Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life was a living hell.
AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment. It is a heart-rending story of struggle and triumph with a climax as dramatic as any James Patterson thriller. (2008)
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Against Medical Advice
Customer Rating:
Well written - depressing subject, but something people should be aware of as it affects many families.
Reviewing "Against Medical Advice"
Customer Rating:
I found the reading of "Against Medical Advice" to be interesting since it was written from the perspective of the child with the disease. I was also impressed with James Patterson's name of the cover. I truly think that a copy should be given to each and every high school with a review placed in the window or display case of the school to gain the students' interest to read about a kid that made it even with great difficulty. Kids, especially, teenagers are so ego-centric that a book like this may touch them like many other things could not.
Take this advice......
Customer Rating:
A compelling book that I could hardley put down. Picked it up after work yesterday and read until ten when I feel asleep. Picked it back up after work today and finished by 9:00 - My fastest read ever! I simply wanted to know more and more and just could not stop. The ending was definitely not a downer as I was fearing it might. Thanks to Mr Patterson for putting this TRUE story in print from the perspective he did.
Beating the Odds
Customer Rating:
This is an amazing story about a boy who was able to beat the odds and was able to fight back against Tourette's Syndrome. The nightmare this boy and his family had to go through to get the final result is hard to comprehend. The book opened my eyes into the many facets of the disease and how it can impact someone's life. I'm sure there are many families that are extremely grateful to this family for sharing their story and for showing that the disease can be beaten.
Cory goes AMA
Customer Rating:
First of all there is no medical mystery. Cory Friedman has Tourettes Syndrome and OCD. He has a great deal of anxiety. The amazing issues of this book is how Cory's parents held the entire family together despite many tragedies brought about by Cory's ailments. Cory does not give up, despite his raging insides and delivers everything that is possible, in the end. Just because he wanted to be like the other kids and not have these temptations thrown in his way, all the time,he finally succeeds. Kudos to his teachers, who helped him along the way and to the number of doctors who gave it their all to try to help Cory.
But most of all this book is a tribute to a well put together family who happened to have a medical issue that only our hero could fight. That hero being Cory Friedman.
Let us not forget the amazing writing of James Patterson and Hal Friedman.
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