The Other Side of Impossible: Ordinary People Who Faced Daunting Medical Challenges and Refused to Give Up

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The Other Side of Impossible: Ordinary People Who Faced Daunting Medical Challenges and Refused to Give Up

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Overview

True stories about people who triumphed over seemingly impossible medical diagnoses using untraditional, inventive therapies and perseverance—and about what scientists are discovering on the psychology of healing and the mind-body connection—from the author of the New York Times Magazine article about her own son, “The Boy with the Thorn in his Joints,” which led to this book about other families

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812996470
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Susannah Meadows is a former senior writer for Newsweek. She has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times, writing a column for the Arts section about books. During her career she has covered the 2004 presidential campaign, the aftermath of 9/11, and the Duke lacrosse scandal, among many other stories. She has appeared on CBS This Morning, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, Charlie Rose, and The Brian Lehrer Show. She lives with her husband and twin sons in Brooklyn.

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Excerpted from "The Other Side of Impossible"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Susannah Meadows.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

1 Shepherd's Story, Part 1: The Leap 3

2 Instead of an Introduction: A Community of the Defiant 19

3 Shepherd's Story, Part 2: The Science of Our Guts 22

4 Terry Wahls: How Far Can Moxie Take You? 34

5 Diet and Inflammation: Terry Looks for Proof 59

6 The Science of Success: What Makes Us Try and Try Again 69

7 Amanda Hanson: Love and Sacrifice 72

8 Jamie Stelter: The Raw Fuel of Optimism 107

9 The Science of the Mind and Body: "Things Shift Toward Wellness" 142

10 Annie Salafsky: Saying No to No 148

11 The Science of Hope: Agency vs. Learned Helplessness 176

12 Trusting Her Son: Amy and Jaxon Chan Take On ADHD with Diet 182

13 Amy Thieringer: Evolution of a Healer 214

14 Shepherd's Story, Part 3: The Surprise 236

Afterword: The Landing 248

Acknowledgments 255

Diary of a Gut: Terry Wahls's Menu on August 26, 2016 257

The Evidence for Omega-3s and Probiotics 259

Bang for Your Broccoli 263

The Work Left to Be Done 267

Glossary 269

Selected Bibliography 275

Index 287

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

04/17/2017
At age three, journalist Meadows’s son Shepherd was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Concerned about the side effects of traditional medications, she entered “the healthcare underground” of patients struggling with chronic, debilitating autoimmune illnesses and willing to look at complementary or alternative strategies for treating and defeating them. This book presents the stories of several people who found relief through new, still-unproven approaches such as dietary changes or fecal transplants. Meadows is skeptical in the best sense, considering the treatments, as well as the character traits of her subjects, as potential keys to success. She never sufficiently acknowledges that her stories are anecdotes, not conclusive research, but she has confidence that they point to real solutions. Her purpose is to “suggest potential targets for new research,” and she does so with writing that’s compelling and fair. When presenting a case, she is balanced, as in discussing Terry, a doctor stricken with multiple sclerosis, who subdued her illness through medicine, diet, meditation, physical therapy, strength training, and massage. This is a terrific book for those who need encouragement to take control of their diagnoses, and for their physicians and families. (May)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2017
Journalist Meadows's quest for a cure for her son's juvenile arthritis led her to complementary and alternative therapies. Along the way, she encountered others seeking solutions for serious medical conditions. This book introduces readers to courageous patients, parents seeking help for their children, and scientists searching for cures and explanations. Among them are a physician with multiple sclerosis, a mother determined to stop her daughter's seizures, and parents helping a child with ADHD. While noting that both traditional and alternative medicine practices are useful and that much is still unknown about what works and why, the author highlights the importance of persistence, hope, and research when facing difficult medical situations. Those profiled here refused to give up and were willing to try unproven therapies with no guarantees. This title includes supplementary information with websites for updates from the researchers and patients profiled and a glossary. VERDICT For those facing catastrophic illness and willing to explore alternative therapies. Public and consumer health collections will want to consider.—Barbara Bibel, formerly Oakland P.L.

