[.ca] Living Well with Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor ... (ISBN 0060938196)

From Amazon.com:
Autoimmune diseases affect 50 million Americans, mostly women, who frequently remain undiagnosed and untreated, or are treated ineffectively. Living Well with Autoimmune Disease helps readers pinpoint symptoms, find the right practitioner, and learn cutting-edge approaches to reduce symptoms and reverse their disease. Author Mary Shomon, who has the immune disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis, explains how the immune system is supposed to work, and what can go wrong. Then she discusses more than 20 specific autoimmune diseases--such as chronic fatigue syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, thyroid disease, Graves' disease, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, fibromyalgia, scleroderma, and multiple sclerosis. For each, she covers symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Shomon, a patient advocate and Web guide for people with thyroid disease, hears the most success stories from people who combine conventional treatment with complementary therapies, so she gives specific strategies for using herbs, diet, and mind/body therapies. She also includes a 30-page checklist of risk factors and symptoms (helpful when you have no idea what condition you might have), a guide to finding and working with the right practitioner, and an extensive resources section that includes patient support organizations, Web sites, and books. --Joan Price

great for people with lupus, ra, fibromyalgia:
this book touches on so many autoimmune disorders. it gives insightful information about treatments, the disease itself, etc. i found it to be one of the most helpful books i have read for my conditions.

Good all-round source to get you started:
I had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, the doctors just did not know which one. There was a baffling array of symptoms that suggested that there were two disorders involved. Which two? The lack of information, and the lack of something specific to research, was maddening. This book helped it all make sense to me. Seeing all the possible disorders and all the possible symptoms, it became clear how difficult it was for the doctors to pinpoint a problem. It also helped me to realize that I did not need a label before I could begin working for a treatment. This book gave enough information for me to feel more in control and to familiarize me with the different diseases that were possibilities. Now I know which symptoms could be significant and should be reported. Things that did not seemed trivial before now have a different level of importance. But without guidance, I would not know what was worthwhile to report. Now I can be a better patient and can help my doctor narrow the diagnosis. This book was an excellent springboard to new topics to research and possible treatment avenues that might be worth investigating. The references for more information -- and why you would care -- was helpful too. This is a great book for those new to the autoimmune disease community.

Gives a brief overview of everything but nothing in depth:
This review is sort of blasphemy. Shomon is the queen on this topic so my comments will probably meet with lots of resistance. Nevertheless it's a rather slam dunk book; very general and cursory. Allot of the information here is old & vague and almost proverbial in it's common sense. Nevertheless everyone will tell you to read her so you might as well get it cheap from Amazon so you'll know the name and hype that way you can talk the talk and walk the walk.

General information about AD.:
Having been diagnosed with an AD (Chrohn's Disease) six years ago and not changing my living habits, I found myself hospitalized and in need of surgery (double ostomy). Since this surgery I have found myself reevaluating my life. I have trying to absorb all of the information about Chrohn's and AD in general. This is the third book about AD that I have read and by far the best of the three. The other two were medical text books that contained a lot of technical information with little practicality. They went into a lot of depth about what AD is and current treatments, but they did not go into any depth about living with an AD. This book gives great information about all AD and what you as the patient can do to prevent getting more AD (yes if you have one it is easier to get another), and treatments (mostly herbal and general diet guidelines) that a doctor won't discuss with you. Although this is a great book in that it covers all AD, it does not go into any significant depth. What I came to realize is that all of the information that I had read (specifically with Chrohn's) was previously provided in all of the AD specific books that I had read. I learned nothing new about my disease (except that if you have one AD it is easier to get another). If you have just been diagnosed with an AD, then I would highly recommend reading this book, but I don't think it was worth adding it to my "medical" library (check it out from the library). After that explore you AD and use the information in this book to get started on your treatment.

A truly superb book:
Having treated auto-immune conditions for over 20 years, I am delighted to finally have a book on the subject that I can recommend to my patients wholeheartedly. Mary Shoman has done a truly superb job in collecting and coordinating a wide variety of very helpful diagnostic and therapeutic information. I am especially please to see the inclusion of both conventional and alternative approaches. In fact, her book makes more sense out of the auto-immune challenge than most of the medical textbooks I have read. Best of all, this richly packed comprehensive overview is easily readable and understandable. Her action plans are a compelling incentive for patients to take health issues into their own hands. Her detailed list of resources and references together rounds out a sparkling achievement. With auto-immune illness increasing dramatically all over the world, EVERYONE needs to read this book.