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This engaging and highly practical title is designed to support healthcare professionals in providing the best possible care for their patients with migraine. Developed by two leading authorities in the field who bring wit and warmth to their writing, the book combines the valuable wisdom of their clinical expertise with cutting edge scientific synthesis and helpful clinical pearls. Replete with a plethora of instructional aids and clinical tools (such as patient handouts, questionnaires, checklists, video clips, and quick-reference boxes), Discussing Migraine with Your Patients: A Common Sense Guide for Clinicians reviews migraine treatment in an evidence-based manner -- according to the empirical data and FDA and consensus-based guidelines. Discussion topics include acute and preventive pharmacotherapy, medical interventions and devices, behavioral and psychological nonpharmacologic therapies, education, trigger management, healthy lifestyle practices, stress management, neutraceuticals, and alternative medicine offerings. In addition, this easy-to-read title covers genetics and pathophysiology, symptoms and comorbidities, and a range of essential clinical skills that are useful in achieving the best possible outcomes with patients. In invaluable addition to the literature, this title will serve as the ultimate go-to resource for primary care clinicians and trainees. Headache specialists, too, will find value in this work.

Dogs that visit patients with cancer have been convincingly shown to reduce stress, loneliness, and mood disturbance that may complicate cancer care. In addition, dogs may provide important motivation for patients to maintain rehabilitation programs that have been shown to reduce cancer risk and improve cancer survival. Outlining all of these issues and many more, Therapy Dogs in Cancer Care: A Valuable Complementary Treatment is a ground-breaking, highly innovative addition to the literature on cancer care. Detailing a comprehensive summary of truly impressive research demonstrating the ability of dogs to serve an important therapeutic role within the cancer arena and in other serious medical conditions, the text provides highly practical advice and very helpful “tips” to ensure that those who wish to employ dogs to assist the cancer patient have the necessary knowledge and “tools” to optimize outcomes. Authored by Dawn A. Marcus, MD, an expert in both pain management and health improvement through human and dog interaction, Therapy Dogs in Cancer Care: A Valuable Complementary Treatment is an extremely well-organized, well-researched, and highly readable book. Providing practical suggestions to effectively incorporate dogs into cancer care, with detailed instructions about requirements for therapy dogs to ensure visits are safe and limit unwanted spread of infection, Therapy Dogs in Cancer Care: A Valuable Complementary Treatment is an invaluable reference that will inform and delight both the clinician desiring a “how-to” text as well as the casual reader.

Migraine is an extremely common condition affecting 28 million Americans. Fully 1 in every 6 adult women suffers from this malady. Patients with migraine are frequently seen in the Emergency Room and Urgent Care Clinic for acute treatment of their headaches. Headache generally accounts for nearly 3% of all ER visits, resulting in almost 3.5 million visits annually. There currently are no widely used guidelines for the treatment of patients with headache in the ER or UCC, and reducing the number of CT scans remains a key goal for administrators in many ER or urgent care settings. In one study, 35 drugs, alone or in combination, were used to treat migraine. The most common medication class used was narcotics, which were used in 25% of the visits. The next two most commonly used classes were antiemetics and NSAIDs. Only 5% of patients seen for headache received headache-specific medications during their visit. ER and Urgent Care physicians generally have little or no formal training in treating these patients. Consequently, they often feel less comfortable ruling out secondary causes of headaches and using appropriate headache treatment medications and procedures. Since many patients have received narcotics in previous visits, providers may view them as drug seekers. Patients seen in ERs and UCCs for acute treatment of their headaches often report high levels of dissatisfaction. They often end up in the ER or UCC because they don't have a formal treatment strategy for their severe headaches. Health plans and insurance agencies are often frustrated by the high cost of fragmented care for patients with headaches. Because of the environment that most ER and UCC providers operate in, many unnecessary scans and tests are done because of uncertainty of the diagnosis and unfamiliarity of the patient. Primary care physicians are also frustrated by patients with headaches presenting to them after being seen in the ERor UCC, wanting a refill of their narcotics that they were given. Many patients don't follow up with their PCPs and simply keep returning to the ER/UCC for their treatment. In short, all involved in the care for patients with headache are frustrated by the current system. The care for these patients is clearly not optimal. It doesn't have to be that way. There are a wide variety of effective treatment options available, but are underutilized in the acute setting. With these treatment options, patients no longer have to be treated only with parenteral narcotics, only to perpetuate the cycle of suboptimal care described above. This concise handbook covers all aspects of acute headache care, including care of the child and adolescent with acute headaches, treatment of pregnant and breastfeeding women with acute headaches and appropriate evaluation of secondary headaches. In addition, two other novel chapters are included: one on caring for older patients with acute headaches as well as a chapter describing how to ensure a seamless transition of the patient back to a headache interested provider. Representing an important milestone in the care of patients with headache, this is the first concise handbook available to exclusively address the issue of headache treatment in the acute care setting. Including protocols and strategies that can be used right away, Management of Headaches in Emergency Room and Urgent Care Settings: Diagnosis and Management provides information about lesser known, but effective strategies such as greater occipital nerve blocks that can be easily learned and incorporated in the acute care setting. It emphasizes the continuity of care that is so vital to keep headache patients from returning to the ER and UCC for acute treatment.

