Your Symptoms Are Real: What to Do When Your Doctor Says Nothing Is Wrong - Hardcover

by Benjamin H. Natelson (Author)

Praise for
Your Symptoms Are Real

Front Jacket

If you're one of the millions of people who suffer from debilitating pain or chronic fatigue that has gone undiagnosed, it is possible that your symptoms are caused by an "invisible illness" such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). Because your symptoms are undetectable, your doctor may have misdiagnosed you or told you there's nothing wrong, or, worse yet, that it's all in your head.

Now help is at hand. In this insightful book, Dr. Benjamin Natelson draws on his eighteen years of dedicated research into "invisible illnesses" that defy medical explanation to reassure you that your symptoms are real and empower you to take charge of your health with a step-by-step blueprint to wellness. First, he addresses you--your feelings, your symptoms, and the options available to you despite the diagnoses or treatments you may have already received. Next, he arms you with the simple tools you need to seek out the doctors and specialists who are most likely to recognize and treat your symptoms and explains how to talk with them so that they'll actually listen. Finally, he explains the dietary, medicinal, and gentle physical conditioning programs that can gradually help relieve your symptoms and offers a look at the cutting-edge research and promising treatments that are on the horizon.

You'll learn how alternative treatments such as acupuncture and hypnosis and stress relievers (including exercise and imaging techniques) can help ease your symptoms. You'll also discover how to budget your energy effectively in order to work with your fatigue and how changing what--and how--you eat can help you feel better. Throughout the book, Dr. Natelson includes case histories sharing lessons others have learned along the way to taking charge of their health.

If you--like millions of others--feel alone and powerless against the chronic pain and fatigue you're faced with every day, this book is the weapon you need to take charge of your health and get your life back.

Back Jacket

Praise for
Your Symptoms Are Real

"Thank God for this book. It provides the help that millions of Americans with 'silent illnesses' like chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia have been waiting for. Dr. Natelson is a brilliant and compassionate clinician who covers the best treatments that medical science has to offer, along with a thorough consideration of complementary approaches. Short of cloning him, this book offers the specific help you need to work in partnership with your own physician."
--Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of
Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

"Natelson is the kind of doctor every patient is looking for: smart, thoughtful, empathetic, and supportive. Reading Your Symptoms Are Real is the next best thing to having a world-renowned specialist managing your case."
--Charles W. Lapp, M.D., Director of the Hunter-Hopkins Center
and Assistant Consulting Professor at Duke University Medical Center

"Do not throw up your hands and give up when one doctor after another tells you there is nothing wrong with you--instead, read this book! Benjamin Natelson is the person you have been looking for to guide you on your path to recovery."
--Sandra Blakeslee, coauthor of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own

"Natelson superbly incorporates research studies, clinical trials (even on drugs in development), and patient case reports in this book. If you are battling pain and fatigue symptoms but your tests are all normal, you will enjoy reading Natelson's pro-patient approach to explaining the real nature of your illness, his recommended treatment approaches, and how to cope with everything that is going on in your life."
--Kristin Thorson, editor of the Fibromyalgia Network and President of the American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association

Author Biography

Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D., is a Professor of neurosciences at New Jersey Medical School and has headed an eighteen-year program of federally funded research into understanding the reasons for severe and long-lasting fatigue and pain. Dr. Natelson also maintains a private practice and has appeared on national media, including Fresh Air and Larry King Live. His previous books are Tomorrow's Doctors and Facing and Fighting Fatigue.