Customer Reviews

Understanding Sjogren's Syndrome

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This book is an excellent practical guide for people with Sjogren's Syndrome. It offers a good balance of medical information and everyday coping techniques. For many of us simply understanding all of the many facets of the condition and then finding medical help has been a long battle. Sue Dauphin's book opens with a few stories(including her own) of people with Sjogren's Syndrome. As I read about people who had struggled as I have with Sjogren's, I immediately enjoyed the book simply because it is comforting to realize you're not alone. The book follows with a definition of Sjogren's and then has a long, thorough chapter discussing symptoms. I was amazed to discover that some of the medical problems I'd been having that I had been told were not related to my Sjogren's, in fact were part of the condition. Perhaps knowing this will help with my treatment. The book goes on to discuss immunology, diagnostic techniques, treatment options and coping mechanisms. All of the information is clearly written. The tone of the book is friendly and easy to understand even when discussing the most technical medical aspects of the syndrome. It includes information on support resources including addresses of support agencies such as The Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation and the National Sjogren's Syndrome Association. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with Sjogren's or to loved ones of Sjogren's patients. It really helps you understand Sjogren's and gives you many suggestions for coping. I wish I had had this book years ago when I first discovered I had Sjogren's.

This book, full of silly cartoons and conversational language, was not worth much to me.

If you have just been diagnosed, are part of the target audience (I'm in my early 30s, younger than most with this disease), and don't know much about autoimmune diseases, this might be an OK place to start. It won't give you much that you can't find online, though, and the author's tone is chatty in a way that I found annoying, not engaging.