Healthy Book Reviews 2010

Money-Driven Medicine
The real reason health care costs so much.
by Maggie Mahar
Harper Collins 2006

This is the scariest book I’ve ever read! Be forewarned, if you read it, you will never see hospitals the same way again. As a nation we’ve gotten into the habit of blaming the insurance companies for the dismal state of our health care system, but Mahar also pulls back the curtain on how our hospitals do business.

Although the book is about money in all aspects of the medical industry, Mahar immediately makes the case that when we enter a hospital we are not patients, we are customers, and the ultimate goal of the hospital is not to make us better, it is to get the most money possible out of us. A corporate hospital board is responsible first to its shareholders, not its patients. In this context, doctors are not healers, they are vendors. Once in the door we are simply cogs in a $2 trillion money machine.

Mahar’s book is not a political rant and it’s not opinion—it’s a fact-based and skillfully written behind-the-scenes look at what makes the financial medical markets tick. Somehow she managed to get incredibly frank and revealing interviews with doctors, hospital administrators, corporate executives and patients that lay bare the profit-driven nature of American medicine.

After a stint as a Yale English professor, Mahar became a respected financial writer for the New York Times and Barrons, among others, and wrote a book called Bull! A History of the Boom, 1982–2004 (Harper Collins, 2004), which Warren Buffett recommended in a Berkshire Hathaway annual report.

Then she turned her journalist’s nose for truth, her laser mind and an accessible writing style on healthcare, and Money-Driven Medicine is the illuminating and frightening result. Yikes. The book inspired a documentary of the same name, and Mahar continues to share her insights on her blog, healthbeatblog.org.

Ultimately Mahar’s conclusion is that the power in medicine needs to go back to the physicians, who have “…been stripped of their standing as professionals: insurers address them as vendors (Dear Health Care Provider), drugmakers and device makers see them as customers (someone you might take to lunch or a strip club), while … consumers (aka patients) are encouraged to see their doctors as overpaid retailers… Before patients can claim their rightful place as the center—and indeed as the raison d’être—of our health care system, we must once again empower doctors… to practice patient-centered medicine—based not on corporate imperatives, doctors’ druthers, or even patients’ demands,” but on the best scientific research available.

If you’re interested in a true piece of investigative journalism, and want to know the real story-behind-the-story of health care in America, this is a page-turner that will keep you up at night.

In the Mood Again
Use the power of healthy hormones to reboot your sex life—at any age.
by Genie James MMSC and CW Randolph MD
Simon & Schuster 2010

They’ve done it again! The wife-husband team of Genie James and Dr. C.W. (Randy) Randolph have created an entertaining and useful book for women and men about how to revive a sex life that has been damaged by age, poor diet, weight gain, self esteem issues and of course, hormone imbalances.

James did great research, as well as patient interviews and surveys. Combined with Randolph’s many years of prescribing bioidentical hormones, their advice has a “where the rubber meets the road” authority. In case you don’t want to use hormones, there’s even a great section on herbs that can help put you in the mood, that benefits from Randolph’s in-depth study of pharmacognosy (the study of plants as medicine) early in his medical career.

James and Randolph are also the authors of the books From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well, and From Belly Fat to Belly Flat. You can find out more at their website, www.hormonewell.com.

Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition
Self-care for improved cycles and fertility—naturally!
by Marilyn M. Shannon
The Couple to Couple League 2009 (4th edition)

This is a densely packed and well-informed book that should be on the shelf of every woman who wants improved fertility. Shannon, who is part of the Natural Family Planning movement, originally wrote the book in 1990 to help women with irregular cycles (which can make natural family planning difficult!). It has evolved to an authoritative and useful manual for restoring fertility through better nutrition, a healthy lifestyle and balanced hormones. Everything from PMS and PCOS to low libido and low thyroid is covered, and although the solutions Shannon offers tend towards the down-to-earth and common sense (which is refreshing), she has an excellent grasp of the biochemical and hormonal issues that can affect fertility and explains them clearly.

Many infertile couples could save themselves thousands of dollars in expensive high tech treatments if they would read this book first and seriously give the recommendations a try.

Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition suffers from being self-published, making it a bit hard to read—it’s about time this book was picked up by a major publisher and recognized as the classic it is!

You can find out more about Marilyn Shannon and Natural Family Planning at the Couple to Couple League website.

Stay Young and Sexy with Bioidentical
Hormone Replacement
The Science Explained
by Jonathan V. Wright MD and Lane Lenard, PhD
Smart Publications 2010

 Jonathan Wright is one of the true pioneers in alternative medicine, and when he talks, I listen. I don’t always agree, but I listen. He has informed much of what I’ve written in the past decade, because he pays close attention to what he learns from his patients, applies the science, and has changed medicine with many of his insights.

This is an updated and expanded version of Wright and Lenard’s 1997 classic “Natural Hormone Replacement for Women Over 45,” and includes a lot more science and biochemistry, and extensive references, which I suspect are thanks to Lenard. But in case you’re thinking the book might be dry science, Wright’s rebel-with-a-cause nature shines throughout, as he points a finger (guess which one) at the FDA (or Los Federales as he likes to call them in his newsletter), Wyeth and anyone else who is putting politics and money before good medicine.

Most of all though, the book is informed by Wright’s decades of clinical practice, and he shares this wisdom freely. In spite of the title, the book is really a very thorough and well documented manual on how to use bioidentical hormone therapy.

Lenard’s article, Bisphosphonates: Bone strengtheners or bone hardeners? was recently featured on Health Watchers News and Views, and is the best I’ve read on the subject.

You can find out more about Jonathan Wright at his Tahoma Clinic website, as well as his newsletter, Nutrition and Healing, one of the first of the alternative health genre.

Stop the Needless Suffering
The Complete Guide to Balancing Your Hormones Naturally
by Rosie Brown, RN, MSN
BookWise Publishing 2009

If you’ve had enough of the science and biochemistry of hormones and want an entertaining and personal story about achieving hormone balance, this is the book. You’ll think you’re hanging with girlfriends hearing about their hormonal adventures and misadventures, and while you laugh and cry with her you’ll be learning.

Rosie Brown takes us along as she figures out how to achieve hormone balance and come to grips with some of the not-so-pleasant realities of aging. Despite the title, this is ultimately an upbeat book in which Brown advocates passionately for women to stand up for themselves, take action and keep loving it all.

This is the perfect book if you’re still kind of confused about the particulars of bioidentical hormones, but want a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.

You can find out more about Rosie Brown at www.rosiebrownrn.com.

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