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

This book by James Patterson did not let me down. His books have always been very good and this one was also. It was different than what he usually writes, but was still great just like his other books, but completely different.

I recently flew from the East Coast to the West Coast and read the entire book before the flight was over. You really get a true picture of what is is to struggle with a mysterious illness. I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to James Patterson, and Hal and Cory Friedman for a wonderful story. I have Epilepsy and suffer memory loss with each seizure. I know how very difficult it is to describe what is happeningwithin your mind.

I guess we humans just can't get enough of a good heart-warming tale. This will fill your eyes and heart with both tears and joy. Touching to the core. -Jane Stevens
Tao Cycle Therapy: Natural Happiness via Self Directed Cure for Chronic Anxiety & Depression

Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (12/08)

James Patterson, along with Hal Friedman and his son Cory have given readers an extensive view of what it is like to be trapped in a world of Tourette's syndrome. With the ability to describe in detail, Mr. Patterson has with this family given knowledge, hope and love to all readers.

At the age of five, Cory Friedman began having an uncontrollable urge to shake his head. This started thirteen years of the most hellish life anyone could ever think possible. Cory is able to describe all the years of uncontrollable tics and behaviors that led him to be ridiculed by peers, teachers and to be used as a guinea pig for medical science. Not knowing what was causing this syndrome, doctor after doctor prescribed medications and treatments that either made the symptoms more severe or didn't work at all. Not only did Cory have problems in attending school, he was continually in and out of psychiatric hospitals.

Never once did Cory or his family give up. His mother maintained very detailed notes of Cory's treatments and daily behavior. She fought for him every step of the way. Cory's attitude was he could beat this, but it came with a price. At the age of seventeen, Cory found alcohol could help his Tourette's and release some of his obsessive-compulsive disorder. It also led to an in-patient treatment program that was a nightmare in itself.

Reader's will be amazed at the blind attempt of several doctor's prescribing drug after drug without real knowledge of what they were doing. Secondary drugs had to be given in order to offset some of the side effects of the initial drugs. Some doctor's attempted visualization telling Cory to visualize that his tics were not there.

The authors, James Patterson and Hal Friedman, and Cory have given us a firsthand look at what it is like to have Tourette's syndrome, OCD and alcohol problems. If nothing else, "Against Medical Advice" gives readers more information about this syndrome and resources where help can be given.