Assistant, which are two very closely related professions. Before having read this book, I was pretty sure I wanted to become a PA. After reading the book, I further considered the possibility of the NP career. The book definitely is a must read for prospective PA's. I don't think that it would be as enjoyable for current PA's or current PA students though. The information is a bit outdated as far as how many PA programs are accredited as of today and so on but that's to be expected. However, overall, I do recommend this book very much.

Utilizing this book for a course in Health Delivery Systems bring the PA concept clearly into focus for PA students. Practicing Mid-level practitioners, healtcare manageres and physicians will gain a greater understanding of the roots, current utilization and future possibilities of the Physician Assistant. Well-researched and written by two "experts" in the field of Physician Assistant history, utilization and economics. Recommend highly for personal collection or booklist.

This book provided a fascinating and educational read about the Physician Assistant (PA) profession. It included information about history, development, current status, educational process, clinical roles, legal aspects, financial aspects and future direction. The book was remarkably comprehensive, clear and concise, citing hundreds extensively researched studies. As a graduate student in PA studies, the book was of special interest to me. However, the thorough exploration of the dynamic relationships of PAs with other health care professionals and health care organizations leads me to believe that the book would be of interest to a myriad of persons involved in health services delivery and management.

Clear, concise and interesting reading. The authors have compiled the most recent data on the profession and present it in a thoughtful and logical fashion. A "must-read" for prospective and current PA students, graduate PAs, physicians and administrators. This book will answer ALL the questions.

The book gifs an good overall view to the beginning, or more experienced doctor (or layman) in the physiology and pathophysiology of hyperbaric medicine. The book is rather complete and easy to read, it reads more as a novel than a scientific book. I use it as standard book for many questions in the field of diving or hyperbaric medicine. Besides this it gives a view at the treatment of diving disorders.

The book gifs an good overall view to the beginning, or more experienced doctor (or layman) in the physiology and pathophysiology of hyperbaric medicine. The book is rather complete and easy to read, it reads more as a novel than a scientific book. I use it as standard book for many questions in the field of diving or hyperbaric medicine. Besides this it gives a view at the treatment of diving disorders.

physiology and medicine of divin

This book is probably the standard work in the field of diving physiology. The contributers are the leaders in the field and this well referenced and thought out book is certainly a must for people who are involved in diving research and development.

The reason for only 4 out of 5 is that the book is probably too technical for the average person you need a reasonably good background in both physiology and hyperbaric medicine to get a true benefit from this book.

Otherwise a seminal text in the field

This is an in depth treatment of the physiology of diving. We use it as a reference at the UCLA Gonda Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine where we operate two large recompression chambers. The style is readable and useful, but I believe that interest in it will be limited to physicians, physiologists,and kinesiologists. For those interested in a less in-depth treatment consider the excellent U.S. Navy Diving Manual available on CD-ROM.
Another text more heavily weighted towards medicine is Diving Medicine by Bove. All three of these texts grace are shelves and are referred to regularly.
If the price puts you off, try lurking until a used one comes up.

Great reference book. Not quite as complete as Kent's Repertory, but it does have a Materia Medica, which Kent's does not. One of the books I always refer to. Has interesting section of Indian remedies, not normally seen. Pretty good index.

It is a exellent book for the Physicians practising Homoeopathy. It gives wonderful guidelines about using the repertory to all people. I have used this book during my Homoeopathic eduation all through the five years, for Materia Medica and Repertory. I would highly recommend this book to those studying Homoeopathy and also to those are Practising .It has a very precise way of explaining the drugs, and also the relation of that drog to other drugs. At the end of every drug the author has given the doseage of that drug in which it would best acts,the remedies that are best followed after that and lastly also the antidotes to a few drugs.

I have had this for a number of years. It was the first homeopathic book I bought. My copy is slowly disintegrating from hard use and its weak Indian binding.
This is the best (and was the first) single-volume reference for beginning homeopaths and home practitioners. It includes both a repertory and materia medica, plus relationships of remedies and other reference material. More advanced prescribers will want something more extensive, but nothing beats this for compactness.
It does have its drawbacks: it uses turn-of-the-century medical language (get Yasgur's homeopathic dictionary), it does not include new remedies, and it is of limited depth.
By the way, it includes nothing about HOW TO USE IT, so get another book on prescribing (can't remember a good title).

This is a great book and indispensable for the lay and professional practitioner alike. Note that Amazon is selling the Indian edition. The American edition has better binding, clearer print, is not as thick and costs more--a forewarning to those of you who expect the Amer. version, which is most common in health stores. Nonetheless, a great reference.

