The Merck Manual Go-To Home Guide for Symptoms (1) (Merck Manual Home Health Handbook)

Probably this book is not suitable for self-diagnosis unless you are a doctor or you're on a desert island with no other options. But there are two important roles which I can see for this book.(1) To assist the decision to see or not to see a doctor.(2) To help make sense of a diagnosis made by a medical professional.Actually the decision to see or not see a doctor is almost always the first step in diagnosis. The patient generally determines the timing of when to see a doctor, and whether that is at a local practice or at an emergency ward, or by phoning for an ambulance, or possibly to just wait until more symptoms accumulate. So even though self-diagnosis is going to be wrong most of the time, the doctor-visit-decision is really the first stage of diagnosis. That's where I think this book is excellent.At a rough count, I think there are 101 classifications of symptoms in this book. Most home medical books, and the professional books also, are arranged by malady, which means you have to read the whole book to find your symptoms. The classifications in this Merck symptoms home manual are very well chosen for easy interpretation by the non-medical user. For example, I just looked up "Cough in Adults". There are two sections, acute and chronic. So I look for persistent cough with no other symptoms. This is a bit mysterious because usually a cough means an infection. But they've got "Gastroesophageal reflux" with the comment "Sometimes no symptoms other than cough". Then the section "When to see a doctor" says: "People who have had a chronic cough but no warning signs should see a doctor at some point, but a delay of a week or so is unlikely to be harmful". In other words, no need to panic.The way the tables are organised makes it easy to exclude the causes which are incompatible with the symptoms and signs. This is in total contrast to the almost complete uselessness of books which are organised according to the malady or underlying cause. In the past, I often "diagnosed" myself with imminent death, imminent blindness, and other nasty things which never happened. That was with the big medical reference books. So I think that this book is perfect for the first step in the diagnosis, the decision to go to emergency, phone for an appointment, or leave it for a week.The second thing which I think this book is very useful for is understanding a diagnosis when it has been given by a doctor. Then the questions, examination and tests made by the doctor make good sense. But comprehension after a successful diagnosis is less important than the initial decision to seek or not seek professional help.

I previously used the Merck Manual's original version which seems to have been written for doctors, nurses, and other trained medical professionals. Often the terminology was foreign to me, and there was no glossary included. This book is far easier to understand. It covers a wide variety of symptoms with a few illustrations and many easy-to-read charts. I found this to be far more useful to me (any layman) than the original version.

I still have mine and it's still wonderful. Even doctors who have the P.D.R. in their office have been known to sneak a peek at this one. Would make a great companion volume to the self-help TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Very easy to understand. Just a little difficult to get to what you are trying to find out about.

Good book for learning and conversation purposes.

I bought this to have in the house for reference. I find it useful. I would recommend but not in place of doctor visits. It might clear up some of those ideas you have.

i bought this for my granddaughter in law who has inherited 4 of her husbands siblings. i have had a copy of this book since the 70's and i love it. it will be of great help to her throughout the years as it was for me.

Knowledge is a powerful instrument, and when you're dealing with yourhealth, it's a good idea to at least know a bit about what's bothering.A doctor is still the best source.Treating oneself not a good idea.Morris C

Great resource when you are unsure when to call a doctor.

Will be by my side everyday in clinic.

very nice & informative.