Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Publishing" in Physical Illness & Disease

For the first time in history, chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity plague our population on a global scale. From a seasoned physician, this paradigm-shifting book comprehensively explains the linked cause of chronic diseases and exposes the misconceptions prevalent in modern medicine. In Lies I Taught in Medical School, Robert Lufkin, MD, explains that metabolic dysfunction is the common underlying cause of most chronic diseases that has been overlooked for decades, providing the tools needed to prevent and reverse them in ourselves.

When did we start trusting influencers over doctors? You used to see a doctor. Now you go online. Want to track your blood sugar? Your heart rate? Your sleep? You can. Need to focus? Want to lose weight fast? Everything is a click away. But who is regulating this? As hospital wait times grow ever longer and some patients are priced out of medical care altogether, influencers have filled the gap. From doctors promoting new therapies, to entrepreneurs selling solutions, these self-styled experts glow with good health and guarantee results.

In 1978 Susan Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor, a classic work described by Newsweek as “one of the most liberating books of its time”. A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment.

When COVID-19 broke out, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty’s work put him on the front lines. Realizing that the mental, physical, and economic toll of lockdowns was catastrophic, he began to protest that the cure was worse than the disease—an intolerable heresy. When he refused vaccination because he had natural immunity from a previous infection, the University of California, Irvine, medical school fired him. He fought back, in the courts and in the media, and has become a reliable source of truth amid official obfuscation and censorship.

In The Lost Family, journalist Libby Copeland investigates what happens when we embark on a vast social experiment with little understanding of the ramifications. Copeland explores the culture of genealogy buffs, the science of DNA, and the business of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe, all while tracing the story of one woman, her unusual results, and a relentless methodical drive for answers that becomes a thoroughly modern genetic detective story.

For the first time in history, the world shut itself down - by choice - all for fear of a virus, COVID-19, that wasn’t well understood. The government, with the support of most Americans, ordered the closure of tens of thousands of small businesses - many never to return. Almost every school and college in the country sent its students home to finish the school year in front of a computer. Churches cancelled worship services. “Social distancing” went from a non-word to a moral obligation overnight.

From Parkinson’s disease to Tourette’s syndrome and depression to psychopathy, Broken Brains reveals the mysteries of brain function - and dysfunction. In this no-nonsense introduction, Ian Mitchell takes you on a tour through the sometimes devastating and sometimes bizarre effects of what happens when brains break down.

As dramatic as The Double Helix and as absorbing as The Soul of a New Machine, Natural Obsessions explores the advanced reaches of molecular biology, the nature of the human cell, and the genes that control cancer. It unforgettably portrays some of the best young scientists in the world, the rewards and discouragements of scientific research, and the very process of scientific inquiry.

Despite the rapid advances in medical science, the majority of people who visit a doctor have medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), symptoms that remain a mystery despite extensive diagnostic studies. The most common MUS are back pain, abdominal pain, headache, fatigue, and dizziness. This book addresses the obstacles of managing people with MUS in our modern-day society from both a historical and contemporary perspective.

For more than 20 years, The Baby Book author William Sears' advice has been trusted by millions across the country, and around the world. Now, he and The Anti-Alzheimer's Prescription author Vincent M. Fortanasce have put together the essential guide to a clearer, calmer, and happier brain. Laced with relatable personal stories from family members and patients, The Healthy Brain Book weds Fortanasce's deep neurological and psychiatric expertise with Sears' sympathetic bedside manner and listener-friendly writing.

The dangerous decline in vaccinations in many developed countries is at the heart of a lively debate that confirms how important the subject is today. Vaccinations are among mankind’s most important scientific discoveries, yet they continue to be viewed with suspicion by part of the public - the victims of disinformation campaigns, instrumentalization, and unfounded fears. There is, however, also an evolutionary explanation for these irrational beliefs, and countering the growing social opposition will be extremely difficult without grasping it.

Growing up in a New Jersey factory town in the 1980s, Daisy Hernández believed that her aunt had become deathly ill from eating an apple. No one in her family, in either the United States or Colombia, spoke of infectious diseases, and even into her 30s, she only knew that her aunt had died of a rare illness called Chagas. But as Hernández dug deeper, she discovered that Chagas - or the kissing bug disease - is more prevalent in the United States than the Zika virus.

Make your bed and actually sleep in it. The Book of Sleep provides dozens of quick, easy, and evidence-based strategies that are more effective and sustainable than sleep medication for people who suffer from insomnia. Based in CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia), the techniques in this book were developed by a clinical psychologist who specializes in insomnia treatment. Find the relief you need and wake up feeling truly restored. A good night's sleep isn’t just a dream anymore.

Vital research is starting to challenge long-standing assumptions about gender identity and biological sex, such as work that indicates the brain is a “mosaic” of traits rather than a “male” and “female” brain. Growing knowledge of the genetic complexities of sexual determination is changing the way the medical community treats intersex individuals, and in this audiobook, The New Science of Sex and Gender, we not only examine the latest studies in biology, medicine, and psychology but also, more importantly, their bearing on healthcare, identity, and access.

Until recently, one idea has dominated research in treating Alzheimer’s disease: the amyloid hypothesis. Those therapies have repeatedly fallen short, and in this audiobook we take a look at where that hypothesis stands today. We examine recent research into the spectrum of disease causes, including inflammation and immune dysfunction; cutting-edge treatments, including deep-brain stimulation and magnetic resonance - guided focused ultrasound; as well as lifestyle interventions that can help protect from disease.

Cancer can make you feel powerless. Survival rate statistics can leave you feeling helpless and afraid. But you are a person, not a percentage. And you are not powerless. In Help Heal Yourself from Cancer, cancer survivors and medical-profession veterans Bill and Martha Sears help you go from patient to partner in your cancer-healing journey. They outline the steps you can take, both in working with your cancer-care providers and on your own, to maximize your chances of not just beating cancer, but thriving in its wake.

Data and marketing consultant and statistical sage to presidential candidates, governors, businesses, and the real powers-that-be, epidemiologists, Justin Hart catalogs in a terrifying-but-sprightly manner the folly and psychosis produced by the pandemic and diagnoses the societal destruction that the massive overresponse to the COVID virus has wreaked, as well as what can be done to stop the madness and bring the world back to a modicum of rationality.

This groundbreaking anthology presents 40 narratives, both nonfiction and fiction, that together capture the impact and complexity of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on patients, as well as their caregivers and family. Deeply personal, recounting the wrenching course of a disease that kills a loved one twice - first they forget who they are, and then the body succumbs - these stories also show how witnessing the disease and caring for someone with it can be powerfully transformative, calling forth amazing strength and grace.

More than three years in the making, this book changes everything for Alzheimer’s couples and caregivers. When her husband, Mike, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Rosalys Peel made a deal with him. Together, they vowed that they would manage Alzheimer’s in their own home and go right on living life as normally as possible for as long as possible. Over the next 10 years they found new ways to defy and surpass virtually all the typical Alzheimer’s statistics. Despite Mike’s illness they pursued their dreams, traveled the world, helped raise their granddaughter, and more.

Burning. Shooting. Stabbing. Sometimes the cause is unknown. Sometimes it begins as the result of an injury. Whatever form it takes, chronic pain often resists treatment. In this audiobook, we examine the latest advances in understanding the pathology of chronic pain and the efforts to find better, non-opioid treatment options, including electrical stimulation of nerves, venom from spiders and other creatures, and psychological interventions including virtual-reality therapy and acupuncture.