Fighting the Dragon

Book excerpt: For decades, traditional medicine had very little to offer for individuals suffering from multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. Today, medical science has brought us wave upon wave of immunomodulatory medications to try to slow disease progression. Unfortunately, these medications come with their own health- and life-threatening side effects. And sometimes, they just stop working."Fighting the Dragon: How I Beat Multiple Sclerosis" is the story of one woman's thirty year battle with multiple sclerosis and what she did to reclaim her life when she realized she would need an assisted living facility within a few years. The book contains detailed descriptions of what worked and what did not, where she got the help she needed (and how the reader can locate these resources within his/her own community), and the logic behind the non-conventional therapies."Fighting the Dragon" is a narrative of courage-courage driven by desperation, a story written by a patient who decided, when her neurologist told her, "You will never walk normally again," that she would dance."Fighting the Dragon" is also a book the MS patient can take to his/her physician . . . it contains well-researched, easy-to-follow guidelines for what to do and how. The information is also applicable to a wide range of other autoimmune conditions, cancers, and AIDS. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Excerpt: . . . if your car kept breaking down and the mechanic you took it to kept doing the same thing to fix it-but it did not stay fixed, you would question the mechanic's competence. Maybe the mechanic pulled out a technical manual. "See. I fixed it exactly as the manual said. This is the industry-approved way to solve this problem." When the car broke down again a week later, would you be satisfied? Probably not. You might decide it is time to replace the car. But that might be too expensive. So, what to do? If you were smart, you would probably try to find a new mechanic. You might ask your friends who they would recommend. You might search on the Internet to see if other people had the same experience with their cars . . . and what caused the problem. You might telephone some repair shops to get some idea of what they thought the problem might be. If you found a new mechanic and that mechanic looked over the car and said, "I have a solution that is not in any industry-approved repair manuals, but it is safe and it works,"-would you walk away and go back to the first mechanic who never got it right? Why is your health worth any less than your car?