Showing results by publisher "Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd" in Physical Illness & Disease

This is Bryce Courtenay's moving tribute to his son, Damon, a hemophiliac who died from medically acquired AIDS on April 1, 1991, at the age of 24. April Fool's Day is controversial, painful and heartbreaking, yet has a gentle humor. It is also life-affirming, and, above all, a testimony to the incredible regenerative strength of love: how when we confront our worst, we can become our best. This tragic yet uplifting story will change the way you think.

An astonishing new scientific discovery called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the adult human brain is fixed and unchanging. It is, instead, able to change its own structure and function, even into old age. In this revolutionary look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., provides an introduction to both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed.

Research over the last few decades shows that many of us – sufferers of chronic pain and health practitioners alike – are victims of a trick of the nervous system. Where we believe that pain has its root in a damaged body, it is the brain that prolongs the hurting after the body has healed. Paul Biegler, a science journalist and former doctor who has been on his own pain journey, investigates the true source of chronic pain – our brain’s so-called neuroplasticity – and emerging therapies that take advantage of that neuroplasticity to rewire the brain and end the suffering.

The awe-inspiring story of the life and mission of Dr. Catherine Hamlin who, with her husband Reg, established what has been heralded as one the most incredible medical programs in the modern world. The Hamlins, both Christians, dedicated their lives to women suffering the catastrophic effects of obstructed labour. The awful injuries that such labour produces are called fistulae, and until the Hamlins began their work in Ethiopia, fistula sufferers were neglected and forgotten.

Sixteen stories of amazing outback doctors and their heroic deeds, from the best-selling author of Nurses of the Outback. Imagine yourself critically injured or seriously ill in the middle of nowhere. You'd be hoping like hell there was a doctor nearby to take charge - someone resourceful, who'd think quickly and stay calm under pressure; someone who could, if necessary, take charge from a distance. You'd want to be in the safe and sure hands of one of these amazing bush doctors.

For most of human history, mental illness has been largely untreatable. Sufferers lived their lives - if they survived - in and out of asylums, accumulating life's wreckage around them. In 1948, all that changed when an Australian doctor and recently returned prisoner of war, working alone in a disused kitchen, set about an experimental treatment for one of the scourges of mankind - manic depression, or bipolar disorder. That doctor was John Cade and in that small kitchen he stirred up a miracle.

Viral video producer Briony Benjamin was a few months into a new job when she started feeling not quite right—All. The. Time. Doctors told her she was just stressed and should rest more and learn to meditate. But it turns out she had cancer all through her body. Briony shares some of the important lessons learnt through her illness and recovery—everything from how to assemble your A Team in times of crisis to learning happy hacks for cutting yourself some slack and some great tips on being a good supportive human when a friend is going through the rough stuff.

For decades, millions of ICU survivors left the hospital with disabling symptoms all now recognised as post-intensive care syndrome, or PICS. Many COVID survivors also suffer from PICS. Dr Ely’s ground-breaking investigations advanced the understanding of PICS and introduced crucial changes that reshaped intensive care. Dr Ely shows that this new way—technology plus touch—is the future of health care and is a proven path toward reclaiming vitality. Full of wisdom and heart, Every Deep-Drawn Breath is an essential resource for all those affected by critical illness.

If you suffer from chronic headache or migraine, you know that headaches can rule your daily life as you try to avoid triggers, cope with pain, manage unexpected attacks and spend hours trying different cures and searching for an answer. You've had all the scans, taken all the tests, but still don't have a definitive answer as to why you are constantly dealing with frequent, severe headache pain. Without an answer, the medical profession often ends up treating the symptoms with the long-term use of medication, which can end up making your headaches worse.

Gynaecologists Catherine and Reg Hamlin left Australia in 1959 on a short contract to establish a midwifery school in Ethiopia. Almost 50 years later, Catherine is still there, running one of the most outstanding medical programs in the world. Through this work, thousands of women have been able to resume a normal existence after living as outcasts. The Hamlins dedicated their lives to women suffering the catastrophic effects of obstructed labour - a problem easily dealt with in the developed world by assisted delivery or caesarean section, but disastrous without medical intervention.

