the BABY BOOMER BODY BOOK ©

THE COMPLETE HEALTH REFERENCE
FOR OUR GENERATION
BY
BRIAN PECK, M.D., DAAPM, BCFM, FAADEP

A Personal Note from the Author to the Reader 

We were born between 1946 and 1964. There are 76 million of us, almost a third of America’s population, more than any other generation in the history of the world!

Our parents did everything in a big way. They won World War Two. They built airplanes, tanks, guns, ships, and whatever else it took. When our parents got finished making the world a safer place, they got down to the business of building America and making babies. Did they ever! They created a boom in babies! Think about that the next time you see your eighty-year old mother.

I was born in 1948, the same year the State of Israel was born, Babe Ruth died, and the United States Air Force was created out of the old Army Air Corps. When I was in grade school, I thought I would be too old to even live when the year 2000 rolled around. Yet here I am.

The first boomers turned fifty in 1996.The last boomers will turn fifty in 2014. Now that we are thirty-seven to fifty-five years old in the year 2001, we are not only still alive, but some of us are starting new jobs, new families, new hobbies, and, unfortunately, contracting new diseases.

Four years of medical school, completed in 1973, and five years of post-graduate training, were not enough preparation for what I had to do. Two more decades of observation taught me to help people through life’s phases. After all is said and done, that is the doctor’s all-consuming task. Occasionally, we do things to people. But mostly we teach people what they should be doing. In fact, the word physician derives from ancient words meaning teacher.

This responsibility is generally routine, occasionally boring, sometimes frustrating, frequently gratifying, and, once in a while, awesomely rewarding. Not a day goes by that at least one patient does not bring a lump to my throat. Sometimes it is a feeling of sorrow, but usually it is a feeling of joy and pride. Most doctors, no matter how jaded they have become because of the changes in American medicine and the advent of managed care, know there is simply nothing they would rather do than teach their patients.

But reaching out to people on a one-to-one basis can be a slow way of curing the ills of aging. My lecturing and writing experiences inspired me to extend myself by teaching those trained to help even more people.

I decided to go one step further, and reach out directly to more people than my real life patients or those of my lecture audiences. It took three years, and this book is the result. It covers almost every physical and mental topic we worry about. The largest section covers problems of both sexes. There is a section mostly for women, and another mostly for men.

I have tried to personalize the issues with stories, to make it easier to absorb new facts. The stories are real, or nearly so. They are my way of pulling you into each topic as a participant. I want you to imagine yourself dealing with the decisions, the frustrations, the medications, or the family problems. I want you to know how hard it can be for a doctor to decide what an x-ray is really saying.

Illustrations help visualize the reality of each circumstance. Most of the photographs are from my own facilities, or others nearby that my own patients use. I photographed most of the machines and procedures myself. I could have used pictures from industrial brochures. They would have been slick and glossy, but not real, like these pictures of the machines that have taken pictures of my family and even of me. I want you to know what it is like to get your blood drawn, or enter an MRI machine.

I have tried to make the writing reader friendly, and not too technical. The words in italics, especially the scientific and medical terms, are defined not only in the text but also in the glossary. At the end of most chapters I have provided resources for further investigation. Friends of mine, all experts in their fields, have helped in some of the more specialized areas.

To facilitate use of the BABY BOOMER BODY BOOK as a reference, each chapter stands alone. You can look through the contents and read what you want. You can leave it on your coffee table without embarrassment. Your house-guests will not know if you are reading about eye surgery or erectile dysfunction! Don’t bother with the topics that do not interest you (although someday they might). To get the most benefit from some of the chapters, particularly those that deal with sexual topics, both partners in a relationship should participate.

There is no substitute for a good relationship with your own health professional, but you owe it to yourself to be educated beforehand. Consider it your homework. Don’t be afraid. Most of our symptoms stem from minor problems, but some can become big problems if ignored too long. Forewarned is forearmed. So pick up this book and arm yourself!

Brian Peck, M.D., DAAPM, FAADEP, BCFM 

May, 2001 

Web site designed and maintained by
Web Site Publishers, Inc

Copyright © Brian Peck