Best for those newly diagnosed and able to rest

books:


	• Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: You Don't Have to Live with It -- An Eight Step Protocol Martha E. Kilcoyne Triple Spiral Press, 2007 - 110 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Easy to understand and follow

This book is great for those days when your brain fog has taken over and you can't comprehend something too complicated. Good book! Great idea to make a daily journal.

A clear 8-step protocol.

After 8 years of 'doctor-shopping' and trying way too many things that didn't work, I was a little hesitant to buy yet another book. But I'm not sorry I added it to my next Amazon order!

I recognized an awful lot in the author's story. Which in general is to be expected, but to me the specifics really stood out (could have been my medical record, minus the pregnancy.)

The book is the author's story, mixed in with an 8 step protocol (and a good explanation of why to follow it) with which she made a full recovery. Something to really look forward to!

This are the steps, obviously explained in detail in the book:

1. Understand your version of CFS.
-- Keep a daily short log of activities/rest periods, sleep, symptoms, meds
2. Find a doctor who will work with you.
3. Break the cycle of fatigue
-- Strict rule: Sleep at least 10 hours a night! And apparently after a few months of keeping a log you will notice a pattern, and know what is `too much' - that way you can avoid the `major crash after'.
4. Build a support network
5. Be sick! Be a patient!
-- aka: ignore what others think of you and don't feel guilty for taking care of yourself.
6. Fuel your wellness
-- General health info, with the addition of vitamin/supplement recommendations
7. Maintain an optimal blood pressure.
-- Mine, like the authors, turned out to be constantly low (105/65) -> fixable!
8. Manage your stages of recovery.

I wish there was one extra part explaining a little more about 'finding the pattern' for step 3. (Just an example of hers would be good).
I guess I'll figure it out in a few months, or let someone more awake look at it.

I've been following the steps for only a week now, but I hope to report results in a few months (will be in the comments).
Four stars for now, for a clear and easy-to-read book.
Might change to five - I certainly hope so.

for more information click here

Best for those newly diagnosed and able to rest

This book is excellent for helping a person with CFS feel less alone with this confounding disease; Kilcoyne definitely "gets it". The chapter about finding "your own version of CFS" is right on. However, she really did have all the makings of success: a loving advocate in her (employeed) husband so she was able to Be A Patient and a good support network including an open-minded doctor who worked with her. In reality, many of us are financially unable to drop everything and attend to our health in the early days of CFS when healing is optimal, and are frustratingly unable to find a doctor who will work with us rather than write us off. Still, her idea of keeping a Daily Record (and what factors to include ) is a great one which I believe may help me even after 14 years. Bottom line: a bit naive but not without merit.

for more information click here

Amazingly helpful!

I have recently been diagnosed with CFS after ten years of struggling. I had previously been diagnosed with post partum depression, orthostatic hypotension, anemia, depression, and Epstein Barr. Nothing the doctors prescribed helped. This book made me cry. I felt like I was reading my own story. It affirmed that I do indeed have CFS and that I am not alone. To have someone who has gone through this write about her story and recovery is so helpful. It has been difficult to explain the disease even to my husband who sees first hand what I am going through. He just couldn't understand the "foggy thinking" and why some days were good and some were so bad. The book has helped us both. I have completely changed my diet and I am keeping a daily record of all my activities. I have realized how much rest I really need. I am finally accepting this disease and have hope that I will recover. After two weeks on the diet (I gave up my four cups of coffee with sugar every morning!) I feel a difference. Not an amazing improvement but a feeling of "health" and hope that I didn't have before. I have low blood pressure and "fainting" spells and the increase in sodium and water has helped that tremendously. I am allowing myself to let things go and take care of myself with proper diet and lots of rest. The book is easy to read, concise, and so helpful. Anyone with CFS should read this and follow the plan! It is working for me and I am ready for a long, slow recovery but a recovery none the less! Even it takes a year or more to get better at least I won't lose another ten years to this cruel disease.

for more information click here

Review by person with CFS & FM

This book was helpful to me. It help me re-think the ways in which I currently cope with CFS & FM. I always want to know information in how others who have CFS & FM are well now. It was not much money and was a small enough book not to overwhelm me. I suggest it to others who have this disease.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

An Eight Step Protocol - Developed by the author which enabled her to fully recover from CFS - When I was three months pregnant with my second child, I caught a flu virus that changed my life. For the next four years I lived in the clutches of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. When I realized that most of the medical profession considered my illness to be "in my head", I felt so isolated, struggling to understand what was wrong with me knowing that it was a real physical illness. CFS shut down my life as I knew it and forced me to become a recluse spending most of my time in bed between short lived efforts to have a "normal" life. But slowly, through much trial and error, I began to understand the patterns and the cruelty of CFS. In the end, I defeated Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and now live a full and healthy life - totally free of CFS. This book shares in detail the eight step protocol that I developed and followed as I slowly and steadily regained my health. It s written in a clear, concise format, understanding the struggle that CFS sufferers have with memory and concentration. By consistently following these steps, I hope that you too can defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. You don t have to live with it! My motivation for writing this book is to bring a new voice to the Chronic Fatigue dialogue - contrary to the message of a permanently compromised lifestyle which is prevalent in the medical and patient communities, there are many former CFS patients who are fully recovered. I'm one of them! My message to patients, medical practitioners and care givers is that despite the unknowns of CFS, you CAN manage those aspects of CFS that you ARE in control of. My protocol is a proactive, self-management approach implemented 24-7. Decide to defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome!

for more information click here

hot