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- ISBN13: 9780060938192
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Are you tired? Achy? Depressed? Overweight?
You could be suffering from an autoimmune disease.
Autoimmune disease is the third major category of illness in the United States, yet very little is known about the many serious and chronic immune conditions. If you're one of the 50 million Americans suffering from one kind of autoimmune disease-whether it's lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or Crohn's disease-there's a good chance you'll develop another.
This book can help.
Written by Mary J. Shomon, a well-known patient advocate who was diagnosed with autoimmune disease in 1995, this guide to alternative and natural remedies shows you how to treat the underlying causes of immune system imbalance, not just the symptoms. It contains first-person accounts from doctors, patients, and holistic practitioners, as well as checklists, quizzes, and a proposed recovery plan. In addition, it offers detailed information about:
• The most common autoimmune conditions • The factors that can lead to autoimmune disease • Interpreting your symptoms • Procedures and treatments • Finding the right doctor
Until we find a cure, living with autoimmune disease can be frightening and frustrating. But it doesn't have to be. This valuable guide helps you understand what may be causing the disorder and helps you take the first healthy, natural steps toward correcting it.
Amazon.com Review
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
Customer Reviews
Solid Reference Book (2009-10-16)
This won't give you all that you need to know about any disease, but it provides useful overviews of most AI conditions. Since they tend to come in packs (few people have just one AI disease), it's a handy starting place when a new illness pops up. You can probably find everything in this book online, but it's nice to have it all in one easy-to-access place.
Anyone with an AI disease needs to be his or her own advocate. While Shomon isn't a doctor and sometimes goes to extremes in her beliefs and views, she does have the right idea.
Not my favorite (2009-08-31)
This book has some useful information but I find I look in it more for a specific reference, not a cover to cover read. It touches on a few disorders but not in depth as I'd prefer.
Health Related Book (2009-05-12)
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You...That You Need to Know.
Very indepth and informative. Great resourse for diagnosis and treatment options.
Maybe Not Perfect But The Best Available (2009-02-27)
What does it say about our medical system that the best general handbook on autoimmune disease had to be written by a patient rather than a doctor?
Autoimmune diseases include: Rheumatoid arthritis, some types of diabetes, lupus, fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease, some types of Chronic fatigue syndrome, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis ...and on and on and on. Autoimmune disease can affect any organ or part of the body and may play a role in other conditions that is not yet understood.
This is a HUGE medical problem that is increasing in scope and complexity. This book gathers together these diverse conditions and attempts help a patient sort through the issues he or she may encounter when it comes to communicating with the medical profession. If one is unfortunate to have one of the rarer varieties, it can be a matter of life or death to get a correct diagnosis from vague symptoms of fatigue or weight gain. For that alone, this book is useful for the patient and for other members of the family who may have to talk to the doctors. Having the condition named in a handbook can be a big relief and having the terminology can be a godsend. It doesn't help that 70% of autoimmune patients are women and often get their testimony discounted by male doctors anyway.
The main drawback to the book is the recommendation to pursue alternative therapies. I would like to see more science on why certain things work. Even when these alternative therapies seem to help, I'd like more assurance that the alternative treatment is really doing something for the condition! However, I can't fault the author for her recommendations. The fault lies in the science--which at this point is at a loss to explain why autoimmune disease is rising worldwide. The author does not recommend a set course of alternative treatment for any condition--she merely encourages the patient to seek out herbal and other solutions. There's hope in this as well as danger.
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