Against Medical Advice: One Family's Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery

This book, "Against Medical Advice" should be required reading for every teacher, principal, police officer and/or anyone dealing with people, not just children. This is a medical problem that has been ignored for far too long. These people [who have Tourette Syndrome] need to be treated with respect and helped instead of being treated with distain and rudeness. They are poor souls who need understanding and compassion.
If more people, in public service, knew about Tourette Syndrome and tried to be helpful and patient, there would be a much more civilized world.
If you haven't heard, or read about Tourette Syndrome, you owe it to yourself to read this book, so you can understand the torture these people go through just to live a normal life. God bless each and every person who has this disease, or ADHD, or any of the other diseases like this, that keeps them from being treated like human beings. May all the teachers, police officers and school administrators, and even doctors who don't know about this health problem, please read this book and make an effort to learn more so they can be more compassionate. And maybe, just maybe we'll find a cure. We will all be better people by reading this book. I want to thank James Patterson for writing this book and I hope he sells a million copies. Moreover; I hope a million people READ this book. It CAN make a difference.

James Patterson is my favorite author, no doubt about that. However, this book takes a turn from his usual format and shares a true story of a boy trapped in his own body and mind, and a family that is touched every day by this "Medical Mystery".

It is hard to say if Patterson can take credit as the main author of this book; it seems more like a collaboration between the thoughts and experiences related by Cory in the first person, his father's observations, and Patterson's style of writing. At times it does remind one of a suspense novel, (short chapters, ending in "page turning" phrases which keeps one reading. This format works. It truly is a page turner, I read it in 2 sittings.

The protrayal of the medical system and the school system is about what I expected. Without knowing causes and cures, I think they did the best they could. How many of us have gone through some of the same thing, trying drugs that may help, don't help, or help with intolerable side effects. We think of medical science as an exact science, which in reality is only about 2 steps ahead of us in knowledge.

Cory's intense motivation to not give up is remarkable. He obviously is highly intelligent. And his parents seem unbelieveably tolerant and supportive, which at times I found to be a little too surreal. We never see much anger or frustration expressed, just acceptance of the "Medical Mystery" their son is experiencing. His mother is a "saint", with unlimitless patience and motivation to help her son.

The ending still has me puzzled, and without giving away and spoiling the ending, I can say I find it hard to believe. It is a hearwarming and triumphant ending but few things in this world are resolved to such satisfaction, and in the way it is portrayed. It is as if we all can will away our problems if we just try hard enough.

I'm glad I read some Patterson that regressed from his usual style. But I'm looking forward to his next Alex Cross adventure.....I have read them all.

Once I started reading Against Medical Advice I could barely put it down. Corey, who narrates his own story, is a compelling young man who describes his ordeal with clarity and intensity. An inspirational ending allows the reader to recover held breath.

I was very pleased with my order. It arrived very fast and was in perfect
condition.

Thank you,

Karen S. Whooley

One of the greatest torments that a parent can go through is to have a child with significant medical difficulties. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the story of one such youngster, Cory Friedman.

James Patterson met Hal Friedman when both worked at an advertising agency in the 1970s and stayed in touch as Patterson went on to become one of the world's most popular authors. Patterson heard Friedman's accounts of his son's battles with what is diagnosed as a particularly severe onset of Tourette's syndrome, a condition manifested by uncontrollable tics and verbal miscues, and aggravated by other factors. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is a unique collaboration, told in Cory's voice by Patterson, based upon the accounts of Hal Friedman, as corroborated by Cory.

It all starts when five-year-old Cory's sudden twitching becomes so extreme and violent that he's in danger of doing himself harm. He begins a regimen of pharmaceutical treatment that literally turns into a salad of medications, prescribed and administered with the best of intentions yet ultimately doing little or no good (and, in some instances, doing grievous harm). As the book progresses, we watch Cory spiral downward, physically and socially, experiencing significant problems at school and at home. At times his jerking is so volatile that it results in damage to the family home --- the floorboards, the walls, the doors --- and, more significantly, to Cory himself. He is regarded as an oddity at school, to the extent that he becomes the class clown, simply to get some measure of acceptance. Even his most understanding teachers occasionally reach the limits of their patience.

There are high spots: Cory climbs a tree, an accomplishment that is not done without great difficulty; he excels in two different sports, meeting episodic challenges and conquering them; and after a particularly violent episode, he writes his parents a poignant letter that comes straight from the heart. Yet he begins gravitating toward other social outcasts while falling behind in his schoolwork and creating potentially devastating situations at home. As medication after medication is tried and fails, Cory begins self-medicating with alcohol, a foolish act born out of desperation.

It is when all seems lost that Cory's parents initiate a treatment method that actually puts him on the road to recovery. At the same time, the narrative uncovers a startling revelation, one presented as Cory's mother begins a last-ditch advocacy for him during his senior year of high school that results in an almost total resolution of Cory's problems.

Patterson's stark, bare-boned narrative in AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is compelling. It reads somewhat like a diary where the recorder does not write every day, but instead hits the high and low points with great effectiveness. What is not and cannot be determined is the reason for the sudden onset of this condition. While an anxiety disorder is considered, it seems to be a bit of a stretch. Patterson's description of Cory's symptoms are not dissimilar from those associated with demonic possession --- an etiology not mentioned here, though a brief and secondary analogy is made at one point --- and certainly the most effective treatment regimen utilized by Cory's parents could be equated with a symbolic purging. Whatever the reason, however, AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is a frightening, sympathetic and at times heartwarming testimony to the triumph of the human will over adversity.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub