Synopsis
The author, Dr. Schilling is a retired physician who has seen a lot of failures and successes when practicing medicine. In this book he describes how too many in his former profession focus on treating a patient’s symptoms with various medicines instead of addressing the underlying causes. He begins this book by highlighting stories of famous people that he feels were “failed by medicine” (Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy, Michael Jackson, Churchill and the composer Beethoven). Following that a scenario of a modern-day “Joe” is introduced who experiences dangerous side effects from prescribed medications before having the “motivation and willpower to follow through on lifestyle changes” that “solve his medical problem without medication.” The author then spends the bulk of the book citing studies that support various measures for staying healthy at the cellular level, which may help prevent heart disease, cancer, joint problems, and brain atrophy. He notes, “Balanced nutrition with organic food, vitamins and supplements and exercise will all contribute to having optimal mitochondrial function.” He also covers several alternative therapies, including intravenous chelation treatments to flush out toxins and, most particularly, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, saying that “If your doctor still recommends [synthetic hormones], maybe remind him that human females are not horses!” He then dedicates an entire chapter to the importance of hormone balance for both men and women using replacement of missing hormones with bioidentical hormones. Kirkus review March 17, 2016 stated: "Although Schilling ventures into some controversial territory in his latest book, it’s generally an engaging, helpful synthesis of ideas that draws on reputable research from the Mayo Clinic and other sources. Overall, it serves as an intensely detailed wake-up call to the importance of preventative health. However, he largely brings an accessible and even-tempered tone to his narrative, warning readers, for example, that preventative health measures can only aid in “a delay of aging, not ‘eternal living.’ ”A thought-provoking, impassioned plea to be proactive about one’s health."
About the Author
Dr. Ray Schilling was born in 1945 in Tübingen, Germany. He studied medicine at the Eberhard-Karls-University Medical School there, graduated in 1971 and wrote a doctoral thesis in endocrinology to obtain his M.D. An English version of this thesis was published in the Acta Endocrinologica. Ray left Germany for Canada in 1972. Research still fascinated him, and he worked in a post-doctoral cancer research position at the prestigious Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto for three years. But mouse models are a far cry from practicing human medicine, and as a result Ray enrolled in a family medicine program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. After passing his Canadian exam he moved west and practiced family medicine for 16 years in a suburb of Vancouver. Seeking more treatment modalities for his patients he trained at the University of British Columbia in clinical hypnosis and became an active member of the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis. From 1994 onwards he continued his career as a medical advisor in occupational health with the Worker's Compensation Board of British Columbia, but at the same time continued his clinical work in busy walk-in clinics. It was there that he saw the need of patients to have their questions answered in depth. Since time slots in walk-in clinics are generally small, he decided to develop a website for patients. Ray launched Nethealthbook.com in 2002. In the meantime Dr. Ray has retired from clinical medicine in an office setting in 2010, but his work has not stopped. He researches and blogs in Askdrray.com, which is another website that has been started in 2003 and deals with anti-aging medicine and up to date information. He is a strong proponent for preventive and anti-aging medicine and has been a member of the American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine (A4M) for several years. Ray enjoys ballroom, Latin and Argentine tango dancing. To keep in shape he works out at the gym.
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