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Summary: A Book that Deals with PCOS, it's about time!
Review: Finally, a comprehensive guide that helps deal with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I have been dealing with this syndrome for many years and there hasn't ever been a book written about it. I found that this book is quite helpful in helping women deal with this disease in more ways that one. I applaude the writers of this book for making it understandable for everyone to read, and for finally coming out of the closet with PCOS. I recommend that all women with PCOS and their families and friends read this book. It will help us deal with it and it will teach others on how to accept us as we are.
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Summary: informative
Review: I found this book to be very informative, giving very specific details about the causes and symptoms of PCOS, while still being easy to read and understand. The authors offer many holistic (and common sense) approaches to getting the symptoms under control so as not to have to rely on medications, most of which have negative side-effects.
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Summary: Author comment on the book and its inspiration
Review: I have been amazed and excited by the amount of reviews of the book and wanted to share my thoughts on it with readers. I was diagnosed with PCOS aged 23 four years ago now after suffering from months of failing health and hideous symptoms familiar to many women with this condition: hair loss, acne, body hair, mood swings, no periods and exhausting fatigue. I found no information anywhere after my doctor told me there was no cure. So I started to dig around and find some and begin to take steps to live a healthier life in the hopes of feeling better regardless of what medicine (natural or drug-based) I eventually decided to take. This book comes from the heart and from that personal research and experimentation with what made me feel better, along with the medical and nutritional expertise of Dr Adam Carey and the shared stories of many women who belong to the UK's support group Verity which started around the same time as the US group PCOSA, I think around the time I was diagnosed.This book is a starting point for women who have PCOS and want to feel better both physically and emotionally. It explains what PCOS is, the theories behind why it occurs, and the self help steps which make sense for women with PCOS to take regardless of what medical path they then choose to take - let's face it, all of us could benefit from eating better, sleeping better,doing more exercise, reducing stress and being kinder to ourselves - it's just that for women with PCOS these things can make an even bigger difference - and the book explains the biochemical reasons why. This book has never claimed to be the be all and end all of PCOS knowledge - rather, it's a supportive, informative launch pad based on self help and emotional support which has a huge further information section at the back to point people towards where they can get more help for specific symptoms they want to focus on, or issues such as fertility which they are dealing with. I truly hope that it helps a lot fo women find the right path for treating their own PCOS - and for anyone who didn't find it suited them, a plea to pass on your copy to someone you think might benefit from it. With thanks for all your comments and energy to get PCOS on the map. Colette
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Summary: Great book!
Review: I have had PCOS for over 26 years and this is the first book I have read on the subject, that has given me so much information. PCOS is still not well known, and this book is an important step in educating people about the syndrome. I felt frustrated for many years knowing so little about the subject. I agree with Colette Harris when she states that "knowledge is power".She answers a lot of the frequently asked questions about PCOS and her tone throughout the book is very supportive, especially since she has experienced this first hand. No one as yet has any answers about what causes PCOS, but I think the book presents a good discussion of possible theories. The section on nutrition and lifestyle changes is very informative and provides guidelines for those with PCOS, who do not want to be put on medication as a first resort.The chapter on PCOS symptoms is comforting to read because it makes you realise that your (often embarrassing) symptoms, are due to a medical condition and are not your fault. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in PCOS - not only to those who have it, but also to their families and their doctors.After reading the book I finally feel that I am not alone, and if you have PCOS I think you will understand what I mean by that.
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Summary: not a good source for infertility information
Review: If you are looking for information on medical treatments and want to go beyond "the pill" this is not the book for you. I am infertile because of PCOS, and picked up this book looking for some sort of support. I should have looked elsewhere. Don't waste your money!
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Summary: All In One Place
Review: If you have recently been diagnosed with PCOS and/or are "new" to it, try "Androgen Disorders in Women" (Cheung) or "The Good News About Women's Hormones" (Redmond) first. They are easier to read and you get answers for your questions quicker. "A Woman's Guide" seems overcomplicated in some areas. I had to wade through a lot of irrelevant information to get to the "good stuff". Not a total bust, but definately not at the top of my list. After you've read everything else, and there still isn't a whole lot, read this for "additional" info.. The important stuff is covered better in the other two books sited above.
