A useful guidebook on fibromyalgia that encourages sufferers to explore nontraditional treatments.
A chiropractic physician offers a holistic approach to understanding and managing fibromyalgia.
Van der Merwe, with contributions from Demartino, provides a guide to understanding the history, possible causes, management and treatment of one of the most painful, debilitating and complicated medical conditions known today: fibromyalgia. Van der Merwe writes that fibromyalgia, which causes chronic muscle pain, “is a global failure of the central nervous system” affecting 4 to 5 percent of the population, making it as prevalent as diabetes or coronary heart disease. The author asserts that the condition still isn’t well-understood by the public today; this is chiefly due to the fact that it’s not fatal but also because it has so many symptoms and possible causes, which makes diagnosis difficult and treatment perplexing. The guide includes a brief history of the condition, which was originally known as muscular rheumatism and thought to be a muscular-nervous disorder. In the early 1900s, it became known as “fibrositis” and was believed to be an autoimmune disease; the name “fibromyalgia” was adopted in 1976, and in 1987, the American Medical Association officially recognized it as a disease. Readers suffering from fibromyalgia will find Chapter 3’s list of symptoms a valuable resource. Several other chapters address possible causes, such as thyroid- and adrenal-gland dysfunctions, sugar substitutes such as Aspartame, cosmetics, acidic diets, emotional stress, toxic chemicals and sleep apnea. One chapter addresses conditions that may overlap or be confused with fibromyalgia, such as Lyme disease or chronic fatigue syndrome. In Chapter 5, the author emphasizes the fact that many patients with fibromyalgia share “a history of neck pain or trauma.” The book presents solid advice for dealing with family members, employers and doctors who doubt that fibromyalgia is real; it also provides recommendations for vitamin supplements and dietary changes, along with the author’s case studies of patients and a four-step plan for healing. Overall, this well-organized guide is filled with helpful information about a complex and often frustrating disease.
A useful guidebook on fibromyalgia that encourages sufferers to explore nontraditional treatments.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-1491089903
Page Count: 270
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
