This book is a message to you. Its messenger, Dr. William G. Crook, combines clinical experience, passion, truth, simple humanity and humility as much as any medical author of our time. The truth he speaks comes from stories of people like you. They are people who have something to tell all of us about our options for solving puzzles of chronic health problems that range from persistent itchy ear canals to devastating depression, malaise, and fatigue. The stories are important because they truly tell of individual success in overcoming illness. Perhaps more important is that the stories are not about a particular disease or diagnosis. They are about common and current epidemics that affects different people in very different ways. Suppose you have something bad wrong with you - an ongoing disturbance of your breathing, digestion, skin, hormones, ability to concentrate; or fatigue, pain, or itching. You try waiting hope and denial, but this time they don't work. You try waiting over-the-counter drugs and then prescription drugs. They don't work, and they cause side effects. Then you try a yeast-free diet and nystatin for three weeks and it works. You are delighted. You want to tell the world, starting with your doctor. She shrugs and rolls her eyes saying, "I have not seen any credible scientific evidence (shrug) that your condition would have anything to do with this so-called yeast problem (eye-roll), which is unproven." End of story. Stories have an uphill fight. There is an official way for stories to find their way into the fabric of accepted medical Truth. First, the description of a person's story is stripped of information not required to place it into a diagnostic category, and it is pooled with other stories. Then all concerned are divided into all groups and given one of two or more treatments for the condition. Analysis of the data in a double-blind placebo-controlled study may reveal a difference between the groups of individuals signifying a response to treatment for the condition that would not have occurred by chance alone. Many participants would have responded to the placebo (inert substance disguised to look real). Many others would have failed to respond to the real medicine. The treatment is, however, proven for the condition. It has to do with groups of people and the condition that is defined by their similarities. I takes lots of money, a long time, and may take some lives. For example, in 1975 some doctors showed that a supplement of the B-vitamin, folic-acid, could prevent certain serious birth defects. Before that every doctor every doctor could shrug and eye-roll in the response to a question about this connection. A prudent consumer or her physician, weighing the now 1975 evidence, could have made a private health decision to supplement folic acid waited twenty years while millions of dollars were spent on research studies in which women given placebos gave birth to defective babies. We pay a necessarily high price for public, health policy. Private health policy - the personal options you may wish to consider after the failure of hope and denial - is not cheap either, but it is your call. You pay for it with the time and effort to explore the options that have brought success to others like you. Not like you so much in terms of old-fashioned diagnostic categories. More like you in terms of now ways of thinking about your personal illness - not as a victim of the attack of a disease, but as an individual in whom the tip of some crucial balance has lowered your threshold far feeling sick. Individuals living in North America since 1960 should be aware of three factors that tip the balance for many people in many diagnostic categories: too little magnesium or omega-3 fatty acids and too much of the common intestinal microbe from the large family of germs known collectively as yeasts. Dr. Crook's stories focus on the yeast problem, which results when antibiotics injure your body's most vulnerable organ: the population of germs inhabiting the digestive tract. His previous books have made him the center of polarized debates that began in 1977 when Dr. Orian Truss of Birmingham, Alabama first presented stories observations were denied and his "theory" was criticized, opposed, denounced, discredited, and "disproved" with all haste, vehemence and carelessness mainstream medicine reserves for its heretics. Into this fray came Dr. Crook. He seemed to confuse retirement age with a signal to put a bear hug on a new body of knowledge and squeeze it with all the might, persistence, and love he had already poured into his first career as a practicing physician. Not an ordinary physician. One who took equally into his heart the teachings of his professors from the best teaching centers and the lessons learned from listening to his patients for two generations. He learned to navigate the gap - some would say the abyss - between the proofs of the ivory tower and truths of everyday practice. He has lived, thrived, and triumphed in that gap by being a patient listener, a voluminous correspondent, determined teacher, and generous friend to his patients and his colleagues. In this book he gives you the message of lessons that will teach you respect. Respect for individuality in its infinite expressions. Respect for the power of an individual story to expand your private health options. Respect for your own grasp on your medical decisions. And respect for Billy Crook, a great physician, listener, and teller of stories. Sidney
MacDonald Baker, MD This book will be available December 2001 and can be ordered from the Bookstore section of this website. "Fatigue is no mystery. We've all experienced it and we all know what causes it. But chronic fatigue? that is a very different story, and a very puzzling story. "In simpler times, you worked hard, got a good night's rest and started the next day refreshed. that is still true for most people. But for an increasing number of us, rest, and even sleep, does not refresh, does not banish fatigue. Why? What is going on? Why is chronic fatigue increasing, and what can be done about it? "There are lots of doctors, and lots of books, but books, like Dr. Crook himself, is special. Dr. Crook has learned, in almost five decades of practice, that there are few simple solutions, that each patient is different - not just a little different, very different - from every other patient, and that one must be able to choose from a wide range of treatment options if one is to have any hope of success. "Tired - So Tired! provides a truly remarkable array of possible causes, and possible treatments, for chronic fatigue. No 'Johnny-One-Note' is Dr. Crook!... The author has really done his homework - and then some - in reviewing current research and applying the research in his medical practice to determine the causes - and the most effective treatments - for sick and tired people, including those with chronic fatigue syndrome." Bernard Rimland, PH.D. Dr. William Crook brings to readers years of experience as a practicing physician, forthright honesty, a dynamic informal writing style and intense desire to improve the of people of all ages. Douglas Sandberg, M.D., Information in this book can save weary people substantial amounts of toil, tears, and money. It will also enhance the satisfaction of health professionals who like to see their patients get well - naturally. O. Jack Woodard, M.D., Dr. Crook's new book is written for average Americans with an energy crisis. Instead of popping energy pills, folks should read Tired - So Tired and learn that their fatigue is a blessing in disguise. It is warning them that they are on a slippery slope towards more serious health problems. As always, Dr. Crook not only gives us a wake-up call, but practical help and many useful resources. This book will be assigned as homework for many of my clients Martie Whittekin, This book will be available January 2001 and can be ordered from the Bookstore section of this website. Nature's
Own Candida Cure Are your health problems yeast-related? Yeast-related illnesses are more prevalent than you might think. In fact, the common yeast Candida albicans has been linked to a variety of conditions, including fatigue, depression, sinusitis and multiple sclerosis. Most often, however, this yeast provides an explanation for the perplexing symptom of feeling "sick all over." Just what are yeasts, and why are some so beneficial and others harmful? Nature's Own Candida Cure answers these questions and gives concise information on the relationship of candida to chronic illness. Most importantly, it outlines steps to take to control candida and thereby regain your health. Also included are questionnaires - specific to men and women - that will help you determine if your health problems are connected to yeast. The suggested lifestyle changes, dietary guidelines and nutritious recipes will help you implement the changes necessary to put you on the road to recovery. Did you know...
This book is available at health food stores in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. |
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