Connective Tissue Diseases: Holistic Therapy Options--Sjoegrens Syndrome; Systemic Sclerosis - Scleroderma; Systemic Lupus Erythematosus; Discoid Lupus Erythematosus; Secondary and Primary Raynauds phenomenon; Raynauds Disease; Polymyositis Dermatomyositis Paperback – October 17, 2003

I purchased this book for someone who was diagnosed with Multiple Connective Tissue Disease. Although there was not much specific information about the disease, they found the book very helpful in terms of a holistic approach to eating and staying healthy.

This book is a wealth of information about connective tissue disorders. I have Lupus SLE and it has answered so many questions for me. It's like my Bible for CTD.

Love this book, I was recently diagnosed with all these diseases and I am learning a lot of information to deal with things without medication.

Even though the title is in medical jargon, this book is really for the average person trying to get a handle on how to deal with their particular connective tissue disease from Lupus to CREST to some weird rash related to an auto immune reaction. After a short intro on how the author came to write about connective tissue diseases, the book takes each disease, or condition, and systematically going through the symptoms, conventional medical treatment with their side effects and then alternatives including foods to eat or avoid, supplements, and related treatments. After this there are sections on herbs and foods that are antibiotic, that help vasolate the blood vessels--ie open them up to help circulation, especially in the extremities: fingers, toes, hands and feet, and items that do other specific work with the body to alleviate symptoms--not just masks them.While the author includes conventional medical treatments, she clearly favors alternatives. This is useful, because many folks do use treatments from both conventional and complementary medicine concurrently. Since the book is some years old, it does not have some of the latest treatments, or some treatments that are not widely known or accepted by mainstream medicine, even if they are allopathic--ie medical treatment based on pharmaceuticals. What I found most helpful about the book is the last section on complementary treatments for various symptoms. This book is not the end-all-be-all for complementary/alternative treatments for auto-immune diseases, but it is a good general guide to begin looking at what may make symptoms better or worse and how to improve your quality of life while living with an auto-immune condition.The book has several weaknesses--although the bulk of the book is well organized--the beginning and end are confusing. The table of contents is strange--seems more like a list than a guide to what the book contains. However, you can probably skip those parts for all they add, and start right in on reading about the various diseases, especially since many are related or some people can have one condition, such as, say, Raynaud's, along with more serious diseases. Also the index is just about useless. There are index entries pointing to pages that do not exist in the book and the index misses many pages that mention an important symptoms such as dry eyes or lesions, for example. In both the index and the main text, often the sub-headings are not indented, so it's confusing. Good formatting here would have let you know that something is separate from something else. Still there is a lot of good info here, so I suggest you take notes if you read the book--to note page numbers and info that is important to you, so you can find it later.The book needed a good editor and/or someone with a sharp eye for formatting. I would have given five stars if the formatting and index had been up to snuff.

This book is very through. If you're looking for natural or alternative therapies for auto-immune disease, I highly recommend this book.

THe book is ok but I have purchased many books and was looking for more information on each of the diseases. This will give an over all view though.

The book was excellent it covered everything I could have asked about this topic. Well written and easy to understand.

I have polymyosiis and Raynaud's so this is very helpful. I'm all about holistic care that's what's helped me stay in remission drug-free for 8 years. Lighter than a Feather: Becoming Phenomenally able through disability