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Summary: Don't Pay Any Attention to Other Reviewers
Review: It never ceases to amaze me how people are so quick to assume that anything that strays from Western conventional medical wisdom must be bunk. Far too many of the reviewers make huge mistakes in their criticism of this text. Yes, I am sure that a reader will find some information lacking as is true with any literature produced on any topic. However, the criticism that this book is not helpful is one which could only be made by those individuals that are not familiar with the values of actually taking care of themselves. PCOS is a condition which results from poor self care, nutrition and fitness...period. Many of the reviewers that criticize this book, criticize it on the basis that they do not want to expend the time and energy to become healthy. They simply wish to pop a pill, which is toxic to their bodies in many respects, which will put a band aid over the problem. They do not realize that there endocrine system can be regulated through diet alone. They do not recognize that proper fitness will help to sensitize every cell of their body to use insulin more efficiently. They do not accept that actually eating organic foods which are not riddled with the chemicals, antibiotics, hormones and pesticides (which happen to act as hormones in the body) will do wonders for improving their health, simply because organic foods are more expensive or you might have to do some research into whether a cow was fed grass which is far superior to cattle which has dined on grain. Anyone that ridicules this book for failing to deal with pill-popping has missed the point. Anyone that criticizes this text because it does not deal with controlling the endocrine system, does not understand the meaning and purpose of PCOS: A Woman's Gudie to Dealing with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Anyone, who cannot glean the meaning of straying so far into the farming practices which have depleted nutrients from our foods making supplementation necessary does not have the ability to formulate a comprehensive body of knowledge about this disease. AHHHHHHHHHH!
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Summary: Patronising pseudoscience
Review: Most of this PCOS "management plan" has no legitimate scientific basis, thank heaven. If it did, sufferers would be doomed to a lifetime of meditating on orange peels, dragging an ioniser on holiday and ransacking Tesco for cold-pressed flaxseed oil. Colette Harris is a health journalist, and her book is a case study in the flaws of popular health writing. She oversimplifies, overgeneralises, fails to cite her sources, and acts as if all "scientific studies" -- however small or poorly controlled -- were fonts of infallible wisdom. She spends pages on untested New Age quackery while ignoring the findings of mainstream medicine. Astonishingly, her book says nothing about one of the most promising new treatments: the use of Metformin for insulin resistance. She is also virtually silent on the one topic that should be discussed in all British health books: how to wrangle the treatment you need from the NHS. The author seems to assume that her readers will either go private or head straight for the witch doctor. The book's section on infertility -- surely the most worrying aspect of the syndrome for most women -- is shockingly inadequate, and although Miss Harris touts her "holistic" approach, her treatment of the syndrome's emotional effects is superficial and trite. (Dark night of the soul? Try giving yourself some homemade light therapy!) She also links PCOS with just about every complaint her readers could suffer, dragging in things like food cravings and premenstrual breast pain that are not normally recognised as symptoms of anything except being a woman. Far from helping women deal with the syndrome, this book encourages them to live first and foremost as PCOS sufferers. A woman who followed Miss Harris's advice to the full would end up viewing almost all aspects of her physical and mental constitution as manifestations of the disease, and restructuring virtually every waking moment in order to treat it. The book is an excellent example of the modern cult of illness, in which people are encouraged to base their identities upon real or imagined medical conditions. We are not so far away from the days of the neurasthenic Victorian invalid. What women with PCOS really need is advice on how to differentiate solid medical evidence from the findings of spurious, unduplicated studies. They need to be given practical information on what is likely to work and what isn't -- using hard evidence and statistics, not vaguenesses like "many women find that X helps." They need to be treated like intelligent, independent people, not creatures whose world is defined by the weaknesses of their "female parts." They should be helped to deal with the really serious aspects of PCOS - having a baby, getting rid of body hair, preventing diabetes - and then allowed to get on with their lives. Unfortunately, common sense doesn't sell nearly as well as "miracle cures," and well-informed, confident women are not as likely to buy as nervous hypochondriacs.
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Summary: PCOS: A woman's guide to Polycistic Ovary Syndrome
Review: Reviewer: dotkom (see more about me) from London, England I stumbled across a PCOS article by Colette Harris in a British alternative health magazine, Here's Health, and was very excited to learn she'd written a book on the subject. The article was very informative, but the book provided the depth of information on the subject that someone who knew relatively little about the problem needed. I found the writing style, while informative, not at all patronising, which is hard to find in a health book. Also, the personal stories in the book made me realise real people do get PCOS. I'd recommend this book to anyone who is worried about their inability to lose weight and problems with their periods. - Dorothy K
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Summary: making your life work despite pcos
Review: This book is a fantastic resource not just for sufferers of PCOS but, importantly, for those who have to share the load - the friends, families and partners of PCOS sufferers. My partner has been a sufferer for many years, but only realised when she came of the contraceptive pill. The range of symptoms, as illustrated through this book, are so disparate that there must be many thousands of women who have the condition but don't realise. By taking on the emotional side of the condition, alongside an extremely thorough and informative look at the purely medical cause and effect, Harris has provided women and their loved ones with a resource to help them understand the condition, it's symptoms, and the practical ways of making life with PCOS far more bearable. And by balancing the mainstream medicine with a range of complimentary options, she allows sufferers to become empowered in taking back control of their lives.
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