Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men From Heart Disease and Headaches to Flabby Abs and Road Rage, over 2,000 Simple Solutions

Who Needs a Doctor? The book you hold in your hands will help you take care of scores of health problems by yourself. Use it well, and you'll gain as much personal control over your health and healing as you could possibly ask for. So does that mean that you'll never have to see the inside of a doctor's office again? Absolutely not. Every man needs a doctor. And the savvy medical consumer puts at least as much effort into choosing a doctor he can trust and developing a professional relationship with his physician as he does picking an auto mechanic, accountant, lawyer, or investment broker. The idea is essentially the same: When problems come up that you can easily and safely handle, you take care of them. But when problems emerge that require a trained professional, you have a trusted expert ready and waiting to help. This book is primarily for dealing with those problems for which a doctor might not be needed. But just so there is no confusion, we'll reiterate our point: Every man needs a good doctor, no matter how much he disdains the probing and questioning and undressing and waiting and paying. And to show you we mean it, we're offering right here at the beginning--before we get to the hundreds of tips and techniques that can help you feel better fast--our best wisdom on finding the perfect doctor for your particular needs. Men and Doctors Between the ages of 25 and 44, 63 percent of all office visits to doctors are made by women. And they have twice as much contact during the year with their doctors as men. Overall, about 7 out of 11 adults visiting a doctor are women--despite the fact that men die younger than women. "It's a paradox," says Mack Lipkin, M.D., director of primary care at New York University in New York City. Why is it that for so many of us, a visit to a doctor is as rare as a physician making a house call? Here are a few reasons. * We're bulletproof. "We think we're invincible," says Kenneth Goldberg, M.D., a urologist who is the founder and director of the Male Health Institute in Irving, Texas, and author of How Men Can Live As Long As Women. * We're busy. Men are still in the workforce in greater numbers than women, says Dr. Lipkin. It's simply very difficult for guys to make the time for a visit to a doctor, he says. * We're tough. "There's a cultural attitude that men share that they should tough it out," says Dr. Lipkin. "I think that because men engage in harder labor and more active and violent sports as they're growing up, they are used to pain and pain going away as just kind of a natural thing. You just take your lumps. There are many men from macho cultures where that is even more the case." * We're frightened. Being poked, probed, and touched in embarrassing places is unnerving. "We're scared out of our wits," says Dr. Goldberg. * We're skeptical. "Men may be skeptical because of their fears and past experiences with doctors," says Dr. Goldberg. * And some men also have the attitude that if they can't fix it themselves, then it can't be helped, adds Dr. Lipkin. Still, there are times when it is foolish and potentially deadly not to see a physician. "Any time you have a symptom that persists, you should see a doctor," Dr. Goldberg says. "It doesn't matter if it's a headache or abdominal pain. If it's there and it doesn't go away or it sigPrevention Magazine Editors is the author of 'Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men From Heart Disease and Headaches to Flabby Abs and Road Rage, over 2,000 Simple Solutions' with ISBN 9780553582345 and ISBN 0553582348.