Download or read book A Family History of Illness written by Brett L. Walker and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While in the ICU with a near-fatal case of pneumonia, Brett Walker was asked, “Do you have a family history of illness?”—a standard and deceptively simple question that for Walker, a professional historian, took on additional meaning and spurred him to investigate his family’s medical past. In this deeply personal narrative, he constructs a history of his body to understand his diagnosis with a serious immunological disorder, weaving together his dying grandfather’s sneaking a cigarette in a shed on the family’s Montana farm, blood fractionation experiments in Europe during World War II, and nineteenth-century cholera outbreaks that ravaged small American towns as his ancestors were making their way west. A Family History of Illness is a gritty historical memoir that examines the body’s immune system and microbial composition as well as the biological and cultural origins of memory and history, offering a startling, fresh way to view the role of history in understanding our physical selves. In his own search, Walker soon realizes that this broader scope is more valuable than a strictly medical family history. He finds that family legacies shape us both physically and symbolically, forming the root of our identity and values, and he urges us to renew our interest in the past or risk misunderstanding ourselves and the world around us.

Download or read book A History of Present Illness written by Anna DeForest and published by Back Bay Books. This book was released on 2024-04-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2023 Rosenthal Family Foundation Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters * A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2022 * A Publishers Weekly "Writer to Watch" "A revelation." -The New York Times "Brutal and brave, DeForest's novel is one of the best in the 'making of a doctor' genre. And its plucky protagonist, casualty and hero, roars a universal truth, 'We all hurt.'" ―Booklist, starred review A young woman puts on a white coat for her first day as a student doctor. So begins this powerful debut, which follows our unnamed narrator through cadaver dissection, surgical rotation, difficult births, sudden deaths, and a budding relationship with a seminarian. In the troubled world of the hospital, where the language of blood tests and organ systems so often hides the heart of the matter, she works her way from one bed to another, from a man dying of substance use and tuberculosis, to a child in pain crisis, to a young woman, fading from confusion to aphasia to death. The long hours and heartrending work begin to blur the lines between her new life as a physician and the lifelong traumas she has fled. In brilliant, wry, and biting prose, A History of Present Illness is a boldly honest meditation on the body, the hope of healing in the face of total loss, and what it means to be alive.

Download or read book McWhinney s Textbook of Family Medicine written by Thomas Freeman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preceded by Textbook of family medicine / Ian R. McWhinney, Thomas Freeman. 3rd edition. 2009.

Download or read book How Our Ancestors Died written by Simon Wills and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2014-01-19 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What were the principal causes of death in the past? Could your ancestor have been affected? How was disease investigated and treated, and what did our ancestors think about the illnesses and the accidents that might befall them? Simon Willss fascinating survey of the diseases that had an impact on their lives seeks to answer these questions. His graphic, detailed account offers an unusual and informative view of the threats that our ancestors lived with and died of. He describes the common causes of death—cancer, cholera, dysentery, influenza, malaria, scurvy, smallpox, stroke, tuberculosis, typhus, yellow fever, venereal disease and the afflictions of old age. Alcoholism is included, as are childbirth and childhood infections, heart disease, mental illness and dementia. Accidents feature prominently road and rail accidents, accidents at work and death through addiction and abuse is covered as well as death through violence and war.Simon Willss work gives a vivid picture of the hazards our ancestors faced and their understanding of them. It also reveals how life and death have changed over the centuries, how medical science has advanced so that some once-mortal illnesses are now curable while others are just as deadly now as they were then. In addition to describing causes of death and setting them in the context of the times, his book shows readers how to find and interpret patient records, death certificates and other documents in order to gain an accurate impression of how their ancestors died.

Download or read book Handbook of Clinical Diagnostics written by Xue-Hong Wan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-08-26 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book covers basic theories, basic knowledge and basic skills on clinical diagnosis, basic requirements for doctors’ ethical conduct, clinical reasoning and documentation of medical records during the process of making a diagnosis. It consists of six parts, including ‘Symptoms’, ‘History Taking’, ‘Physical Examination’, ‘Supplementary Examination’, ‘Common Clinical Diagnosis Techniques’, and ‘Diagnostic Process and Clinical Reasoning’. A vocabulary index is included for easy reference at the end of the book. This book is compiled by authors of 14 Chinese medical schools and universities, whose years of experience in clinical diagnostics, rich overseas learning and working experiences. This book is included in the first round of English textbooks series for clinical medicine major of China's higher medical colleges; and is among "13th Five-Year" planning textbooks of National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. It is also an ideal textbook for MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) student It is a co-publication book with People's Medical Publishing House (PMPH). The ISBN of PMPH version in China is 978-7-117-23852-6.

