Medical Diseases

Bradwel reminds us that the centenary of this apparent "wonder drug" should be no cause for celebration. Insulin often remains inaccessible to those who need it most: elusive prescriptions, uneven availability and sky-high prices result in rationing and desperate do-it-yourself research and development. In the face of bootstraps rhetoric and "Pharma Bro" capitalists, patients across the world are left to fend for themselves. There is a long way to go in the twenty-first century until insulin truly fulfills the extraordinary promises made by its discovery.

James Abram Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, was assassinated when he was shot by Charles Guiteau in July 1881, less than four months after he was elected president. But Garfield didn't actually die until 80 days later. In this thriller, award-winning author Gail Jarrow delves into the fascinating story of the relationship between Garfield and Guiteau, and relates the gruesome details of Garfield's slow and agonizing death.

The Cancer Problem offers the first medical, cultural, and social history of cancer in 19th-century Britain. It argues that it was in the 19th century that cancer acquired the unique emotional, symbolic, and politicized status it maintains today. Through an interrogation of the construction, deployment, and emotional consequences of the disease's incurability, this book reframes our conceptualization of the relationship between medicine and modern life and reshapes our understanding of chronic and incurable maladies, both past and present.

Lopsided is not your ordinary cancer memoir. Meredith Norton displays the razor-sharp wit of a master humorist as she chronicles her experience, from the first appearance of her bizarre symptoms to moving in with her compulsive parents and their five television sets.

When I graduated from medical school, a third of heart attack victims died at home or in the hospital. Heart rhythm disorders were killing or crippling hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Severe heart failure was a death sentence. Preventive cardiology was practically unknown: the significance of high cholesterol was being debated, 50 percent of adults were smoking cigarettes, and high blood pressure was usually undetected and often poorly controlled. All of this changed for the better - much better - during the 47 years I practiced medicine and cardiology.

Over the last decade, scientists have discovered the importance and widespread presence in the body of a remarkable family of proteins known as prion proteins. Research links various types of prion proteins to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's—and this has fueled the search for new drugs that could halt the progression of these terrible disorders. Other discoveries have revealed the essential roles prion proteins play in memory and immunity, and the part they may have played in the beginnings of life on our planet.

Throughout history, there have been numerous epidemics that have threatened mankind with destruction. Diseases have the ability to highlight our shared concerns across the ages, affecting every social divide from national boundaries, economic categories, racial divisions, and beyond. Whether looking at smallpox, HIV, Ebola, or COVID-19 outbreaks, we see the same conversations arising as society struggles with the all-encompassing question: What do we do now?

Carrie Host has given us a book on how to believe in the future---a future Host visualizes as a painting made up of a multitude of tiny dots called "right now." An intensely intimate journey into the unseen and unspoken aspects of catastrophic illness, told from the determined viewpoint of a 40-year-old stay-at-home mother of three

"The best we can hope for you to live is 20 to 24 months...." That was the report given to Durell and Susan Tuberville by the physician who diagnosed Durell with stage four colorectal cancer. Durell and Susan were now faced with the question of how to live their final months together. How do you respond when faced with adversity in your own life? In this inspirational autobiography, you will hear about Durell's and Susan's decision to "live the miracle" rather than prepare for death. You will learn of the miracles of life that have given them success in their cancer journey.

Bauchweh oder Durchfall hat jeder mal. Aber was, wenn sie zum ständigen Begleiter werden und ein normaler Alltag kaum möglich ist, weil der Darm nicht mitspielt? Hunderttausende leiden allein in Deutschland an Colitis ulcerosa, einer chronischen Entzündung des Dickdarms. Einer von ihnen: TV-Star und Influencer Philipp Stehler. Nach Jahren des Verdrängens, des heimlichen Leidens und der ständigen Medikamenteneinnahme entschied sich der Frauenschwarm, mit dem Tabu zu brechen und offen über seine Krankheit zu sprechen.

Forfatter og antropolog Ina Kjøgx Pedersen har været på feltarbejde i sin egen familie. Hendes idé var på nærmeste hold at følge sin mors demenssygdom; den sygdom, som er udråbt til at være en af vor tids største personlige og verdensøkonomiske katastrofer, som i ringe omfang lader sig behandle, og som i sundhedsvæsnet kun kan måles negativt: I form af rask tilbagegang. Men ville det også opleves sådan for hende i virkeligheden?

When Henry Scowcroft's partner, Zarah, was diagnosed with stage-four bladder cancer in 2016, their world fell apart. An award-winning science writer for Cancer Research UK, Henry had spent 14 years at the coal-face of cancer research, but now the disease had infiltrated his personal life too. Henry uses this unique perspective to tell the story of Zarah's illness, how he tried in vain to use everything he'd learnt in his professional career to try to save her and in doing so, how he realised that even a career writing about cancer daily isn't enough preparation for what comes next.

Finding a cancerous lump in her breast seven weeks after a clean mammogram was terrifying. But fitness expert and race announcer Fitz Koehler refused to play the victim or allow cancer to steal her extraordinary career or time with family. In My Noisy Cancer Comeback, Fitz reveals the juicy and gory details of her 16-month battle, all while zigzagging across the United States.

In March 2017 Linda Nolan was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer and was given the terrible news that it was not curable, though it was treatable. Her first thought was to worry about her family, still grieving the loss of their sister Bernie just a few years earlier. Her second was to think, But I'm alive, and I'm going to fight it.

Julia Buckley needs a miracle. Like a third of the UK population, she has a chronic pain condition. According to her doctors, it can't be cured. She doesn't believe them. She does believe in miracles, though. It's just a question of tracking one down. Julia's search for a cure takes her on a global quest, exploring the boundaries between science, psychology and faith with practitioners on the fringes of conventional, traditional and alternative medicine.

The End of Miracles is a twisting, haunting story about the drastic consequences of a frustrated obsession. A woman with a complex past wants nothing more than to become a mother, but struggles with infertility and miscarriage. She is temporarily comforted by a wish-fulfilling false pregnancy, but when reality inevitably dashes that fantasy, she falls into a depression so deep she must be hospitalized.

It takes drive, persistence, and plenty of stamina to practice cardiology at the highest level. The competition for training fellowship spots is intense. Hundreds of applicants from all over the world compete to be accepted into the Cardiovascular Disease Training Fellowship at Johns Hopkins. Only nine are chosen each year. This is the story of one of those fellows.

“Strokes are the third-leading cause of death in America, and for the ‘lucky’ stroke victims who don’t die, about half will spend the rest of their lives trying to recover.” Roughly 700,000 American suffer a stroke each year and around 140,000 of them are fatal. Different Strokes is an in-depth look at what surviving, or not surviving, a stroke can mean.

Straight out of today's hospitals and labs, and tomorrow's headlines, comes a frightening, scalpel-sharp thriller from medical insider Joshua Spanogle. In an astounding debut, Spanogle takes us on an all-too-real race against time as a young doctor enters the dark side of scientific research, desperate to stop a terrifying epidemic before it is too late.

Diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma, wife and mom of four littles Lisa Engelman experienced normal feelings of shock, fear, grief, and uncertainty. But she didn’t follow normal protocols when it came to seeking treatment.