The Sjogren's Book

Until this year I had no idea how bad a disease I was told I had lots of antibodies for 10 years ago but no symptoms had screwed me up. The book helped me connect a lot of dots.

I wish this were required reading for all medical professionals so they could watch their patients for symptoms of this autoimmune disease. People with primary (vs. secondary) Sjogren's are 44 times more likely to have a non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Yes, that's pretty shocking. Sjogren's is quite common, and many people just live with the inconvenience of dry mouth, or dry eyes, and more. They have no idea that they have Sjogren's. If people knew they had this, they could alter their diets, do everything to reduce inflammation, make regular check-up appointments with their PCP, and probably strengthen their immune system enough that they would not get the problems associated with Sjogren's. However, some symptom has to show up for a person to seek advice. That's one of those "which came first, the chicken or the egg" things. Or, a catch-22 thing.Once the lymphocytes infiltrate the gland and do their damage, there is no getting the functionality back. Sjogren's can do way more than damage moisture producing glands. It can potentially affect any organ and/or tissue of the body. Consider that blood is a tissue - it is - and Sjogren's can affect blood, too.To go on and on would only be to repeat what the book says. This is a serious disease, but as such is not fatal. However, if it gets out of control with the organs/systems/glands it can affect, the results could be fatal.This book gives people the educational tools they need to become healthier and stay that way. Yes, I have primary Sjogren's, with all salivary glands permanently enlarged, and, for you medical experts, biopsy results are a foci of 2. There are other areas of involvement. I'm doing what I recommend for others, especially going after inflammation.It's a must read, so read the book and spread the word.

Great book for sjogrens

There is lots of high-level patient information about Sjogren's available for free on the internet, and books to help cope with the disease written with patients and their families in mind. Then there are articles in medical journals that are mostly inaccessible without subscriptions and often very difficult for lay people to make sense of. Things in between the two are hard to find - detailed enough to answer many of the questions that doctors don't have time to explain to patients, but written in a way that non-doctors and non-scientists can understand.I do understand why some reviewers found the book too detailed or over their heads. If you're not sure how much information you want, you'd probably want to start with something less meaty than this.But this is a very complex illness with a wide array of possible manifestations. If you have it, you'll be wondering for the rest of your life how it is affecting every part of your body and mind. You will need to educate yourself about it, because your doctors won't always know enough about it or make the connections with the varied symptoms it might cause. If you want to know as much as you can about the disease, you will want to have a copy of this book, whether you read it straight through or use it for reference when questions arise.

This was very detailed and complex read and dove into the cellular and molecular level of the autoimmune condition of Sjogren's Syndrome.I am a nurse and loved the book. I will have to go back and re-read a chapter or two. I also like reading medical and nursing literature, studies mostly. So I liked this read.This book was not for the faint hearted. It is probably better for someone with a recent biology class under their belt or someone in the health care profession.This should not deter someone from wanting to learn about this complex illness, but it might be a bit demanding at first.I was a little disappointed there was not more in-depth information of the interstitual lung disease that often accompanies secondary Sjorgren's. There was quite a bit of information about neurological involvement and that was interesting.Having secondary Sjorgren's and RA myself, I found this book is the one to read to obtain an in-depth understanding of a complicated illness.

I suffer with the disease. First it started with dry eyes then dry month. At forty all my teeth had to be capped. Everyone did not know what was going on with me, until fifteen years later. At 55 I started having joint pain and I kept experiencing Corpal Tunnel disease in both hands. Four surgeries later, the tiredness was reaching chronic levels. Finally, at 57 I was diagnosed with Sjogrenes. I am now 60 and experiencing fatigue, joint pain and sleepless nights. I bought this book and it answered everything I had been going through. I compared the treatments I am receiving from my Rheumatologist; he is prescribing medications that are used for RA, Lupus and osteospiritus. Sjogenes progresses into a combination of diseases. I have great doctors. I also suffer from Chronic Asthma. I don't feel sorry for myself and am still working a full time job. I found moving and going for walks help to relieve pain. This book is absolutely written for SS sufferers. I will keep it close for reference.

This is an excellent book for both Sjogren's patients and health care professionals alike. It covers more than any other single source that the common person will find, more than many other sources combined. Like Lupus, Sjogren's doesn't present the same for its sufferers. It has many faces and serological and clinical facets. Patients that read The Sjogren's Book may be frustrated when they find their primary care doctor or rheumatologist doesn't know much of what is in this book. That has been my experience. Getting diagnosed is very hard to do unless your clinical and serological presentation lines up with the criteria guidelines and your rheumatologist or other doctor knows what he/she is looking at. More internists, rheumatologists, and primary care doctors need to read this book and open their minds a little.

Difficult to decide which Sjogren’s book to buy but once bought it was an excellent choice until a UK clinician writes one. So many patients with varied medical conditions such as GORD, interstitial lung disease, arthritis etc have no idea these conditions could be and are driven by Sjogren’s, sadly often neither do their GPs or clinicians, which leads to mis diagnosis and delays. I very recently purchased the book Feb 22, but see a new edition comes out in June/July 22. Full of useful advice in chapters on each body system and connections to manifestations of Sjogren’s. Even rheumatologists seem ignorant of this disease. Fairly clinical but this depth is useful to be able to explain symptoms to GPs etc As always patient support groups and charities for specific diseases are supportive and useful. A UK written would however enable UK patients to get the proper help and support that is available via some enlightened UK clinicians, but this book is an excellent guide for the present.

A comprehensive insight into Sjögrens. Informative and well worth buying if you have this condition or know someone who has. Be prepared though for quite a lot of technical and medical terminology. In parts it is quite dense in this respect. It’s worth the effort though for detailed information

Excellent information on Sjogrens! Would recommend anyone with Sjogrens or any other associated diseases should purchase!

Interesting and informative book, will help make sense of all the bewildering facets that can make up this condition

It’s a great book to have if you or someone in your family suffers from Sjögren’s like I do. It’s very informative and helped me understand my condition a little better. I didn’t read it from cover to cover it’s like a bible you can reference the parts you want.