Gentle Medicine : Treating Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Successfully with Natural Medicine [Paperback]

Lily G. Casura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

"Gentle Medicine" is the first book of its kind. Written by a medical journalist who survived her own five-year bout with chronic fatigue syndrome and taught herself how to recover. Included are sections on "what works" and "what doesn't" about the most popular courses of natural treatment for chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, including: diet and nutritional supplementation, including vitamins, minerals and amino acids; herbal supplements; homeopathy; Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, T'ai chi and Qi gong; Ayurveda; the mind-body connection; and prayer, meditation and relaxation. The book also covers how to avoid ineffective treatment plans and practitioners who promise but don't deliver, and has a special section entitled, "What Your Spouse Can Do to Help." Each chapter includes an exhaustive list of references and resources available.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Concise yet thorough sourcebook with a really great message: you can get better. Don't risk information overload—start with this book!" -- Karen Robinson, Sysop, CompuServe's Natural Medicine Forum

"I very much appreciate both the specific therapeutic suggestions and the thoughtful, human-friendly approach." -- James S. Gordon, M.D., Director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and Chair, White House Commission on Alternative and Complementary Medicine

"Stellar work. A refreshing, informative, and useful tool for patients that honors the individual. Brilliant." -- Keverne Collison, L.M.T.

From the Publisher

Chronic fatigue is a devastating disease, affecting millions of Americans, and offering little help for a cure. Doctors weren't able to help Lily Casura, and conventional medical treatments only made her sicker, so she was reluctantly forced to find her own cure.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Self Health Press (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970651805
• ISBN-13: 978-0970651808
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,278,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, action-oriented book for those who want to get well, April 18, 2001

By 

Kim Ivy (Whidbey Island, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gentle Medicine : Treating Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Successfully with Natural Medicine (Paperback)

Gentle Medicine, by Lily Casura, is one of the best books on the topic. Unlike most books and publications about chronic fatigue, this book both stimulates the reader to take action and offers exact and accessible advice for getting better. I have had the good fortune to know the author for 7 years, since she first came to a T'ai Chi class I taught for people with chronic illnesses, and have watched her tireless efforts towards self-empowerment since then, within an often unsupportive medical field. With such an illness, even the alternative medical community has been at a loss. For one who has chronic fatigue, it is easy to lose hope. What makes her experience different is that she persevered, researched the available options, and was unstoppable in her journey. She has educated those in the field. And, most importantly, she got well. Her courageous chronicle is a service to all, offering hope and help to those who act on the information.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Natural Medicine Treatment of Fibromyalgia a True Story, March 26, 2001

By 

jim reinhart RPh (Selma, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gentle Medicine : Treating Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Successfully with Natural Medicine (Paperback)

Lily does a wonderful job in presenting the problems patients with fibromyalgia face daily, in trying to find a cure or relieve of their symptoms. She presents current treatment options available in Natural Medicine for the fibromyalgia sufferer. Herself overcoming the symptoms of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue gives her a great well rounded knowledge base.

Lily presents what alternative medicine has to offer for chronic conditions that conventional medicine does not. She does feel that both can work together well.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for options in alternative medicine for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. Being a Holistic Practitioner she hits right on with current available options.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To the point-, January 9, 2002

By 

Keverne (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gentle Medicine : Treating Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Successfully with Natural Medicine (Paperback)

Stellar work. It very "gently" puts into perspective patient responsibility and a sense of uniqueness about everyone's illness. It's well-rounded, very clear about treating the whole person, and full of well-documented resources for treating protocol. A refreshing, informative, and useful tool for patients. The focus on finding your starting point of degenerative health and then piecing the puzzle back together in a way that honors the individual is brilliant.

This book is probably one of the most borrowed books from my office library. My patients have varying ailments, with CFS and FMS ranking in the 40-55% of the total. This book is a recommended reading and in some cases required reading for their healing process.

Lily sharing her own experience with her dis-ease process allows anyone with the same symptoms to explore the possibilities of the healing process as well as discovering some of the causes. If you are looking for a definitive medical treatment protocal, as in "one size fits all", you will not find it in this book or any other book! We all are unique, which makes each one of our dis-ease processes as unique as snowflakes and therefore so is the healing process. This book allows each person who reads it to take a look at themselves and determine where in their healing or dis-ease process they are and to take the necessary steps to recovery.

To counter the first review by Crittercove, this is a small book, but it is powerful when read by someone who is ready to take full responsibility for why they are sick. Sounds like Ms. Casura might have hit a nerve! She never suggests once in the book that healing this awful dis-ease is mind over matter or that those who have CFS or FMS aren't trying.

I believe that Ms. Casura was truthful and real about her book and makes readily available many resources that are difficult to find. Ms. Casura is well-educated and very well-read. Her research is impecible! It a brief, but to the point book that she packs a lot of information into. I can't say enough good things about it... I frequently reveiw it with patients and often times find an overlooked avenue to their healing. Many thanks again Lily!