Library Journal

2017-03-21
Can eating the right food play a major role in healing medical problems?Rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, ADHD, severe seizures, multiple sclerosis, and food allergies related to peanuts, gluten, dairy, soy, and a host of other allergens—these are just some of the medical issues explored by former Newsweek senior writer Meadows in her first book. Most of the author's interviewees are parents of children with these serious, sometimes life-threatening illnesses who have tried every conventional medical method—most often, prescription drugs—to help their children lead healthy lives. But when those traditional methods have failed to produce long-term positive results, they have turned to alternative methods, often as a last resort, and been overwhelmed by the drastic, progressive changes. Highly attentive to important details, Meadows takes readers through the agonizing months and years of pain, suffering, anxiety, and fears that these parents and adults faced as they tried to find solutions to their medical issues. As the author discovered, food played a significant role in all of these situations. Once the diet was changed, the symptoms changed, and the children improved, primarily because the body's gut bacteria, or microbiome, had changed. Other methods Meadows clearly discusses include fecal pills and enemas, identifying the mind-body connection between food and its allergic reaction in the body, and the importance of positive feedback and the drive to feel better. Although the author doesn't outline a specific diet, she includes enough information about foods that helped others for readers to piece together their own menu and do their own experimentation to help overcome some of these debilitating diseases. The author's helpful additions include further resources, websites, a sample menu, and bibliography, as well as references to the many doctors and practitioners interviewed in the text. Encouraging, honest information and real-life cases that show the role food can play in healing the body.

Kirkus Reviews

[Meadows] has compiled compelling stories about people who faced and ultimately surmounted daunting medical challenges. . . . The families’ ventures into a realm that some would call quackery were typically inspired by love, desperation and hope, and were fueled by irrepressible grit and determination to find solutions to debilitating health problems that defied the best that conventional medicine could offer. Their stories left me in awe of their persistence against formidable odds.”—The New York Times

“The stories featured in this book are really remarkable—a child making a full recovery from a painful illness, a woman confined to a wheelchair walking again—and all because they wouldn’t stop looking for answers.”—Good Morning America

“This is a book of hope. . . . An amazing book for everyone.”—Fox & Friends

“At the age of three, the author’s son Shepherd was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. When Western medicine didn’t help, Meadows, a journalist, found a special diet—no gluten, no dairy—that did. For this book she found other families who, as she writes, had similarly explored ‘the wilds of unfinished science.’”—Newsday

“[Meadows’s] purpose is to ‘suggest potential targets for new research,’ and she does so with writing that’s compelling and fair. . . . This is a terrific book for those who need encouragement to take control of their diagnoses, and for their physicians and families.”—Publishers Weekly

“Throughout these tales, a common attitude binds people together: hope. . . . What cannot be refuted are the will power, perseverance, and hopefulness of the patients and families profiled here.”—Booklist

“Can eating the right food play a major role in healing medical problems? . . . Encouraging, honest information and real-life cases that show the role food can play in healing the body.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[The Other Side of Impossible] introduces readers to courageous patients, parents seeking help for their children, and scientists searching for cures and explanations. . . . The author highlights the importance of persistence, hope, and research when facing difficult medical situations.”—Library Journal

“In this affecting and illuminating book, Susannah Meadows emerges as the kind of sound, sensible, and invaluable friend you want by your side when medical disaster strikes. She brings a strong grasp of science, a writerly sensibility, and a good heart to the difficult subject of the present and future of healthcare. If you love someone, read The Other Side of Impossible.”—Jon Meacham

“I laughed out loud more than once, choked up more than twice, and generally marveled at the lovely humanity and sharp mind at work. This extremely useful guide to never giving up is journalism at its most responsible, intelligent, and compassionate.”—Kelly Corrigan

“The Other Side of Impossible is an amazing book—insightful, compassionate, and quite possibly life-changing.”—Curtis Sittenfeld

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The Other Side of Impossible: Ordinary People Who Faced Daunting Medical Challenges and Refused to Give Up

The Other Side of Impossible: Ordinary People Who Faced Daunting Medical Challenges and Refused to Give Up

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