Lupus: Alternative Therapies That Work by Sharon Moore

Moore suffered from lupus for 14 years. After taking control of her health care, though, and drawing on alternative therapies (usually called "complementary" therapies), she has "recovered." Books by lupus patients aren't unusual, but hers is the first to go into complementary medicine in detail. Nutrition and dietary supplements played major roles, Moore says, and naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, and mind-body medicine were in the mix, too. The hardest part of her return to health was the removal of 22 dental amalgam fillings, which gave new meaning to the trendy saw "No pain, no gain" but produced increasingly noticeable improvement. A problem with using Chinese medicine was the difficulty of finding herbs free of dangerous admixtures. A highly personal chapter, "Caring for Your Spirit," offers suggestions for bettering the quality of one's life. William Beatty
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Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
Reader beware. Except for the second chapter ("What is Lupus?"), this book isn't really about lupus. It is, rather, a somewhat haphazard introduction to naturopathic practices by a lupus sufferer who happens to be a competent writer. I picked up this book because I wanted to learn about lupus-specific health practices. I did not want to read a diatribe about unrefined sugar, or hormones in beef, or pesticides in produce. I already know these are bad things. I did not expect nor want to read a weak defense of homeopathy based on quantum mechanics. There are annoying contradictions in the book, for instance, whether to include or omit soy in the diet: page 141: "Determine to find organically raised meat. If that is not possible, move to eating soy products for protein [...]" page 55:"Other foods lupus patients may need to avoid include peanuts, soybeans and lentils." Although Ms. Moore has a negative attitude, perhaps rightfully so, about caffeine, her touting of gota kola and ginkgo biloba as replacement stimulants puzzles me. I find them just as jarring as caffeine. Many of the claims in this book seem to be in the realm of the purely subjective, or at best highly speculative. In the recommended reading section, only 3 of 25 books are about lupus. This is a fair representation of the (low) percentage of this book that is likewise specific to lupus. Lastly, the 4 glowing Amazon reviews prior to this one are all from people who live within a few miles of Ms. Moore. They are apparently heartfelt but perhaps not unbiased. I truly wish the author well. But as someone recently diagnosed with a serious illness after a lengthy and frustrating diagnostic period, this is not the book I wanted or expected. Readers wanting to read an anecdotal, non-scientific and perhaps "emotionally uplifting" (as one reviewer claims) story may find this book a good choice. The first book in any lupus collection, though, should be Daniel Wallace's The Lupus Book.