Breathe Right Now: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Treating the Most Common Breathing Disorders - Hardcover

Bruce, Debra Fulghum; Smolley, Laurence A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393045994 ISBN 13: 9780393045994

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998

Synopsis

For the 70 million Americans who suffer from one or more breathing problems, the first complete guide to their causes and their treatment.

Allergies, asthma, sinusitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)―these and other misery-causing and often life-threatening respiratory disorders plague tens of millions of Americans. The good news in Breathe Right Now is that modern medicine has developed a wide range of effective treatments for the sneezing, sniffling, shortness of breath, wheezing, sleep disorders, and other problems that have caused so many people to put their lives on hold. Written by a trained clinician and an experienced medical writer, it is the first comprehensive reference and medical self-help book that does not endorse any single prescribed regimen or cure. Rather, it offers authoritative and accessible information on the many types of breathing disorders and provides a myriad of medical and nondrug options for managing them.

With up-to-date information on the latest research and medical breakthroughs, numerous charts and checklists on drugs, symptoms and risk factors, full coverage of mind/body and other alternative therapies, and special sections on the particular needs of children and the elderly, this is a book that will be helping readers breathe easier for years to come.

About this title

About the Authors

Debra Fulghum Bruce is former editor in chief of Living Well Today and the author or coauthor of twenty-four books, including, most recently, Stop Osteoarthritis Now. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Laurence A. Smolley, M.D., is a pulmonologist with the Cleveland Clinic Florida in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Reviews

Writing for lay readers, pulmonologist Smolley and Bruce, a medical writer with a family history of respiratory disorders, present a wealth of information about such ailments. First, they explain in depth what causes common breathing problems, including allergies, asthma, and nasal disorders. A chapter each is then devoted to selecting medical treatment, avoiding triggers, achieving optimal fitness (even for those with exercise-induced asthma), using a nutritional approach to prevent breathing problems, and controlling nighttime problems. The role stress and emotion play in weakening the immune system and exacerbating breathing problems is covered, as are alternative nondrug treatments, which the authors suggest might be used to complement traditional medical treatments. Finally, lists of Internet resources, national support groups, and a glossary are provided. Throughout, readers are encouraged to confer with their primary-care physician, specialists, and family members in developing a personal action plan to control breathing problems. A valuable addition to any consumer health collection.?Sue Hollander, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib. of the Health Sciences, Rockford
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Smolley, who specializes in lung problems and sleep disorders, saw his father die from sudden shortness of breath; Bruce comes from a family whose members have suffered a variety of breathing problems, and she has long had difficulty breathing. Their combination of professional expertise and personal experience makes for a wide-ranging book that scientifically, sympathetically, and clearly explains breathing problems. For the sufferer seeking answers, the first step in what sometimes is a long process is finding a knowledgeable, understanding doctor. Accurate diagnosis is the foundation of all subsequent treatment, Smolley and Bruce say, and patients should seek control of their self-care. Smolley and Bruce discuss allergies, asthma, and many other diseases and problems as well as treatments, the avoidance of disease triggers, achieving optimal fitness, and using good nutrition and various psychological practices. They also allow that alternative therapies can often be helpful. William Beatty

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393045994
• ISBN 13: 9780393045994
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320