Making Sense of Fibromyalgia - Hardcover

Wallace, Daniel J.; Wallace, Janice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195116119 ISBN 13: 9780195116113

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

This year, six million Americans--most of them women--will go to their doctors, complaining of an illness they have no name for. The majority will be turned away or treated for depression; the few who persist will go to an average of four doctors before they receive the correct diagnosis: fibromyalgia.
In Making Sense of Fibromyalgia, noted medical writer Janice Wallace and Dr. Daniel Wallace, a leading expert on this disorder, provide a comprehensive guide--for both patients and professionals--to this little known and poorly understood syndrome. The authors offer detailed information in a clear and accessible style, taking readers through the steps of diagnosis, all the established forms of treatment, and alternative therapies that have yet to be proven effective. Fibromyalgia, they explain, is a pain amplification, brought on by abnormal interactions between hormones, the immune system, neurotransmitters, and the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes the syndrome occurs spontaneously; in most cases, the authors write, it is associated with trauma, stress, such conditions as lupus and hypothyroidism, and over forty microbes, from hepatitis to Epstein Barr to Lyme disease. They draw on actual cases to illustrate their points and to break through the isolation that patients often feel when doctors misdiagnose or simply ignore their symptoms.
When Dr. Wallace wrote The Lupus Book, he brought hope and relief into the lives of countless Americans, in a book that sold through many printings. In Making Sense of Fibromyalgia, the authors address a desperate need for information and reassurance, in a groundbreaking book.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Wallace, M.D., is an attending physician who has served as Clinical Chief of Rheumatology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, and has treated hundreds of victims of fibromyalgia (including popular talk show host Rosie O'Donnell). He is the author of The Lupus Book (OUP). Janice Wallace is a freelance medical writer. They live in Los Angeles.

Reviews

Rheumatologist Daniel Wallace (The Lupus Book, Oxford Univ., 1996) and medical writer Janice Wallace aim to help fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS; pain in soft tissues) patients feel better, work more easily with their health professionals, and attain a better quality of life. The book, which begins with a brief foreword and endorsement from the Medical and Scientific Committee of the Southern California Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, presents a thorough explanation of the causes and perpetuating factors of FMS. The chapters are compact and often include a helpful table summarizing the information for easy reference. A minor fault is that sometimes medical terms not found in the glossary are used without sufficient explanation. While it appears to be a "primer" on FMS covering all the basics, this book is dry, scientific, and clinical in tone and in fact is written on a more professional level. Allopathic physicians will feel comfortable recommending it to their patients, but it will appeal most to sophisticated readers. Lisa McCormick, Health Sciences Lib., Jewish Hosp., Cincinnati
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195116119
• ISBN 13: 9780195116113
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256