Customer Reviews

Your Body's Red Light Warning Signals, revised edition: Medical Tips That May Save Your Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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I was having some pain in the esophagus while swallowing this weekend and started to freak out about it a little. Being a doctor myself I naturally didn't want to go to a doctor about it so I grabbed Your Body's Red Light Warning Signals by fellow MD author Neil Shulman. Fortunately I found out that I wasn't going to die right away and I got better with some OTC Prilosec and Mylanta. That is why I was glad to see a new revised and updated version come out that got great reviews this weekend in the local AJC paper. Here is an excerpt:

"When the little red light on your car's dashboard flashes, you know to check the oil or battery. But if one of your eyelids droops and your vision gets blurred, you might not know what to do --- or react as quickly. Atlanta physician Neil Shulman, who penned the book that became the 1978 hit movie "Doc Hollywood," is out with a new volume that aims to help you decode your body's codes.

"In the newly revised and updated edition of Your Body's Red Light Warning Signals (Delta, 496 pages), the Emory University professor provides an owner's manual-style overview of the body and explains how to read the signs of potential health danger. Shulman helps explain the differences between simple conditions and immediate health threats, such as when a pain in the tummy is more than indigestion and could be an ulcer.

"Health care is a two-way street, and the best way to make the system work better is to make people more medically literate and empower them to advocate for themselves, he said. "You shouldn't just turn over your body to a doctor and say, 'Take care of me,' " said Shulman, who describes himself as obsessively compulsive about patients."

Doug Bremner MD, author of 'Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for your Health'

Sometimes scary, I think I havethis disease comes to mind when you read the symptoms but more careful reading reassures the reader that he will live another day. However it is correct enough to be aware of some of the symtoms and the early attention one should heed. Checking the items available at Amazon paid off in a savings on the purchase of the book.

I five-starred this book because its authors did a very thorough job of writing it. I read it with a lot of interest, but I'm not quite sure whether the "signs" described are always, (or even often), (or even sometimes...) indicative of the specific illness they are supposedly heralding; I would have to embark on a large-scale research project to verify this. But can it harm to read? Certainly not. (Unless one is a hopeless hypochondriac).