and What If The Spots Are Raised?
Every once in awhile you might go to a good scary movie. Just to remind yourself it "could" be worse. Or if suffering from a feeling you want to sleep all the time, needing a cure a frightening movie pops the eyes right open.

I, however, every once in awhile tote down my massive medical guide. A gift from a friend. Who worried about me (and judging that it took over ten years to find my intestinal tumors while I was suffering gastro bleeds and anemia) it was thoughtful.
So I take it out.
And scare the h** out of myself for free.


We all like what we like.
Usually I keep it under the bed elevating the head of my frame on one side, with my borrowed Michelangelo table book under the other so that this acid reflux fluxes in the right direction. That-a-way way...but on days like today I pull it out, dim the lights, take a quick pick and see what is going on with my "health." Kind of crystal ball-ish. It is something akin to a cross between "It's a Wonderful Life", a "Mad, Mad World", "Love and Death" and "Animal Farm." What?

I have things, Gist tumors, syringomyelia, hiatal hernia, kidney stones, blah, blah but it was out today so I could look up "acute bronchitis." Last year I had chronic bronchitis.Or was last year pneumonia? So, now after reading I see I'm going to die.

And I'd like to leave this volume to my husband.
The kids can have the fish. The car goes to the bank. My mom would like access to my secrets and for the rest of the world I leave these words. Don't laugh.
Ok.

So actually the issue I have with this is my problem with developing high degrees of nervousness consulting it. But it does help you figure out impetigo, ringworm, head lice. By the symptoms. It's good for throwing around in talk to teens about STD's. After reading out loud to them you're good for at least 6 months of abstinence. I know. It's remarkably good on diet/diabetes when you rather it not be. I read that section today. Hello eating rice, tofu and bean curd.

It does a good job of describing digestive issues, like the kind I do have. Diverticulitis or losis.I learned a few more things there. Once more working against myself.

I find it awful to recommend it over information directly from a doctor. As if the thought we go in, pay, but get 10 minutes and now this book replaces their work and time for insurance reasons is soooo grating, that is plainly not a good thing. I see that written here between the lines and I get they are suggesting that. Patient self-help information. But then, what kind of dumb thing is that? However I will say my daughters surely were taught more in high school about how their systems work and that information from diet to major medical, to ways the human systems work needs to be a part of education. A book like this is very accessible to a literate family. I'm afraid flying a bit over the head of some folk.
Good work, very impressive volumes of encyclopedic information.

It still tends to scare me. I'm still wheezing and working pretty hard on a very virulent infection and more fever. But I'm a bit clearer on why my elbows get so rough.

I reviewed tongue in cheek, but I do use it as I can. Then I head over to see the doctor if I can in to get seen. Taking a hypothesis.

Fantastic home resource
This book has a rather unique layout that actually makes it easier to use than most similar books. The first part of the book focuses on symptoms. You look up your primary symptom, and then look to see if there are associated symptoms that match yours. If you have a match of symptoms then you read the different possible diagnosis for those symptoms and the distinguishing features of each diagnosis. The best way to illustrate how easy it is to use an example. Suppose you see some blood in your urine. You look up "Blood in the urine" and find that there are two subdivisions - with urinary difficulty or incontinence, without urinary difficulty or incontinence. If there is no urinary difficulty or incontinence then there are five possible diagnoses provided. Each of these five provides distinguishing features so you can easily figure out if you match one of them.

The second part of the book details the disorders provided in the symptom diagnosis portion. So, if you determined that you probably have an esophageal stricture you can look that disorder up and find out what it is, what causes it, prevention strategies, diagnostic techniques, how to treat it, and most importantly, when to call a doctor. With clear writing and lavish illustrations it provides a clear understanding of the problem. The John Hopkins Complete Home Guide to Symptoms & Remedies is a very highly recommended book to have handy in every home.