What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Autoimmune Disorders

by Stephen B. Edelson MD, Deborah Mitchell

Overview

Dr. Edelson discusses the most common types of autoimmune diseases, outlining their symptoms, causes, and risk factors. He describes his own revolutionary program for treating the root of all autoimmune disorders--without drugs--providing readers with new hope for getting back on the road to better health.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759527560
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2003
Series:	What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Series
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	590 KB

Table of Contents

	Introduction	xi
Part I	Understanding Autoimmunity
Chapter 1	What Is Autoimmunity?	3
Chapter 2	The Evaluation: How Do I Know If I Have an Autoimmune Disease?	27
Part II	Common Autoimmune Diseases
Chapter 3	Autism	59
Chapter 4	Lupus	75
Chapter 5	Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders	98
Chapter 6	Rheumatoid Arthritis	117
Chapter 7	Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis	141
Chapter 8	Multiple Sclerosis	163
Chapter 9	Miscellaneous Autoimmune Disorders	185
Chapter 10	Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome: A "Partial" Autoimmune Disease	207
Part III	Treating Autoimmune Diseases
Chapter 11	Biodetoxification: How to "Clean Your House"	235
Chapter 12	Nutritional Therapies	266
Chapter 13	Immunotherapy	297
	Closing Comments	317
	Glossary	320
	Appendix	326
	Worth Reading	337
	Index	339

Editorial Reviews

Forty million American suffer from autoimmune disorders such as MS, lupus, thyroid disease, chronic fatigue, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Not well understood and hence not consistently treated, these diseases continue to plague sufferers decades after diagnosis. Autoimmune specialist Dr. Stephen Edelson has developed drug-free regimens that will be especially welcome to those who have been misdiagnosed or told that their symptoms are "all in your head."

The immune system is a scapegoat for a variety of ills in this wide-ranging but tendentious guide to approaching diseases like lupus, Crohn's disease, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis. The author argues that autoimmune disorders, in which a malfunctioning immune system attacks healthy tissues, are caused or triggered by environmental toxins, especially heavy metals and free radicals. Drawing on his experience treating patients for the above disorders as well as chronic fatigue syndrome and autism, he recommends a variety of unconventional regimens to purge toxins from our bodies and surroundings, including chelation therapy, herb, vitamin and anti-oxidant supplements, an organic diet free of additives and allergens, sauna and massage, and the systematic use of air and water filters. Edelson provides detailed information in chapters covering specific autoimmune disorders, but his claims of a "fantastic" treatment record for some of them rely on anecdotal case studies of diseases that sometimes go into spontaneous remission. By the tenets of "clinical molecular medicine," he claims, "I don't need to know the specific autoimmune disorder a patient has, because the label doesn't matter." Since no specific disease label need be applied, such widespread and indeterminate "symptoms" as "fatigue," "depression," "muscle and joint pain," "frustration," "sparse hair," "brain fog" and "general malaise" can be construed as signs of the immune dysfunction. While this book offers information on conventional treatments and physicians, its orientation is decidedly elsewhere. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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