An excellent complete reference book. Materia Medica section lists symptoms by body part including respiratory, circulatory, mind and sleep descriptions. Corresponding Repretory is divided into physical sections, including genralities, and modalities. This is the first and foremost book I reach for when researching any case. Easy to use and well organized, unlike many of the other classic and contempoary manuals on homeopathy. This is my homeopathy bible!

Well written, easy to read and inspiring. Without getting into deep medical details (there are other fine books for that), it gives you valuable information and suggestions. I got this because my mother has a CII colon cancer (already operated and on chemo) and helped me quickly gain a good insight, so I can better support her (she can't read English, otherwise I would give it to her as a valuable present).

Colorectal cancers develop slowly in the lower portions of the digestive tract. More than 140,000 new cases are diagnosed annual in the United States. Men and Women are equally at risk for the diseases. Positive Options For Colorectal Cancer: Self-Help And Treatment by colorectal cancer survivor Carol Ann Larson accessibly and understandably explains just how to cope with the disease and obtain the best treatments that modern medicine has to offer. Positive Options For Colorectal Cancer addresses the warning signs of the condition; screening tests (including information on virtual colonoscopy); myths and other misinformation about the disease; treatment options (including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation); communicating with doctors and other medical professionals; prevention techniques and alternative methods of healing; as well as finding support and utilizing all available resources. Of special note are the Q&As in which doctors respond to the most common questions of colorectal cancer patients. Very strongly recommended for personal and community library reference collections, Positive Options For Colorectal Cancer should be considered "must" reading for anyone having to deal with this disease.

I have been in the health care field for twenty-five years, and I have never read a more readable book about one of the most important health issues of the day, colorectal cancer, and the vital importance of the early detection of it. This is a must-have for anyone in the field, containing actual case histories of countless people.

Robin Ray Robbins

Carol Larson's book is an excellent guidebook for a patient facing colorectal cancer. Instead of feeling helpless and awash in a sea of uncertainty when dealing with colorectal cancer, the book clearly guides the patient to identify the positive options available.

The format of the book is excellent. Each chapter ends with a summary of the chapter and provides techniques, direction and information about the topic of the chapter. It is flush with many human interest stories. The many colorectal patients who contribute to the various chapters in the book provide encouragment with their advice and reflections while helping the patient to cope. Their personal reflections are reassuring.

The book provides a clear description written with sensitivity to each of the factors of colorectal cancer: testing options, understanding the diagnosis, considering decisions about medical treatment, and other challenges. This book is clearly a guidebook for an uncharted journey. Yet, it is written in such a way to empower the patient. I recommend this book for anyone who has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer and their loved ones. It's a helpful tool.

Carol Larson's book, "Positive Options for Colorectal Cancer" has a unique blend of education as well as human interest stories. She has truly captured the emotion as people are dealing with the scary news of a cancer diagnosis, yet shows the positive ways they turned to cope with their diseases. This book should be a must read for all those in the medical field as well as families of loved ones in the struggle.It's easy to read and simple to understand.The illustrations help too.

This book is very informative for the newly diagnosed RSD patient. It has numerous treatments and therapies that can be helpful to relieve pain and swelling.

I am a RSD sufferer. I found this book to be extremely helpful. It is a easy read. In fact my Dad also picked it up and read it also. I think it was written exceptionally well. What else can I say???? But BRAVO!! and Thank you for writing this book.

ELENA'S BOOK IS A TRUE GUIDANCE THRU THE UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY WE ALL FACE WITH RSD!!! WHAT AN ACCURATE TESTIMONIAL TO WHAT HAVING RSD CAN AND WILL DO TO OUR LIVES. SHE EXPLAINS HOW WE CAN ADAPT DURING THE COURSE OF THIS ILLNESS WITH A COMBINATION OF TREATMENTS! PROVIDED WE BECOME OUR OWN ADVOCATES EARLY ON AND PERSIST AND NEVER GIVE UP HOPE WITH ENDLESS DEDICATION TO HEALING AND WELLNESS.................................AWARENESS LEADS YOU TO ADVOCATE TOWARDS HEALING
A MUST READ FOR EVERONE!!!!
WISHING YOU WELLNESS,
TRACY ZUCKERMAN

I was diagnosed with have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy almost 10 years ago, when there wasn't much information anywhere about this condition. This book has up to date information and is a great reference tool for those with RSD and their families.

What a wonderful book! I felt so great after reading this book- there is hope and it is in this book! I am not alone and not only that- I can get better! Please read with an open mind- relax- and stop stressing- we can beat this thing!