As a psychologist specialising in court assessments, David Roland often saw the toughest, most heartbreaking cases. The emotional trauma had begun to take its toll - and then the global financial crisis hit, leaving his family facing financial ruin. So when he found himself in a local emergency ward with little idea of where he was or how he got there, doctors wondered if he had had a nervous breakdown - if the strain of treating individuals with mental-health problems had become too much.

When it comes to baby sleep, Lucy Wolfe has seen - and solved - it all. Her gentle stay-and-support approach has helped thousands of people achieve the holy grail of parenthood: a full night’s sleep! But even with the best routine things can go awry, so in All About the Baby Sleep Solution Lucy addresses the most common problems that interrupt sleep routines.   

The number one cause of insomnia lives in your subconscious mind. You toss and turn at night, trying to quiet your thoughts enough to fall asleep. Or you wake up hours before your alarm and stare at the ceiling, hoping that this time you’ll manage just a little bit more rest before sunrise...yet no matter how much you want it, sleep remains elusive. The truth is, for anyone suffering with ongoing sleeplessness, melatonin and a better mattress just aren’t going to cut it.

In the second Quarterly Essay of 2005, Gail Bell investigates Australia's depression epidemic. Why, she wonders, do well over a million Australians now take anti-depressant drugs? This is a fresh, frank and independent look at the depression culture and the move to medicalise sadness. Bell examines how the prescription culture operates, scrutinising the role of big drug companies and GPs and talking to those who take - and don't take - the new anti-depressants, from anxious students to lonely retirees.

With her new memoir Insomnia, Marina Benjamin has produced an unsettling account of an unsettling condition that treats our inability to sleep not as a disorder but as an existential experience that can electrify our understanding of ourselves and of creativity and love. Insomnia is a bravura piece of writing. At once philosophical and poetical, the book ranges widely over history and culture, literature and art, exploring a threshold experience that is intimately involved with trespass and contamination: the illicit importing of day into night.

Most people in the West fail to get enough sleep, which can contribute to serious health problems. Listening to this audiobook and acting on its advice could be the single best thing most people can do to boost their health and well-being. Lack of sleep is not just a matter of feeling tired. Recent research has shown that it is associated with serious illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. 

International authors and parents Jim and Lisa Valavanis share their inspirational story of what they went through and how they coped and survived when a family crisis struck down their son Sam. Sam was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at just 12 weeks of age and his parents thought his life was over before it had even begun. They didn't know what it meant to him for now, let alone in the future. How would he, and they as a family, get through this ordeal, and what kind of life would he have?

Transformative, enlightening and inspiring - a compelling and candid story of life with constant pain. Irish broadcaster and producer Andrea Hayes is well known to the Irish public for her positive, friendly and down-to-earth persona on television and radio. Hidden behind her smile, though, is Andrea's battle with constant chronic pain. After over 20 years of unanswered questions, misdiagnosis, failed procedures and despair, she was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, Chiari Malformation 1.

Winston Churchill, Andy Warhol, Tom Cruise, Agatha Christie, and Pablo Picasso were all famous and successful in their chosen professions. And they were all dyslexic. But what is dyslexia? Are there different types of dyslexia? Is there a cure? This guide answers these and other questions, providing a concise explanation of the causes and symptoms of dyslexia, a learning disorder that inhibits the reading and writing ability of millions of children and adults worldwide.

Cancer is the second biggest killer in the world, but few of us understand how it works or how we treat it. In this illuminating introductory audiobook, Paul Scotting explains the science behind the disease and explores why some of us are more likely to develop it than others. Arguing that we're in a new age of understanding that will revolutionise the fight against cancer, Scotting discusses cutting-edge developments and maps out the promising future strategies for its prevention, treatment, and cure.