Rating: 
Summary: Too Good To Be True Review
Review: Do you remember Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"? This book actually reminds one of the award-winning novel. Steinbeck writes a chapter about the Joad family, then a chapter on the "big picture". Moyer does a similarly exemplary job of interweaving the personal with the general in a way that is really quite captivating.Moyer discusses his family history. We learn about a malady that appears to have effected distance relatives, his dad, and finally his son. We learn how it can impact a family. We learn about a health care system that too often is ineffective and, at the same time, lacks respect for the patient and loved-ones. We also learn about the incredible complexity of bipolar disorder, brain chemistry, and the myriad of potential solutions to the disorder. It is this last aspect that offers hope to those impacted by the disorder. The is a book that both touches and educates us. A hearty thumbs-up for both a moving and informative work.
Rating:
Summary: Too Good To Be True Review
Review: Do you remember Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"? This book actually reminds one of the award-winning novel. Steinbeck writes a chapter about the Joad family, then a chapter on the "big picture". Moyer does a similarly exemplary job of interweaving the personal with the general in a way that is really quite captivating. Moyer discusses his family history. We learn about a malady that appears to have effected distance relatives, his dad, and finally his son. We learn how it can impact a family. We learn about a health care system that too often is ineffective and, at the same time, lacks respect for the patient and loved-ones. We also learn about the incredible complexity of bipolar disorder, brain chemistry, and the myriad of potential solutions to the disorder. It is this last aspect that offers hope to those impacted by the disorder. The is a book that both touches and educates us. A hearty thumbs-up for both a moving and informative work.
Rating:
Summary: Too Good To Be True Review
Review: Do you remember Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"? This book actually reminds one of the award-winning novel. Steinbeck writes a chapter about the Joad family, then a chapter on the "big picture". Moyer does a similarly exemplary job of interweaving the personal with the general in a way that is really quite captivating. Moyer discusses his family history. We learn about a malady that appears to have effected distance relatives, his dad, and finally his son. We learn how it can impact a family. We learn about a health care system that too often is ineffective and, at the same time, lacks respect for the patient and loved-ones. We also learn about the incredible complexity of bipolar disorder, brain chemistry, and the myriad of potential solutions to the disorder. It is this last aspect that offers hope to those impacted by the disorder. The is a book that both touches and educates us. A hearty thumbs-up for both a moving and informative work.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks to David for writing this wonderful book.
Review: I have read lots of books searching for helpful information about bipolar and this is the best, most relevant book that I've been able to find.
Rating:
Summary: Thankful for this book
Review: I loved Dave's book and was so thankful to find someone who I could relate to in being unsatisfied with standard medical care for bipolar disorder. Dave is passionate about finding a solution to help his son and others. I am hopeful that someday soon the medical profession will explore alternative care so that they could work together to end the brain illnesses that destroy lives. Because of the cost involved in seeking health care outside of insured coverage, most people rely on inefficient medications and their side effects. By gleaning from the research done by others, new avenues are available to me. I look forward to being healed someday and appreciate the work that Dave and others do to direct me in the healing process.
Rating: 
Summary: A Four Generation Bipolar Odyssey by David Moyer, LCSW
Review: This book could have been called The Bipolar Patient's Encyclopaedia
Volume: 1. How the Moyer family coped with four generations of dysfunctional brains;
Volume 2. how conventional psychiatry relies on a DSM 'bible' to label and then medicate;
Volume 3. how a range of medical, genetic, dietary, environmental, infection and metabolic conditions can cause or contribute to bipolar symptoms. A great aunt suicided before the family even knew she was depressed. The author's bipolar father lived through years of ups and downs and had the author on the edge of a precipice of dread. Author David Moyer became a mental health professional but faced a mid-life crisis when his son came down with bipolar symptoms. Training as a social worker wasn't enough to solve his son's problems. Conventional psychiatry wasn't good enough either. Although the usual bipolar medications quelled his son's religious zeal, he became less than normal due to negative effects. Schizophrenia medications stopped the visions but added more side effects. An empathetic and concerned father, social worker David Moyer scanned the Internet for 'restorative' answers. Not expecting to find real help by networking, he happened upon the Synergy system of supplements, developed in Calgary, Alberta by another concerned father of several bipolar children. Euphamistically called True Hope. Was it too good to be true or did the vitamin, mineral and amino acid nutrients in the True Hope dietary supplements really quiet his son's unquiet brain? Charting his son's progress over a five year period, David Moyer noticed that medications and hospitalizations alternated with relatively 'normal' periods but his son seemed to do better when he took his nutrients and tapered the synthetic