Synopsis
An authoritative layman's reference to the chronic inflammation disease lupus. The book covers how lupus works, symptom management, drug treatments, alternative therapies, concerns particular to women and children.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer:Celia J Fang, MD(Washington University Medical Center)
Description:This is the perfect resource for a lupus patient and/or family member or friend. This easy-to-read book is surprisingly comprehensive considering the complexity of lupus itself and its rippling effects on lupus patients and those around them.
Purpose:For the newly diagnosed patient and family members, this book provides the basic information on how SLE affects the body, managing and minimizing symptoms, dealing with various drug treatments, and in general, ways of coping with the disease. Armed with this comprehensive resource, patients will have the knowledge, wording, and context to ask more questions to seek the best care for themselves.
Audience:This book is clearly written for patients and their loved ones. Because the book does a particularly good job of explaining the intricacies of lupus in layman's terms, this book is invaluable to students, residents, and practitioners alike. All subspecialists taking care of lupus patients (rheumatologists, nephrologists, ophthalmologists, etc) would benefit from reading this book. The authors are credible authorities.
Features:The book covers basic information about lupus not only in the organs the disease affects, but also from the viewpoint of how it affects different phases of life. It also provides a solid foundation about the medications used in treating the disease. The "Further Resources" section is also excellent.
Assessment:I was impressed with the quality of information, both its concise and clear wording and its up-to-date nature. Lupus is a complex disease that is not easy to distill into words in order to convey its heterogeneous nature with a clarity that will help the patient cope. This book will be extremely useful to the reader to go use time and time again.