May is Lupus Awareness Month! How Will You Spread Awareness?
By Sheldon Paul Blau, MD and Dodi Schultz
In my opinion, this is one of the most current, valuable books published on living with Lupus. I found it to be very informative and easy to read, without speaking in thick, confusing medical jargon.

Being sick or loving someone who is sick is difficult enough without having a frustrating time finding the essential information you need to get healthy. This book makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for, depending on what stage of the disease you are struggling with. It has the most up to date information about diagnosing Lupus, descriptions of treatments and testing, as well as tips for living day to day. This book also includes information relating to nine Lupus-connected conditions that unfortunately also plague many of us living with this disease.

I found it helpful reading about the newer therapies on the horizon. I felt more updated on new approaches and enjoyed reading the information, since it may become useful to me in the future. I also appreciated the author’s efforts to put a human face on the disease by quoting real people’s experiences in the first chapter. This put me at ease right away when reading the book, as I found comfort in the fact that I could empathize with many of these stories. This was a new and refreshing way to start a book and I really enjoyed the focus on “living” with Lupus, instead of just the facts of the disease itself. It seems like every book I have read focuses on the medical side of things, without a realistic grasp of what it is like to actually live with this disease. I feel this book describes both sides (medical and real-life tips) very well. It even has a full listing of internet resources including support groups, to help further the reader’s research.

With 262 pages, I found this book to be an easy read, and not overwhelming, while still providing all the information you desire. Other books feel like a medical textbook- but this book has a warm feel, which is sometimes lacking in the medical community. I would recommend this book to any new patient, as well as patients who have been living with the disease for a while, as I have been. I found that I threw out some of my older books after reading this book, realizing how outdated they were and how all encompassing this book was.