Foreword Reviews 2011 Book of the Year Honorable Mention (Health Category)Medical studies have consistently shown that patients benefit from therapy dog visits. One recent study of 59 adults showed that following a therapy dog visit their energy levels increased, respiratory rated calmed significantly and pain scores decreased by over 20%. Mood scores improved by over 60% with the patients feeling less tense, anxious, angry, tied depressed and dejected.Now in The Power of Wagging Tails, Dr. Dawn Marcus showcases the wide range of research that shows the therapeutic and healing power of dogs for people of all ages and with a wide range of health conditions. These research findings are brought to life through the personal stories of healing from dog owners across the United States and Canada.She shows you how to unleash the healing power of your own dog, describes how to effectively add a dog to the home of someone with a chronic condition, explains how the family dog can help with chronic health conditions, and teaches how to train a companion dog to be a certified therapy dog to help others.The Power of Wagging Tails will be of interest to dog owners, people wondering how to help family and friends coping with chronic illnesses, and individuals considering training their dogs for therapy work.Special Features of The Power of Wagging Tails include : Presentation of reliable medical research showing that dog therapy offers therapeutic benefits to people First-person accounts from service dog trainers, aerobic instructors, and recognized dog training experts such as Carol Lea Benjamin First-person accounts of people who have experienced dog therapy Practical suggestions to help people decide if they should add a dog to their home or have a therapy dog visit Sound advice to help people decide if dog therapy is right for them Practical tips on how to make dog therapy visits safe, effective, and successful for the dog, handler, and people visited

Caring for patients with fibromyalgia requires an understanding of the complex nature of this condition. Fibromyalgia: A Practical Clinical Guide is a state-of-the-art resource designed to clarify the controversy about fibromyalgia and to provide clinicians with the latest information about its pathogenesis and clinical evaluation, as well as evidence-based guidelines for effective treatment. This comprehensive title includes fully referenced, practical information on this fast-emerging field and provides useful clinical suggestions and practical office tools for effectively managing patients. The good news for fibromyalgia patients and their healthcare providers is that a wide range of medication, non-medication, and non-traditional therapies have been proven to effectively reduce some of the most problematic and disabling fibromyalgia symptoms. Brief case vignettes help describe many of the common presentations, concerns, and complexities typically seen in fibromyalgia patients. Invaluable graphic aids -- boxes, tables, and figures – are used widely to provide quick reference for the busy clinician seeking information. In addition, clinic-proven assessment and documentation tools for evaluating and monitoring fibromyalgia symptoms and severity are provided, along with handouts for patients to provide guidance on pain management techniques, including detailed exercise and relaxation technique instructions. A unique addition to the literature, Fibromyalgia: A Practical Clinical Guide is an indispensable reference for all clinicians who care for patients with fibromyalgia.

Headache and Chronic Pain Syndromes provides a case-based approach to state-of-the-art evaluation and treatment of patients with common chronically painful conditions. Offering strategies for rapidly evaluating and treating pain complaints by body region, this innovative title also provides patient educational handouts that explain the diagnosis and treatment in easy-to-understand language for each condition. Tools for implementing both medication and non-medication therapies, such as exercises and relaxation techniques, are also included. Each chapter opens with typical presentations of three to five common patient scenarios, including pediatric, adult, and geriatric patients. A targeted approach for patient assessment is provided and applied to each scenario, showing how to rapidly identify important clues to distinguish among common diagnoses, including both benign and malignant causes of pain. Standard treatment regimens are then provided for each patient, along with patient-friendly educational flyers for each common pain condition. Figures and drawings help provide ready identification of these common chronic pain syndromes. Headache and Chronic Pain Syndromes offers primary care practitioners, neurologists, and orthopedists an optimal approach to the evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of chronically painful conditions.