Arthritis, Inflammation, Gout, Crohn’s, IBD and IBS: How to Eliminate Pain and Extend Your Life

Emanuel Barling, Jr., Esq. and Ashley F. Brooks, R.N.
Outskirts Press (2010)
ISBN 9781432749859
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (08/10)


According to the authors “Arthritis is the most common cause of disability in the United States.  In 2009 an estimated fifty million people reported being told by their doctors they have the disease. Three million people now report suffering from gout in America alone.  Another two million have Crohn’s disease, IBD, IBS and other digestive diseases. Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States and nearly one hundred and fifty thousand new cases are diagnosed each year.” (Back of book.)

Looking at these figures is scary and what is scarier is all this could have been prevented if the people would take charge of their own lives.  Understanding what these diseases are and how they progress as well as the steps for prevention is the ultimate goal. 

Arthritis isn’t a new disease.  In fact, archeological digs have shown that arthritis existed in our early ancestors as well as dinosaurs that existed 85,000,000 BC.

According to Barling and Brooks, for example, arthritis is quite often the primary illness with gout, Chrohn’s, IBD or IBS being the secondary illness.  Or, it could be that Crohn’s is the primary and the others are the secondary.  The importance of diagnosing the primary and treating it may cure the others.  However, this isn’t the case on many occasions.  It ends up each illness is treated separately thus causing further illness or the clash of medications causing a secondary disease itself.

Barling and Brooks further state “In dealing with arthritis and gout, it is important to understand allergies and intolerances because they result in inflammations that lead to pain and cause harm to your body.”  They stress the importance of being aware what allergies and intolerances affect your body.

In whole this book is compacted with information for a better understanding of these diseases that permeate our society. As well, they give suggestions of what supplements are effective for cure and maintenance.  Taking responsibility for our own health rather than turning it over to someone else is the beginning.  Books like “Arthritis, Inflammation, Gout, Crohn’s, IBD and IBS” are important as they give us researched information to take that responsibility and I commend Barling and Brooks in exposing it to us.

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