How to Help Your Doctor Help You - Bonita Coe MD

As a practicing primary physician, Dr. Coe has seen too many adult patients that are struggling with burgeoning chronic medical conditions and illnesses. They feel frustrated and overwhelmed as they try to juggle busy lives while striving to maintain the quality of life they deserve. Maintaining and advocating for one's health is not easy, but it can be done.  

This self-help book gives detailed information about how to proactively help you care for yourself and also help your physician/provider care for you in a more substantial way. There are numerous ways people can promote and maintain their health, as well as improve when they're unwell. Dr. Coe's goal is to provide everyday individuals with a single comprehensive resource, sharing the wisdom and practical tips from her clinical practice on health, mental health, and overall well-being. Her philosophy and unique approach to caring for people is informed by the many self observations that she has accumulated from her patients over the years. The information in this book will greatly simplify the reader's approach to health so that it doesn't seem so daunting and create a cause for fear or avoidance of seeking medical advice and paying attention to one's health. This book is invaluable to people who have doctors but are not getting what they want out of their health care interactions.

The advice contained in these pages stems from listening to the life stories and experiences of many patients throughout Dr. Coe's 27-year career as an Internal Medicine physician. Actively listening to patients helped her hone her clinical skills such that she has developed a distinctive way of taking care of patients that helps them get improvement of their health when they have not been satisfied with the care that they have been receiving from previous doctors. Paying attention to what her patients communicate has propelled her to be a distinguished clinician, diagnostician, counselor and advocate for the people that she cares for. Dr. Coe gives practical ways to make healthy choices in life with respect to eating, prevention and management of chronic diseases and conditions and keeping track of your mental health status.

There is so much health information that people have access to, however it is hard for people to sift through the noise and focus on what is important and what actually makes a difference in health and wellness. Despite the amount of money that we spend on healthcare in this country, our collective health should be much better than it is. This book gives practical advice about how to be, become, and/or stay healthy in a practical and concise form. 

This book tells people, in clear terms, full of lists, charts and checklists, about how to keep up with mental and physical health, such that they can actually help their doctor take better care of them and become an engaged and informed advocate for their own health. Dr. Coe's advice can help improve health, control and reverse many chronic medical illnesses and conditions, and can even decrease or eliminate the need for prescription medications.