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DeFeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: You Don't Have To Live With It
Book Review by Cort Johnson Phoenix Rising - A Guide to ME/CFS - PheonixRising.me A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patient Returns Fifteen years ago Martha Kilcoyne had classic acute onset of chronic fatigue syndrome but she didn’t end up having a classic outcome. After enduring one last horrific push/crash cycle as she tried to bull her way through this disease she and her husband knew what they were doing wasn’t working. Martha was on disability and her husband was trying to raise their two young children mostly by himself. They decided to go back to square one. Over time, by themselves, this Massachusetts couple ended up producing many of processes that are now used as a matter of course by many chronic fatigue syndrome professionals; staying within and slowly building up ones ‘energy envelope’, maintaining an activity log, focusing on sleep, finding the right physician, etc. As they did so Martha’s health slowly improved and eventually she recovered entirely. Ten years later she returned to explain how she successfully charted her road through chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). ‘Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ is aimed at the ME/CFS patient, it’s short, it’s readable and it focuses on the essentials of managing this disease. This book is not the one to tell you to take X supplement for Y problem – indeed the short chapter on supplements is weakest in the book – or which treatments to try. In some ways that’s the easy stuff; managing ones disease successfully while being encased in brain fog and being torn by guilt and remorse and frustration - that’s the really hard part of ME/CFS and that’s precisely what this book is about. In ‘Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ Martha grapples with the fundamental issues chronic fatigue syndrome patients have to deal with; how do I balance health and responsibility? When should I say stop? What should my priorities be? How should I manage this disease? Will ‘Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ enable you to defeat ME/CFS? That’s probably too much to ask. As severe as Martha’s illness was, she was lucky in some of the ways it manifested itself. What ‘Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ will do is acquaint (or reacquaint) ME/CFS patients with the basic do’s and don’ts of this disease and give them a strong foundation to proceed forward. It’s practical, hard-earned advice and her message of hope should prove valuable to ME/CFS patients everywhere. 'Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' is a timely reminder, in our 'supplement of the month' world, that sometimes the most effective approaches to disease are the most basic. It’s a worthy addition to any patient’s bookshelf. |
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