97 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Health Care Instead Of Disease Care, April 5, 2005
Doctor Yourself is titled and based on a simple premise: every person is responsible for their own health care. When a person abdicates that responsibility, they often place themselves in the hands of the "disease care" industry, a monolithic and profit-driven enterprise where getting well isn't the bottom line.
Through lively anecdote, personal history and accounts of patient education and treatment, Dr. Andrew Saul (not an M.D., by way of disclosure) takes the reader down a path most M.D.'s never dare to tread. Without a hint of pretension or medical braggadocio, the reader shares Dr. Saul's encounters with individuals as they seek relief from common maladies feeding the trillion dollar medical monsters of the Western world; arthritis, cancer, schizophrenia, depression, obesity, allergies, heart disease and many more.
We're also introduced to a "Who's Who" of unjustly ignored medical pioneers like Abram Hoffer, Robert F. Cathcart, Wilfrid and Evan Shute, Linus Pauling and Frederick Klenner. These unconventional M.D.'s and researchers ignored the scorn and censure of their peers in order to treat patients with nutrition and lifestyle change rather than dogmatic, pharmophilic (drug loving) therapies that most often do not cure, but merely attenuate a sufferer's condition.
Doctor Yourself is a page turner, written in a friendly, conversational style that takes you inside the interactions between healer and client, unafraid to detail the skepticism and even fear shown by patients when alternative medical advice runs counter to the normal drug, cut and radiate school of thought. In addition, Dr. Saul lists specific protocols for the use of nutrients as therapy; the reader is never left on their own to experiment or wonder at the possible safety of a potential cure.
It is clear that Dr. Saul has profound respect for the science and art of medicine, but far less for physicians and their patients who willfully remain blind to the value of nutrition, for hospitals that "serve green jello and white bread to cancer patients", to drug companies who relentlessly market to a gullible, insured public.
Based on what I've learned from this book, from Dr. Saul's website and from the many reference materials provided by both sources, I've been fortunate to cure sciatica that hobbled me for three months, and rid myself of hay fever to boot. My wife, an allergy sufferer of 30 years, hasn't touched prescription meds in two seasons. My two boys are healthier because of the changes the family made in diet, supplementation and exercise. Does that make readers of this book "health nuts"? Dr. Saul would ask, "Who wants to be a disease nut"?
Single or married, young, middle-aged or older...any person who lives in a human body will find inspiration and education in the pages of Doctor Yourself. You will find yourself turning to it again and again as a reference and "owners manual" for the body you're using.
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51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lively, Humorous, Packed with Information, January 14, 2004
DOCTOR YOURSELF is easy to read, lively, humorous and packed with practical, easy-to-follow suggestions for maintaining and improving ones health. I agree with the author's comment that folks need "education, not medication."
I highly recommend this book to others because it helps people to help themselves. In these times of rising medical costs, along with the fact that many lack health insurance, Dr. Saul's book gives hope and confidence, almost like a personal consultation with the author. It sets out dozens of well-documented nutritional protocols for treating ailments using supplements rather than prescription drugs, thereby avoiding drug expense and side effects. The book deals with with quite a few chronic and serious health conditions, as well as more common concerns. DOCTOR YOURSELF provides down to earth and well-researched information.
John I. Mosher, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus Biological Sciences
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48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doctor Yourself by Dr. Andrew Saul, January 15, 2004
Having worked in the natural health care business for many years, I've read many, many books on the subject. While many of the books that I've read were quite good, I've found that even the best of these seem to be merely facts tied together with words. Dr. Saul's work, Doctor Yourself stands out in a market that has long been saturated with books of varying degrees of quality. Doctor Yourself is not only the best of the best in the marketplace, it is book with a voice. Reading Dr. Saul's book, I can clearly hear the unique voice of the author in it's pages. Dr. Saul's vast knowledge of his subject is presented with clarity, logic and humor. If I was to have one health care book in my library, it would clearly be Doctor Yourself.
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