Medical Diseases

National Book Award winner Jonathan Kozol is best known for his 50 years of work among our nation's poorest and most vulnerable children. Now, in the most personal book of his career, he tells the story of his father's life and work as a nationally noted specialist in disorders of the brain and his astonishing ability, at the onset of Alzheimer's disease, to explain the causes of his sickness and then to narrate, step by step, his slow descent into dementia.

In January of 2021, I was given an “all clear” on my cancer. Nine months later my “all clear” turned into “two to four months to live”. To say that was a shock to me would be a gross understatement. The only way I could handle it mentally was to compartmentalize it in my mind and write about it.

In 1918, a world war raged, and a lethal strain of influenza circled the globe. In the midst of all this death, a bizarre disease appeared in Europe. Eventually known as encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, it spread worldwide, leaving millions dead or locked in institutions. Then, in 1927, it disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived. Asleep, set in 1920s and '30s New York, follows a group of neurologists through hospitals and asylums as they try to solve this epidemic and treat its victims - who learned the worst fate was not dying of it, but surviving it.

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: To cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease.

Fourteenth-century physician Alejandro Guzman, caught performing an autopsy in Spain, flees across Europe at the time of the Black Death to escape execution for his heretical deed. When he arrives in the Papal city of Avignon, he is conscripted against his will to serve as a Plague Doctor in the court of England's Edward III. Unfolding in a dramatic counterpoint is the story of American medical archaeologist Janie Crowe, in England at the turn of the 21st century to recover from the tragic loss of her family.

Allie Cashel has suffered from chronic Lyme disease for 16 years - but much of the medical community refuses to recognize her symptoms as the result of infectious disease. In Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial, Cashel paints a living portrait of what is often called post-treatment Lyme syndrome, featuring the stories of chronic Lyme patients from around the world and their struggle for recognition and treatment.

Biosecurity Dilemmas examines conflicting values and interests in the practice of "biosecurity," the safeguarding of populations against infectious diseases through security policies. Biosecurity encompasses both the natural occurrence of deadly disease outbreaks and the use of biological weapons. Christian Enemark focuses on six dreaded diseases that governments and international organizations give high priority for research, regulation, surveillance, and rapid response: pandemic influenza, drug-resistant tuberculosis, smallpox, Ebola, plague, and anthrax. The book is organized around four ethical dilemmas that arise when fear causes these diseases to be framed in terms of national or international security: protect or proliferate, secure or stifle, remedy or overkill, and attention or neglect.

In this book, Prusiner tells the remarkable story of his discovery of prions - infectious proteins that replicate and cause disease but surprisingly contain no genetic material - and reveals how superb and meticulous science is actually practiced with talented teams of researchers who persevere. He recounts the frustrations and rewards of years of research and offers fascinating portraits of his peers as they raced to discover the causes of fatal brain diseases.

Welcome to a very different kind of weight loss audiobook. Secrets to Lose Toxic Belly Fat shows you how you can heal your sick metabolism and lose weight without starving yourself or following difficult and dangerous diet plans.

Living with diabetes can feel like walking a tightrope. One misstep and you can come crashing down, facing a range of life-threatening complications. From the constant monitoring of blood sugar levels to the pressure of making healthy food choices and losing weight, diabetes can feel overwhelming. With the right guidance and support, diabetes management can be a well-choreographed dance. By making healthy choices and staying on top of your care, living with diabetes doesn’t have to get in the way of your life.

After a fifteen-year search, the author found a doctor whose elimination diet relieved her brain fog. This enabled her to complete her self-study and to construct an actionable new diagnosis: chronic ambient poisoning. Unseen by doctors and obscured by a myriad of false diagnoses, chronic ambient poisoning defies late modern, fragmented, accuracy-challenged medical systems. It also reveals that human-caused habitat injuries that afflict birds, bees, and other species are also affecting humans while driving evolved life toward death as asteroid strikes have done in the past.

Shortly after his daughter, Leontine, was born, Christian Donlan's world shifted an inch to the left. He started to miss light switches and door handles when reaching for them. He would injure himself in a hundred stupid ways every day. First playful and then maddening, these strange experiences were the early symptoms of multiple sclerosis, an incurable and degenerative neurological disease.

Patti M. Hall’s life is pitched into an abyss of uncertainty when a golf ball-sized tumour is discovered in her teenage son’s head and he is diagnosed with gigantism, a disease of both legend and stigma. After scrambling to access a handful of medical experts in the field, Patti learns that her son could grow uncontrollably, his mobility could be permanently limited, and his life could be cut short without timely and aggressive treatment. Patti’s attention shifts fully to her son, away from her relationships as well as her own career and health.

Acclaimed nonfiction writer and Sibert Honor winner Gail Jarrow begins her new series on medical fiascoes with an in-depth look at the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. The Civil War took the lives of more than 600,000 men. Bullet wounds were deadly, but twice as many soldiers died from disease—pneumonia, diarrhea, typhoid fever, measles, and smallpox. Tens of thousands who survived the war were permanently disabled or disfigured. Yet out of this tragedy came medical progress. Doctors and nurses gained valuable experience treating the injured and sick.

On the surface, Victoria Jackson is the American Dream personified: from a troubled childhood and unfinished high school education, she overcame immeasurable odds to create a cosmetics empire valued at more than half a billion dollars. Married to Bill Guthy - self-made principal of infomercial marketing giant Guthy-Renker - Victoria’s most treasured role is mother to three beautiful, beloved children, Evan, Ali, and Jackson. Suddenly, Victoria’s dream life is broken....

Suffering from chronic pain or illness is debilitating on its own, let alone when the treatments given are ineffective or even harmful. Patients are often given opioids to manage their symptoms, but is this the best option available? According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 2 million people in the US alone have a substance-use disorder linked to prescription opioids. What if there was a better way to treat your symptoms? Enter marijuana - what used to be taboo has now become commonplace.

“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.

Dr. Tonya Echols Cole knows cancer intimately. Not only has she worked as an oncologist for decades, she is also a breast cancer survivor. Her unique position of having been both cancer doctor and cancer patient allows her to give real-world advice about how to overcome challenges that cancer survivors face, both during and after treatment. Dr. Cole combines anecdotes from her own cancer journey with personal development strategies and health maintenance advice into a comprehensive prescription for cancer survivors to thrive in a more healthy, confident, and abundant life.

I wrote this audiobook out of my own experience with knee pain. I have included the things that worked for me and have proved most successful in helping others. Now you can use these strategies to develop stronger and healthier pain-free knees for years to come!

The art of avoiding diabetes and its complications has been known to humankind for over 2500 years. Yet, people have not learned to live with it. Is it impossible for a person with diabetes to live healthy for his entire lifespan? Embark on an extraordinary journey with Dr. Kamal Kant Lal as he shares a deeply personal odyssey in How I Fell in Love with My Diabetes. This memoir isn't just about managing diabetes, it's an inspiring testament to resilience, self-discovery, and a radical shift in perspective towards living with this condition.