The Merck Manual of Health & Aging: The comprehensive guide to the changes and challenges of aging-for older adults and those who care for and about them - Softcover

Merck & Co., Inc.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345482743 ISBN 13: 9780345482747

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2005

Synopsis

"A VALUABLE RESOURCE FOR ANYONE WHO SEEKS A HEALTHIER OLD AGE FOR THEMSELVES OR THEIR LOVED ONES.”
–William D. Novelli, CEO, AARP

If aging were an open book, it would be The Merck Manual of Health & Aging. From one of the most trusted names in medical reference comes an accessible, all-inclusive guide for older adults that shares what measures to take to optimize the aging process, prevent disease, and improve your overall health. This comprehensive book also explains the health care system and the disorders seniors are most likely to experience. Inside you’ll discover clear, authoritative information on

· preventive medical care and good nutrition
· common medical disorders in older adults
· strategies for coping with disease
· steps for finding the best in medical care
· how to communicate with health care practitioners
· the role of alternative and complementary medicine
· the benefits and risks of medical tests
· the challenges of caregiving and rehabilitation
· how the body ages
· safe, easy-to-follow cardio exercises
· the social, legal, and ethical issues of aging

Also featuring candid essays by seniors who share their insights and personal experiences on growing older, The Merck Manual of Health & Aging is an essential home reference for making your later years truly golden.

About this title

Review:

Merck Pharmaceuticals have edited a clear and comprehensive reference for older adults. Dr. Mark Beers begins with the age-old questions: when does a person become old and why does the body change? The remainder of this guide is divided into preventive and active care for self and others. The list of topics is a virtual everything you want to know about aging: nutritional needs, finding a doctor, understanding tests, surgery and rehabilitation, and long term care. More than one hundred specific medical conditions including fractures, constipation, tinnitus, dental disease, and dementia are explained and cross referenced with useful details. Although a clinical explanatory model prevails, non-traditional methods such as acupuncture and homeopathy receive honorable mention. The guide takes an unflinching look at sexuality, end of life decisions, and mistreatment of elderly adults. Other practical c! hapters are devoted to driving dilemmas and navigating the Byzantine financing of health care. This information is punctuated with essays from older adults--including a cheeky Max Sendak cartoon. The essays, along with charts, photos, and illustrations help to lessen the book's encyclopedic tone. Many older adults and the people who care for them will welcome the well-organized format and richly detailed information of this guide. --Barbara Mackoff

About the Author:

Merck & Co., Inc. is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. It is committed to bringing out the best in medicine and, as a part of that effort, continues to proudly provide all of its famous Merck Manuals on a not-for-profit basis as a service to the community. The organization published the first of these in 1899, and by the 1980s, the series had become the world's largest selling medical text and was translated into more than a dozen languages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0345482743
• ISBN 13: 9780345482747
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 992