Alternative Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis (Paperback)

by Allen C. Bowling (Author), Allen C., Md. Ph.D. Bowling (Author) "Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common disease of the nervous system..." (more)
Key Phrases: mainstream healthcare providers, bee venom therapy, interact with warfarin, United States, New York, Types of Therapy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Rarely does a publication address an unmet need as thoroughly as Alternative Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis." -- InsideMS, Summer 2001

Product Description
This is a single source for accurate and unbiased information on the many complementary and alternative medicines that can help manage some MS symptoms and promote general health. Readers will be able to: * find unconventional options for therapy; * learn of potentially dangerous interactions between alternative therapies and medical treatments; * identify therapies that are effective, low risk, and inexpensive; * recognize ineffective, dangerous, or costly alternative therapies. A section on Integrating Conventional and Unconventional Medicine links specific symptoms to potentially useful alternative therapies: If readers have, for example, spasticity or bladder problems, they can easily identify potentially useful alternative strategies. The book includes a glossary of popular supplements commonly used in MS care.Many general books deal with the general topic of alternative and complementary therapies, but most contain serious errors about their use in people with MS, and none specifically addresses the dangerous interactions that can occur between some therapies and the disease.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: Demos Medical Publishing; 1 edition (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888799528
• ISBN-13: 978-1888799521
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #588,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good resource, April 17, 2002

By	Kathleen (San Rafael, California United States) - See all my reviews

I don't agree with the reviews that state this book as not being helpful. Obviously a MD is careful about recommending alternative therapies (and to do it in writing goes even farther against their grain.) With that said, Dr. Bowling includes a multitude of options and resources that any proactive patient would find of value. And he states right up front that he supports a complementary approach that uses western practices along with the alternative therapies. He offers fact, theory and opinion on these therapies (he's ok with just about every one that doesn't involve infusions/IVs, chemicals and the like) And yes, he has a bias for the ABC&Rebif drugs (and there's nothing wrong with that... I've read a lot of books written by alternative practioners who don't have anything good to say about western options/drugs; so one needs to consider the source and take a proactive approach to his/her own healing.) Just the section on Vitamins, Minerals & Other NonHerbal Supplements is worth it (having that info whittled down to 23 pages versus some oversized volume on the topic was great.) If you've gotten this far (meaning you're interested enough in this title to be reading the reviews), I say Go For It; one can never have enough info and if this book gives you just one new piece of information... then that's one more than what you started with.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected, January 19, 2003

By	merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

After reading some of the reviews I hestitated on buying this. I had just been diagnosed with MS. I started taking the shots (and still am) but wanted to find other things that I could do. From the reviews I thought this would be an alternative medicine bashing book but its not. It states the facts as they are and shows pros and cons, leave a lot for the reader to consider. I found this to be a well-rounded book that had good info.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent starting point, October 10, 2002

By A Customer

To explore alternative medicine is to take a journey into aspects of healing that are outside of patentable pharmacology. The journey is easier with a map, but the map is only a starting point. When considering alternative medicine, we need to make our own decisions about approaches to health that often have not been studied in the way that patentable drugs have been studied. Even so, the journey should begin by learning what has previously been reported on the subject.

Dr. Bowling's book is a fist-rate description of the terrain of alternative medicine. Unlike other MS-specific books about alternative medicine, his is based on a review of published literature rather than on personal experience, anecdote and fancy.

Part of Dr. Bowling's accomplishment is that he has managed to catalogue a diverse and hard-to-define area. More imortantly, it describes, in succint and easy-to-understand and language, the published research that is available on about 40 different areas of alternative medicine.

Don't buy the book thinking there is a cure for MS to be found in its pages. On the other hand, if you are looking for a starting point for understanding alternative medicine, then this book is a useful resource.