Dr. Carolyn Dean's Natural Prescriptions for Common Ailments

"This book abundantly illustrates naturopathy's vitalism. And I quote: "there are homeopathic remedies that can help, but if your vital force is very low, homeopathic remedies might create a healing reaction that can make you even more fatigued, so they should be taken under the supervision of a homeopath [p.047...] there are homeopathic remedies for constipation. These can be used for a short time to stimulate your body's own vital force to improve this condition [p.055...] your body might not direct its energies toward creating new life until it has a strong, viable life force to sustain it [p.110...] calc carb [...] this remedy is used for some acute conditions, but it is mostly a constitutional remedy, which means it is used to boost a person's vital force [p.196...] staphysagria [...] it is therefore prescribed in a high potency to strengthen a person's vital force [p.206]." I rate any claimant of "vital force is a scientific fact" -- as NDs do so claim and must claim by oath, creed, and standard of practice -- LOW. -rc."
~ Written on 2007-05-14

"Dr. Dean provides us with a comprehensive and easy to follow guide to treating our everyday medical complaints. She writes this book for the layperson, guiding us to use remedies that are easy to find in our local health food stores. One can tell that she has seen these remedies work and that she believes in them. I have read books of remedies in the past but they are presented in a theoretical fashion. Dr. Dean is writing from experience! What I love about this book is that she clearly describes what can cause the ailment, what the variety of symptoms might be, and how to deal with very specific symptoms using herbs and/or homeopathy. When I have looked up a particular illness, I have come away with easy-to-do solutions that worked. Yes they worked.

In addition to the compendium of health problems and treatments, Dr. Dean provides us with a straightforward description of homeopathy and how it works. Accompanying this description is a listing of different homeopathic and herbal remedies and the very precise conditions that they are used to treat.

I particularly enjoyed the section of the book entitled Advice and Information. Dr. Dean gives her `natural' insight to illuminate topics like antibiotics, surgery, x-rays, and dieting. Without being preachy, Dr Dean encourages us to consider the impact of non-natural substances in our food and environment.

In conclusion, Dr Carolyn Dean's Natural Prescriptions for Common Ailments is a practical, easy to follow and valuable guide to self-care using natural substances. An extra bonus is that it is a really interesting and informative book to just sit down and read. It is for these reasons that, as a health practitioner, I recommend this book to my clients."
~ Written on 2002-06-14