Take Care of Yourself: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Medical Self-Care (Paperback)

by Donald M. Vickery (Author), James F. Fries (Author) "You can do much more than any doctor to maintain your health and well-being..." (more)
Key Phrases: use home treatment, extensive redness, aging spots, Check Table, United States, Arm Injuries (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"In our quest for a symptom-free existence, we make millions of unnecessary visits to doctors--as many as 70% of all visits are for new problems," write the authors, both physicians. "For every type of problem, there are some instances in which you should decide to see the doctor and some in which you should not." How do you decide? That's where Take Care of Yourself comes in.

Here's how it works. When you have a new medical problem, first read the emergency signs in the "Emergencies" chapter to see if you need to get medical attention pronto. If not (and most medical situations are not emergencies), look up your main complaint or symptom. There you find a decision flow chart that asks you yes/no questions, and your answers direct you to a probable cause and either medical care or home treatment. If home treatment is appropriate, you get an explanation of what to do, what not to do, and when to see your doctor if the problem doesn't go away. If a doctor's visit is recommended, you learn what to expect when you get there. There's not much detail on any one topic: one and one-half to two pages on each of more than 175 health problems (large and small), including charts and illustrations. But it's a handy guide and a good first step when it's essential to know what to do quickly, and for that reason several major HMOs distribute it to their members.

Because good health habits help you avoid medical problems, you get a brief guide to getting started with exercise, good nutrition, smoking cessation, alcohol moderation, weight control, avoiding injury, and professional prevention (checkups, screening, early treatment, etc.). It's also an interesting to read in a Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook kind of way--who knows when you might need to know how to pull out a tick, or release trapped blood under a nail using a heated paper clip and pliers? --Joan Price

Review
"Every family should have this book." -- Annals of Internal Medicine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 7th edition (November 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738203068
• ISBN-13: 978-0738203065
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #806,154 in Books (See Bestsellers 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 A must-have for everyone in the "managed care" environment, June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Take Care Of Yourself: The Complete Illustrated Guide To Medical Self-care, Sixth Edition (Paperback)

Enables the reader to take charge of his/her basic medical care by explaining in plain terms the disease process, what to do for yourself at home, and what to generally expect at the doctor's office. Makes that office or ER visit w/its high copay worthwhile, and less wasteful of MD time, because you've already done all the simple at-home treatments. Simple and easy-to-follow, lets you know how much worry you'll need by the guiding phrases "see physician now" or "make appointment". I've had my copy since 1980, and NOBODY is getting it away from me.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tremendously valuable reference, November 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Take Care Of Yourself: The Complete Illustrated Guide To Medical Self-care, Sixth Edition (Paperback)

I have referred to this book innumerable times, and each time have easily found the guidance I needed. The book is logically arranged and well-written, and the flow charts which walk you through the symptoms and direct you toward either home treatment or the doctor's office are brilliant.

No-one looking for a guide to evaluating the seriousness of symptoms would regret for a moment the purchase of this book. I only wish that the book aimed specifically for children and their illnesses were not out of print.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A lightweight and easy to read self-care medical book., April 6, 2003

By	Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Even though the cover claims that the book is 'The Complete Illustrated Guide to Medical Self-Care', there are better books that you can purchase for a few dollars more that meet the claim. It is very easy to read and not intimidating at all like the other medical self-care books. That is probably why this book is so popular. I was given this copy free by my HMO a long time back and I have found it valuable enough to keep it for all these years. Anytime I experience some symptoms of bad health, I refer to this book first to see if I can find a quick solution. Only if I can't find it in this book, do I pull out my other two books - 'The Merck Manual of Medical Information' and 'The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide' which are absolutely the best in the field.

There is a very good section on preventive health care at the beginning of the book followed by 1-2 page descriptions of 175+ symptoms and home treatment advice. For each symptom, there is a simple flow chart that is easy to follow in case you are experiencing that symptom. The flow chart will lead you through possible causes of the symptom and what to do about it. The especially useful feature of this flow chart technique is the focus on when to apply home treatment and when to see a doctor. My family and I have always been interested in treating medical problems at home if possible before getting the medical establishments involved. This book helped us try to treat basic symptoms at home more effectively without fear of making a mistake.

I am not sure if I would recommend the purchase of this book, but if you receive a questionaire from your HMO that promises to mail you this book for filling out the form, I would say 'go for it'. I definitely recommend buying one of the following two books for home self-care - The Merck Manual of Medical Information and The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide. If in doubt, all of these books strongly advice you to seek a medical professional's assistance. Bottom line - I don't think it hurts to have a couple of self-care books that arm you with knowledge about basic health related problems and maybe even appease your hypochondriac side.