Lifestyle Notes
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 5/20/2002
It's All in Your Head"Although headaches are natural, they are not necessary," argues David Buchholz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In his Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Headaches, Buchholz counsels severe headache sufferers to avoid "quick fix" painkillers, which can cause "rebound" headaches. For a more holistic approach, minimize triggers like caffeine, perfumes, certain foods and stress and, for hardcore cases, use preventative medications such as tricyclic antidepressants, calcium channel blockers and others. Buchholz also discusses common misdiagnoses of migraine symptoms and challenges the myth of tension and sinus headaches (these are usually migraines, he argues). (Workman, $13.95 paper 304p ISBN 0-7611-2566-3; Aug.)
For that vast, wheezy population of allergy sufferers, immunology specialist and physician Frank K. Kwong offers hope in The Complete Allergy Book. He leads off with a history of allergy treatments, then explains how to recognize symptoms, identify allergens and control the home and work environments so that irritants are kept to a minimum. The book is divided by allergy type (pets, mold, air pollution, etc.), and Kwong surveys the medical remedies available for each allergy, emphasizing throughout the importance of choosing the right doctor. Kwong also covers special circumstances such as pregnancy, sports activities and travel. (Sourcebooks, $19.95 400p ISBN 1-57071-953-5; May)
