Conquering Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Latest Breakthroughs and Treatments

Great book for someone newly diagnosed with RA. Especially for someone who likes, "how stuff works". Offers an extensive list of websites in the back for further fact gathering and keeping up to date. Also a good resource for navigating and understanding the disease process and progression & the medicines available. I wish there had been a nod to, Dr. John E Sarno's (professor, Rehabilitation Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine) work and experience with treating RA and other mindbody disorders. If you are reading this review and have an interest his most recent book (2007) "The Divided Mind" is well worth taking a look at. I think it is important to keep an open mind, keep digging and find what works for you.

This discussion on RA is the most comprehensive available in layman's terms.This disease process is so complicated and the research on treatment so varied, trying to keep up on journal articles or short publications is almost impossible. This book puts more useable information between the two covers than you will find anywhere. Unlike medical journals, the disease process explanations are concise and understandable. Although the explanations are detailed and scientific and may take more than one reading to get your brain around the complex concepts, it nicely falls somewhere in between the very oversimplified information found in "arthritis" books available at bookstores and over-complicated and hard-to-read medical book information. Truly helpful is the detail about how clinical trials are conducted and the complicated sequence of events that occur in treatment research. It makes the waiting for decades for new treatments a little easier to understand. Also helpful are the briefs on current research (now a bit out of date-some of the "in trials" treatments in the book have been approved and are available) that is ongoing along with web sites so individuals can follow trials, results, research progress, etc. and even contains information on joining in some of the clinical trials. The description of the immune processes is very helpful. Not only does it help the reader understand the immune system as a whole, and the effect of this disease on the immune system, it also gives a good picture of how HIV and AIDS compares on the opposite end of the immunity spectrum (overactive vs. underactive immune system). Best of all, this book arms RA sufferers with good information to be able to take a more active role in their own treatment. Buy it for a friend who has RA or buy it for yourself. You will want to reread it several times.

If you have rheumatoid arthritis, or if a friend or loved one has been diagnosed with this disease I highly recommend this book as an invaluable source of information. Not only is it packed with facts on rheumatoid arthritis ranging from details of exactly what is happening in the joints and the immune system to useful Web sites to keep up on the latest details on new medications and treatment approaches, it is also clearly and beautifully written. It really is a handbook to help readers make informed decisions with their physcians. Included as well are fascinating insights into possible future treatments now in the research stage - from the use of stem cells to gene therapy.This is the best gift you can give a friend who suffers from RA.