The First Year: Cirrhosis: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

This is a very good book for people diagnosed with this condition. It is helping my mother understand about it and how to deal with what's ahead in a positive state of mind.

We are new to this health concern and finding this book very helpful

Our household found _The First Year: Diabetes_ by Gretchen Becker an outstandingly helpful resource over years that we've shared with others. Now needing similarly detailed cirrhosis information, we sought out this first yr. entry in series. Alas, it is nowhere near as good; a disappointing let-down.Even initial Zoom appointments with primary care doctor and hepatologist were more helpful than this book, even though their language was a bit cryptic AND diagnosis was hard to take in. Do NOT know if a great book for new cirrhosis patients can be written. Is it the nature of liver disease (that there are fewer disease management techniques than for type 2 diabetes)? Is scientific research on liver treatments (other than transplants) undeveloped? Or maybe author's research was time limited, or his writing edited into hyper simplicity?Regardless, the book should be strongest with reliance on and quotes from a variety of other patients (online or in-person aka Zoom) in support groups. Instead there are bare references to these sources, which could flesh out the author's own cited experiences.Regardless, we found better information on hospital hepatology websites, but medical P.R. is a lot more work to search out, sift and comprehend. We found nothing essential and certainly not enough information to pace naturally to cover a whole year after cirrhosis diagnosis.Recommend using "search inside this book" Amazon feature (if available) or library borrowing before purchase. You might find it is what you need. We did not.

I was recently diagnosed with auto-immune hepatitis and cirrhosis. At first I was terrified. I left the Doctor's office in shock. But then I found Mr. Dickerson's book. He provided much needed information - based on his own struggles with the disease. The book is loaded with medical information as well. I read it through in just a few days. Then read through another time to make sure I had absorbed all I needed. This book put me so much at ease with my condition and all the various procedures they were putting me through. Now I understood the necessity of the procedures, what they hoped to find (or not find). When I returned for my next Doctor's visit, I was so much more knowledgeable about the disease and finally was able to ask questions of my doctor and understand a little better what he was telling me. Thanks to this book, I am now very relaxed about my disease and know with the right treatment I can continue to live a normal life. This is a great read for anyone diagnosed with cirrhosis and for family members as well.

If you feel like you’re not getting any guidance or questions answered by your Drs then you NEED this book….I’m the patient but not only did I purchase this book for myself but for my 2 eldest girls so we could understand the disease better

I am recently diagnosed with the same illness. I found this book very helpful. Sadly it was written long enough ago that some of the information could stand to be updated. I would love to see the author put out a revised edition as this is a valuable resource for anyone with cirrhosis whether caused by NASH, AIH or both.

Good book to inform yourself with. Dr. Pretty much suck and you want to know as much as they do and you will with this book. Dr. Also receives no nutrition education probably why everyone is sick and nearly dead..but this will teach you what foods to avoid and how to eat. My dr. Told me I could eat anything. As if I'm ever going to put greasy food or red meat in my body when it would damage my liver further.

This book was recommended to me by my hepatologist three years ago. I read all of it. It prepared me for treatment and helped me plan the year of treatment. This book was written by a layman patient of Dr. Regenstein who used to run the Abdominal Transplant Clinic at Tulane University Hospital. The author explains in simple English the various forms of hepatitis that can cause cirrhosis, liver cancer and eventual death. Today with the new triple therapies, most patients can recover and experience a cure. This book teaches one how to tell the family and friends about one's illness and how to plan for treatment. It gives advice on support group options, the types of vitamin and mineral supplements to take and everyday living tips during treatment. It also helps one plan for the financial stress caused by long term treatment for this disease and suggests prescription medicine assistance programs to pay for costs that insurance may not cover. This is an excellent book for those planning to undergo treatment for this disease. I highly recommend it. It helped me tremendously!

After my husband’s diagnosis I trawled the internet for information and was very disappointed as there is hardly any information on this disease.This book is very informative and lets you know what questions to ask and advises of what to expect after your diagnosis.Some of it is not not relevant to uk readers as talks about health insurance but I just skipped this bit.I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for more information on Liver disease and liver cirrhosis.

Good information for reference.

Well written and easy to understand. It is nice to have many of my questions answered.

I'm probably too critical, perhaps because I'm a doctor and have access to the British Medical Journal and the online BMJ Learning modules, but I didn't find out much I didn't already know. Having been a psychiatrist, I found the book underestimates the effort required to make the suggested lifestyle changes and am sceptical over the effectiveness of alternative medicine. I didn't think much of the chapter on depression either. Something on dealing with the sheer anger about having cirrhosis might have been useful too.

Very informative book!