medications. Pleased but wondering how mere nutrients could truly help, wanting an accurate differential diagnosis and the reassurance of proven effective treatments for Chris, the Moyer family embarked on a medical search. A series of health professionals told them that their son had biological and medical problems which are known to cause or contribute to symptoms of 'bipolar' disorder. Treatments seemed promising but the results were unclear. So many diagnoses: such a complicated case. Bipolar sufferers, concerned families, frustrated caregivers and mental health professionals will find this book interesting, informative and thought-provoking. Readers of this well-researched book should be ready to learn and willing to stretch their minds toward restorative mental healthcare. Marvel at the complex family dynamics as four generations of Moyers coped with mental symptoms; consider the multiple puzzles involved in the spectrum of bipolar disorder symptoms; find true hope for restorative mentel healthcare as author David Moyer, LCSW goes beyond conventional psychiatry to explore leading edge biological and medical treatments while searching for the Holy Grail of bipolar recovery. Maybe David Moyer doesn't have all the answers for his son Chris but he certainly asks a lot of stimulating questions, questions the status quo of minimalist mental healthcare and shares a wealth of interesting information. Well worth reading. Review by Robert Sealey, BSc, CA
Rating:
Summary: A Four Generation Bipolar Odyssey by David Moyer, LCSW
Review: This book could have been called The Bipolar Patient's Encyclopaedia
Volume: 1. How the Moyer family coped with four generations of dysfunctional brains;
Volume 2. how conventional psychiatry relies on a DSM 'bible' to label and then medicate;
Volume 3. how a range of medical, genetic, dietary, environmental, infection and metabolic conditions can cause or contribute to bipolar symptoms. A great aunt suicided before the family even knew she was depressed. The author's bipolar father lived through years of ups and downs and had the author on the edge of a precipice of dread. Author David Moyer became a mental health professional but faced a mid-life crisis when his son came down with bipolar symptoms. Training as a social worker wasn't enough to solve his son's problems. Conventional psychiatry wasn't good enough either. Although the usual bipolar medications quelled his son's religious zeal, he became less than normal due to negative effects. Schizophrenia medications stopped the visions but added more side effects. An empathetic and concerned father, social worker David Moyer scanned the Internet for 'restorative' answers. Not expecting to find real help by networking, he happened upon the Synergy system of supplements, developed in Calgary, Alberta by another concerned father of several bipolar children. Euphamistically called True Hope. Was it too good to be true or did the vitamin, mineral and amino acid nutrients in the True Hope dietary supplements really quiet his son's unquiet brain? Charting his son's progress over a five year period, David Moyer noticed that medications and hospitalizations alternated with relatively 'normal' periods but his son seemed to do better when he took his nutrients and tapered the synthetic medications. Pleased but wondering how mere nutrients could truly help, wanting an accurate differential diagnosis and the reassurance of proven effective treatments for Chris, the Moyer family embarked on a medical search. A series of health professionals told them that their son had biological and medical problems which are known to cause or contribute to symptoms of 'bipolar' disorder. Treatments seemed promising but the results were unclear. So many diagnoses: such a complicated case. Bipolar sufferers, concerned families, frustrated caregivers and mental health professionals will find this book interesting, informative and thought-provoking. Readers of this well-researched book should be ready to learn and willing to stretch their minds toward restorative mental healthcare. Marvel at the complex family dynamics as four generations of Moyers coped with mental symptoms; consider the multiple puzzles involved in the spectrum of bipolar disorder symptoms; find true hope for restorative mentel healthcare as author David Moyer, LCSW goes beyond conventional psychiatry to explore leading edge biological and medical treatments while searching for the Holy Grail of bipolar recovery. Maybe David Moyer doesn't have all the answers for his son Chris but he certainly asks a lot of stimulating questions, questions the status quo of minimalist mental healthcare and shares a wealth of interesting information. Well worth reading. Review by Robert Sealey, BSc, CA
Rating:
Summary: Thankful for this book
Review: This book is a gripper of a classic. It is, amongst many other things, an education in the humanity required to adequately help manage inhumane illnesses.
Virginia T. Sherr, MD
Rating:
Summary: Too Good to be True? Nutrients Quiet the Unquiet Brain
Review: This book is a gripper of a classic. It is, amongst many other things, an education in the humanity required to adequately help manage inhumane illnesses.
Virginia T. Sherr, MD
Rating:
Summary: a bipolar odyssey
Review: This book takes the reader on an odyssey through the author's family's battle with bipolar disorder. The author has made an admirable attempt to piece together possible causes of the disease, snooping around like a good detective. While I don't believe he found anything startling, perhaps his ideas will be helpful to some with the disorder. My only complaint about the book is that perhaps it could have been a little shorter. The quality of writing is high and the story is pretty interesting. Overall, definitely worth reading to provide greater perspective about bipolar disorder. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".
| 