Download or read book Family Medical History written by Iphosphenes Journals and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-10-22 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Use this Family Medical History journal to compile information about your grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins, children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Lots of unanswered questions? Take this journal to Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday get-togethers. Your doctor might use your family medical history to assess your risk of certain diseases. Go to your doctor appointments with information on hand, and look ahead to the future, when you may not be around to share this information with your own children or relatives.

Download or read book Hidden Valley Road written by Robert Kolker and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF GQ's TOP 50 BOOKS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY • The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. "Reads like a medical detective journey and sheds light on a topic so many of us face: mental illness." —Oprah Winfrey Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope.

Download or read book Mercies in Disguise written by Gina Kolata and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[Kolata] is a gifted storyteller. Her account of the Baxleys... is both engrossing and distressing... Kolata's book raises crucial questions about knowledge that can be both vital and fatal, both pallative and dangerous." —Andrew Solomon, The New York Review of Books New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata follows a family through genetic illness and one courageous daughter who decides her fate shall no longer be decided by a genetic flaw. The phone rings. The doctor from California is on the line. “Are you ready Amanda?” The two people Amanda Baxley loves the most had begged her not to be tested—at least, not now. But she had to find out. If your family carried a mutated gene that foretold a brutal illness and you were offered the chance to find out if you’d inherited it, would you do it? Would you walk toward the problem, bravely accepting whatever answer came your way? Or would you avoid the potential bad news as long as possible? In Mercies in Disguise, acclaimed New York Times science reporter and bestselling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an almost archetypal family in a small town in South Carolina. A proud and determined clan, many of them doctors, they are struck one by one with an inscrutable illness. They finally discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of events that many saw as providential. Meanwhile, science, progressing for a half a century along a parallel track, had handed the Baxleys a resolution—not a cure, but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease and who did not. And science would offer another dilemma—fertility specialists had created a way to spare the children through an expensive process. A work of narrative nonfiction, Mercies in Disguise is the story of a family that took matters into its own hands when the medical world abandoned them. It’s a story of a family that had to deal with unspeakable tragedy and yet did not allow it to tear them apart. And it is the story of a young woman—Amanda Baxley—who faced the future head on, determined to find a way to disrupt her family’s destiny.

Download or read book Trace Your Genes to Health written by Chris Reading and published by Vital Health Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, lupus, celiac sprue, depression, cystic fibrosis, and dozens of other conditions have in common? First, they all express genetic predispositions that can be traced within family genealogies. Second, they usually can be positively affected by nutritional measures--measures that are based on an understanding of who is at risk, what dietary and environmental factors are likely to trigger the conditions, and what nutrients can help to fortify the immune system against the onset of disease. Trace Your Genes to Health offers hope to millions, first through its comprehensive approach to understanding medical genetics, and then through dietary and nutritional protocols that can either prevent common conditions from occurring, or successfully manage them once they appear.

Download or read book The End of Illness written by David B. Agus and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-01-17 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenges popular conceptions to outline new methods for promoting wellness and longevity, arguing that traditional medicine has not been successful in treating serious illness while urging readers to embrace a systemic understanding of the body that incorporates the use of revolutionary technologies.

Download or read book Recent Advances in Biological Psychiatry written by Joseph Wortis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Qualitative evaluations of buccal smear specimens have indicated an unusually high incidence of triple-X females in a hospitalized schizo phrenic population. Specimens from adult prisoners have also indicated an unusually high incidence of triple-X females. Studies of a population of confined juvenile offenders, on the other hand, have indicated an unusually high incidence of one-X females. No unusual indications were observed in a population of "normal" volunteer females. The data and their implications are discussed in context with previous observations. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was made possible primarily by research grants from the Scottish Rite Committee on Research in Schizophrenia, The National Association for Mental Health, Inc. Additional support was provided by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, GRS-05563. The study has been supported by the State of Ohio, Department of Mental Hygiene and Correction, Division of Mental Hygiene. The author is particularly indebted to Edward N. Hinko, M.D., Regional Director of Research, whose advice and help made the present study possible. Invaluable cooperation and help have been received from the following administrators and their staffs: F. A. Lingl, M.D. (Cleve land Psychiatric Institute); Martha Wheeler (Ohio Reformatory for Women); M. B. McLane (Scioto Village); M. B. Holmes, M. D., and S. Caruso, M. D. (Massillon State Hospital); G. F. Ogram, M. D. (Athens State Hospital); C. Waltner, M. D. (Woodside Receiving Hospital); A. Mako, M. D. (Fairhill Psychiatric Hospital); and W. G. Stover, M. D.

