Signs and Symptoms Analysis from a Functional Perspective

For myself, I became aware of the NAQ (Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire) a few years ago through my FNP who was also a nutritional therapist. The NAQ assisted her in identifying specific digestive issues that were causing some severe health problems. Quite frankly I think she saved my life through the NAQ. Since the FNP has left our region, Weatherby's book provides me with the working tools to continue connecting the dots between my symptoms, nutritional status and health issues and enables me to ask informed questions of my health care providers. This is a excellent, in-depth question by question discussion guide to the 'Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire 1.5'. The book has been 'recommended reading' by the Nutritional Therapy Association in their training program. A complete NAQ questionnaire is included. Note: while the book says you can get digital copies of some of the materials, I was not able to acquire a digital questionnaire copy by sending emails as directed by the book. But after doing a thorough search on Google, I was able located PDF copies of the forms matching those in the book. Or you could simply scan in the forms and charts from the book to make working copies. The book's approach is 'functional medicine' and the intended target audience is health care professionals, dieticians, nutritional counselors, not the nutritional newbie. That being said, I think anyone with a good understanding of nutrition fundamentals and a lively interest in functional medicine could utilize the information in this book. The book, as a teaching text about how to interpret the results of an NAQ, makes specific recommendations for further assessment as well as generic supplemental support. It's a great resource for the pro-active patient. Since it is an expensive book, I'd encourage people to preview portions of the text through Google Books. That way you'd have some idea if the book will be useful to you. Many of the 'further assessment recommendations' would probably need to be accomplished through a health care provider, but there's certainly enough assessment tips that could be accomplished at home. The nutritional information is very valuable to me because it's symptom specific. The recommendations on supplements is important because it's generic and not tied to a specific brand of products. I consider this a valuable addition to my family health library and a good investment.

I was skeptical when I purchase the book but I found it to be very informative. If you are a person looking beyond what you were taught in college about the various disease and interested in helping your yourself, family and those around you, then this is the book for you. I you want to learn more then yes purchase this book. You will learn more reading this book then you will ever hear from your local doctor. Some of the stuff I learned from this book I was able to teach my doctor, I always thought he was suppose to teach me. After I was finished teaching him I still got a bill in the mail for my co-pay. Next time I see him I am going to tell him class is in session again and do some more teaching as my teaching will help him and help many more that will see him after I leave his office. This book is easy reading and easy to understand, you don't need a PhD or a bachelors' degree or a medical degree. If you are in premed, med school, nursing school or in the medical field or not in the medical environment and want to expand your personal health skills this book will help you. If you think your doctor has it all under control, I have sad news for you and think again. I guess the best way to say it from the patient going to see the doctor, it is the blind leading the blind, then all I can say is I hope he or she will make the right guess for your and select the correct treatment.

Fantastic book, well organized and easy to put into practice for health coaches. Highly recommend.

Purchased for my NTP class. Very helpful and informative.

Easy to read. I wish this book was spiral bound so that I could copy easier the pages I need to review. It does not lay totally flat on the printer therefore some of the type is missing on some pages of this approx 1 1/2" book. Did you know the symptom "Fingernails chip, peal or break easily" is an Upper Gastrointestinal System disfunction? Or "Dry Flaky Skin" is in the section Essential Fatty Acids. EFA deficiency is often due to hilary dysfunction. Each Symptom has Supplemental Suport to help this disfunction. "Awaken a few hour after falling asleep, hard to get back to sleep?", this is a Blood Sugar Dys-regulation problem. It is a classis sign of low blood sugar. At night the blood sugar begins to drop, especially around 1 am. Book recommends keeping a diet diary to indicate the kind of meal that you ate. This book says, this is a temporary solution. Other indications are a B vitamin deficiency or serotonin/melatonin imbalance. Nutritional supplementation to support blood sugar handling problems, beet juice, pancreatic tissue (neonatal bovine) is listed. This book is one that is used by Nutritional Therapists therefore contains functional evaluation points to test clients pain or tenderness rating in the areas of the body. For example, the Nutritional Therapist will check for the tenderness in the Chapman reflex for the liver as indicated in the book for blood sugar Dys-regulation. This book is used in conjunction with the NAQ used by the NT. (Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire) which includes questions regarding diet, lifestyle and medications, and then the client rates their symptom burdon 321 questions. This book is a required book for use in the Nutritional Therapy Training and is used very often during the course. The back section of the book has an Appendix: Diet and Lifestyle Handouts: "Foods to Focus On" and "Foods to Avoid," "Dysbiosis Diet-for Control of Candida, Bacteria, Viruses, & Parsites," "Food Sources for Calcium," and "Foods to Avoid on a Gluten-Free Diet." etc.

Is there a newer version? Even though it's 20 years old; it's still a great book.

I like using the Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire but have been employing it only for a few months and have given it to maybe 15-20 people so far. Learning more about it is a first step as to what different questions reflect. My concern about the questions, and the book that attempts to educate one as to the underlying reason for the question, is that sometimes there’s no relevance to HTMA. There are also plenty of times that there might be a dozen reasons for some symptom to be present and the book lists just 1-2 and calls it quits. It also has a slant toward MD’s as to saying ‘Do the following lab test to rule out…’ That’s fine, but it’d be nice if the book told non-MD’s ‘Ask the following questions of the patient to better understand x, y, and z issues that might be present.’

I purchased this book from the author's website. The NAQ questionnaire is a signs and symptoms health questionnaire which is commonly used by Australian naturopaths. I suspect that many of them are not aware of the implications of many of the questions that they are asking their patients. This book fully interprets all of the questions of this questionnaire. It makes the questionnaire an extremely meaningful, simple and cheap tool as a starting point for a consultation. It is primarily aimed at practitioners. It gives suggestions for further assessments which could be useful - most of these are explained in the author's other books on "Complete Physical Exam Reference and Charting System" and "In-Office Lab Testing". Suggestions are made for supplement support, but these are general and no specific companies or products are promoted.

too technical

great book

Practical real world analysis of signs and symptoms. As an MD I find the approach refreshing and useful. Even though it is somewhat old the information and analyses are correct and holistic rather than just always diagnosing and writing prescriptions that are often harmful in the long run. This is a clear guide to do no harm and to promote best healing and health.

Excelleny information and easy to read

Love this book it's a must have