Solve Your Chronic Pain!

Dear Friend, I remember a moment when I knew things had to change. I was only 38 years old, but my body felt 100. Every morning, I dreaded putting my feet on the floor because they were so stiff and painful. My fingers were swollen; three of them would not even bend. I could barely get around our house. My poor health put a strain on my family life. I felt like a burden, frustrated by not being able to meet the demands of motherhood. The revelation? If things kept going this way, I would be unhappy, fat, and in pain, and my family would suffer. At the time, I was a literary agent who specialized in wellness books, working with some of the world's foremost experts in health and healing. I knew I could figure this out. I went to see a top New York City rheumatologist. I remember walking in a snowstorm to my appointment. Every step was painful, and I cried on the way there. He diagnosed me with sero-negative autoimmune arthritis. I didn't have rheumatoid arthritis, which was good news. However, according to him, if I didn't treat this degenerative disease with prescription drugs for the rest of my life, getting my liver checked in a clinic every 6 weeks for damage, the pain would worsen and my joints would eventually deform. Those turned out to be the fighting words for me. Because of my job, I had read about so many approaches to health. Even if it were true that there were no other ways to treat this problem, I knew that, at the very least, there were things I could do to support my immune system and alleviate the harsh effects of the medication. I tried a lot of things: a trainer, who helped me learn how to exercise (not easy to swing financially), acupuncture, food elimination, and steroid shots. One doctor I saw ran some tests and discovered that I was low in certain nutrients. He explained that I could help my body reverse the autoimmune reaction through diet. He also said, "It is going to take your body some time to heal, but keep going." He was quietly confident that I could do this. It turned out I could. I took his advice, followed the diet, took some supplements, starting walking — and then running — and kept up a healthy diet. The unbelievable thing was that while my insurance company would have been willing to pay for a lifetime of prescription drugs, it would not reimburse me for omega-3 or vitamin D supplements, nor for green juice. But those things were part of how I healed.

Why do I tell this story? Because in my job today as publisher of Rodale Books, it has come full circle. I think about the doctor who told me there were no options, and I am angry. So when I heard we had the opportunity to publish Total Recovery: Solving the Mystery of Chronic Pain and Depression by top integrative doctor Gary Kaplan, I knew we had to bring his transformative insights to the millions of people who suffer from chronic pain or depression and have been told the problem can't be solved. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Kaplan shows how pain and depression can be healed by understanding what is at the root of both afflictions. Chronic pain, he theorizes, starts as a result of an accumulation of trauma. Every injury, infection, toxin, and emotional blow leads to inflammation of tiny cells in the brain called microglia, which remain "upregulated," causing pain that doesn't end. Healing is the process of unraveling this inflammation using the framework and methods he provides. If I'd only had Dr. Kaplan's book when I went through my own health problem, I would not have suffered so long, nor gone down so many wrong paths, before I figured out the answers. Too many people are suffering — but that ends now. I hope that if you have read this far, you might consider trying Total Recovery: Solving the Mystery of Chronic Pain and Depression FREE for 21 days. If you don't like what you see, feel free to return it before the end of the 21 days, no questions asked. Wishing you all the very best, Mary Ann Naples Publisher, Rodale Books Preview Total Recovery free for 21 days. You can return Total Recovery at the end of the preview if you decide not to purchase it.

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