Surgery and Its Alternatives: How to Make the Right Choices for Your Health

"This text is a major contribution to the healing and health of us all. Although the size may seem overwhelming (814 pages), the extensive Table of Contents and comprehensive Index make this book easy to use. You can quickly determine if your health problem or concern is covered, and then go quickly to that resource, which is written in plain English for the lay person.

Just this past year, this book and the sound advice it contains, plus consultations with Dr. Sandra McLanahan, helped me avoid prostate surgery. My urologist was insistent that I needed TURP surgery to deal with BPH. Holistic treatment and yoga recommended in this book helped with the BPH and gave me time to get a second opinion concerning an ongoing condition. Another urologist determined that my problem was actually interstitial cystitis (unusual for a male), which is being resolved with treatment, diet, and yoga.

Knowing Dr. Sandra McLanahan has been a boon for my health and my soul, and this book will help you feel you have been talking directly with her about your medical concerns. I have not had the privilege of meeting her brother David, but recognize his wisdom contained in these pages.

I highly recommend this book! It should be on everyone's bookshelf, ready for when it may be needed.

The Rev. Dr. Prentice Kinser III, author of LIMITLESS LIVING, A Guide to Unconventional Spiritual Exploration and Growth
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~ Written on 2007-12-05

"This book sits on bookshelf with my other health books. It's packed with information that I've never seen anywhere else. It's a good read with lots of worthwhile advice and I recommend that everyone have a copy. "
~ Written on 2007-02-28

"Just holding this magnificent book is a thrill. It's 800 pages seem like a caress rather than a task as the book's preface writer, Dr. Bernie Seigel, states: " this book is for everyone". The McClanahan's have been working on this challenge for over a decade! It is woven like the finest oriental silk rug as each thread comes from life itself and the aesthetics of its design and substance instill the same emotional and intellectual reaction that a great hand made rug has on a prospective buyer. So much knowledge and wisdom are part of this great weaving that I found myself hungry to read sections apart from any given particular interest area simply by virtue of the sweep and grasp of the amazing brother and sister writing team's power. We all experience a terrible deep seated apprehension of our culture's medical care system for it is grounded in the most barbarous preoccupation with profit, innimical to genuine quality health care. Thus the angst embedded in approaching being and getting well, especially when we are assaulted by illness or disease, results in a pain often worse than the reality of our medical/health problem. The crystal clear journey that Doctors Sandra and David take us on is so friendly, so characterized by an ancient sweetness flowing from the edict to "do no harm". Theirs is truly an interest in our understanding... not being victimized by the fear of the unknown, the arrogant, the subjugating norm that is so part of our medical service system and culture in America. This book makes a major contribution to empowering all of us as we expose ourselves to the danger of dependence in that speciality of medicine where hybris is at its most menacing.

This book is a healing environs, walking us through our anatomy, chapeter by chapter, after setting the context of the path to wellness that we each experience. I think that this new and refreshing volume is a must as a sanctuary inside every family's cupboard of comforting and nourishing essentials."
~ Written on 2002-08-18

"In this exhaustive guide through the oft confusing and terrifying land of illness and it's many treatment options, the Doctors Maclanahan cover the topic from head to foot, mountain top to waterfront. As a surgical educator I found the descriptions of the mechanism of disease clear and concise. The treatment options are equally instructive and should be easily understood by the majority of the readers. For the patient, this is an essential reference for sorting out their symptoms before heading off to the clinic. Arriving at the doctor's office better informed they will be better able to retain the all too often confusing explanations and complicated care plans. In the strained environment of modern health care, these critical discussions are more likely to be monologues dished out in the time pressured, intimidating environment of the office to a stunned patient unable to absorb their meaning.

For the practitioner, be they medical student to experienced surgeon, this will be one of the more "well-worn" references that will spend more time on the desk and nightstand than the bookshelf. Particularly in these times of increased popularity of alternative therapy among patients, it behooves the modern physician to better understand the myriad of treatment options and their likelihood of success. Only with a better understanding of all the options, can we physicians make informed decisions that represent the best options for our patients to restore their health and engender their trust."
~ Written on 2002-07-27

"Dr.s McLanahan have made a unique and extraordinarily valuable contribution to health care. Truly this is a resource, not only for making wise choices when faced with the possiblity of a surgical procedure, but for also maintaining and improving your and your family's health. Integrative medicine (combining the best of conventional Western medicine with the best of alternative/complementary medicine) is rapidly becoming mainstream. Dr. Sandra McLanahan has been a pioneer in alternative/complementary medicine for over 25 years, and her brother is an outstanding surgeon with impeccable training and credentials. Both of them are very clear and down to earth writers, and their combined effort is very readable for people without medical training. Because of my own interest in integrative medicine, I've read most of this book. Because of its size and scope, however, this is probably not something most people will want to do. Used as a reference text, reading areas of personal interest because of personal or family medical issues will be of great interest to all people who care about their health. Having it available as a reference text when worrisome symptoms arise, or new medical diagnoses are made will provide all medical consumers with a much greater wealth of options than they are likely to receive from their medical practitioner. The information is well researched, documented, and credible, and can go a long way toward educating medical professional who have not yet taken the plunge into the huge and often bewildering area of alternative and complementary medicine."
~ Written on 2002-07-24