Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - An Eight Step Protocol by Martha Kilcoyne:
A Book Review by Cort Johnson
A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patient Returns.
Fifteen years ago Martha Kilcoyne had a 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 explained 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’t 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.
Cort Johnson
Click here for an interview with Martha Kilcoyne