Download or read book A Lethal Inheritance written by Victoria Costello and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2012-01-10 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every family has secrets; only some secrets are lethal. In Victoria Costello’s family mental illness had been given many names over at least four generations until this inherited conspiracy of silence finally endangered the youngest members of the family, her children. In this riveting story—part memoir, detective story, and scientific investigation—the author recounts how the mental unraveling of her seventeen-year-old son Alex compelled her to look back into family history for clues to his condition. Eventually she tied Alex’s descent into hallucinations and months of shoeless wandering on the streets of Los Angeles to his great grandfather’s suicide on a New York City railroad track in 1913. But this insight brought no quick relief. Within two years of Alex’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, both she and her youngest son succumbed to two different mental disorders: major depression and anxiety disorder. Costello depicts her struggle to get the best possible mental health care for her sons and herself, treatment that ultimately brings each of them to full recovery. In the process, she discovers new science that explains how clusters of mental illness traverse family generations. Artfully weaving the scientific into the personal, Costello takes a journey to the far reaches of neuroscience and reports back on the startling findings it is yielding about the complex interplay between genes and environment that drives mental illness, and what it now tells us about how parents can trump a lethal inheritance. She shares the results of long-term U.K. and European family studies identifying the earliest signs of mental illnesses that can be passed on from grandparents to parents and grandchildren. She tracks ongoing clinical trials to reverse the courses of these diseases through early intervention with the latest evidence-based treatments and offers brain-healthy choices individuals and families can make to prevent mental illness—freeing future generations to live healthier, happier lives.

Download or read book In the Kingdom of the Sick written by Laurie Edwards and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Citing a high percentage of Americans who live with chronic illness, an urgent call to action draws on scientific research and patient narratives to explore the role of social medial in medical advocacy, arguing that we must change attitudes about the link between health and lifestyle and provide appropriate and compassionate treatments. By the award-winning author of Life Disrupted. 25,000 first printing.

Download or read book The Anatomy of Hope written by Jerome Groopman and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2005-01-11 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do some people find and sustain hope during difficult circumstances, while others do not? What can we learn from those who do, and how is their example applicable to our own lives? The Anatomy of Hope is a journey of inspiring discovery, spanning some thirty years of Dr. Jerome Groopman’s practice, during which he encountered many extraordinary people and sought to answer these questions. This profound exploration begins when Groopman was a medical student, ignorant of the vital role of hope in patients’ lives–and it culminates in his remarkable quest to delineate a biology of hope. With appreciation for the human elements and the science, Groopman explains how to distinguish true hope from false hope–and how to gain an honest understanding of the reach and limits of this essential emotion.

Download or read book Explaining Epidemics written by Charles E. Rosenberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1992-08-28 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collection of author's essays previously published individually

Download or read book Assessing Genetic Risks written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raising hopes for disease treatment and prevention, but also the specter of discrimination and "designer genes," genetic testing is potentially one of the most socially explosive developments of our time. This book presents a current assessment of this rapidly evolving field, offering principles for actions and research and recommendations on key issues in genetic testing and screening. Advantages of early genetic knowledge are balanced with issues associated with such knowledge: availability of treatment, privacy and discrimination, personal decision-making, public health objectives, cost, and more. Among the important issues covered: Quality control in genetic testing. Appropriate roles for public agencies, private health practitioners, and laboratories. Value-neutral education and counseling for persons considering testing. Use of test results in insurance, employment, and other settings.

Download or read book Speaking of Sadness written by David A. Karp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Speaking of Sadness, based on fifty in-depth interviews, provides first-hand accounts of the depression experience while discovering clear regularities in the ways that personal identities are shaped over the course of an "illness career." The new edition of the book is highlighted by a thoroughly new and extensive introduction"--