This book for CFS/FM sufferers reflects Dr. Campbell’s careful consideration of the experiences of the many hundreds of people who have taken his course, The CFIDS/FM Self-Help Program. A revised and improved edition of his first book, The CFIDS/Fibromyalgia Toolkit, it is a text for that course, but also a valuable tool, in itself, for those willing to learn about helping themselves.
Almost everyone with this illness is faced with a seemingly insoluble problem. We have an illness that affects us badly, and in many ways—both physical and mental. Unfortunately, all that conventional medicine can offer is help with the symptoms. So if we have pain, we are given analgesics; sleep problems result in a prescription for sedatives and for depression we get anti-depressants. While a combination of medications may be somewhat helpful, they are seldom enough to completely relieve these symptoms, still less the others that afflict us. Too bad about the brain fog, the lousy memory, the inability to think clearly, the social isolation, the digestive problems—and let’s throw in a few allergies to make it more interesting! Many more symptoms could be added to this list. The point is the inability of medical science to provide a cure for our ailments. Like Sisyphus we are condemned to forever push a heavy boulder up a steep hill, only to have it roll back down so that we must begin again; endless frustration and toil.
There is little wonder, when in our desperation many of us go looking for a magic cure, promised by some huckster on the expenditure of a considerable amount of funds. I have done this, and I suspect most sufferers of this illness have done it as well, but to no good effect.
But, I have found another way of dealing with my illness which has had beneficial results. That way was to learn how to stop making my illness worse and to do things which make my life better. It is literally a paradigm shift, another way of thinking about life. Instead of chasing for the Holy Grail and a sure cure, I have decided to maximize my journey through life by learning how best to manage the illness process. That is what Dr. Campbell’s book is about. You are on a journey, the journey is a long one with this illness and the paradigm shift is to make the best of that journey, instead of desperately grasping at what we hope is a cure for CFS/FM. Medical science does not know of a cure for this illness. Though some of us may be cured in time, most of us are on track for a long period of illness. We are not the only people with incurable illness which can benefit from these ideas, arthritis, chronic illness, and cancer patients, among others. Dr. Campbell has traveled through the dark forest of CFS himself and used the concepts of chronic illness self-management to improve the quality of his life and to share his ideas with us.
On our journey through life with CFS/FM, if we become overwhelmed with depression and/or anxiety and lack of support, life can be very difficult and grim. Those who do well seem to share is a positive attitude and a willingness to adapt to living with chronic illness. In the process, these people gain a sense of self-worth and find new meaning in life. The outlook for these people is much brighter.
The book is full of helpful ideas and tools you can use in daily life. One of the most helpful to me, and to most sufferers, is the concept of pacing. Pacing partly entails learning what your activity limits are and not to exceed them. It means using rest and activity wisely, in a way that suits you. By learning to pace themselves, CFS/FM suffers usually find that they actually get more done than if they try to push themselves to complete tasks. Other topics are stress management, keeping an activity log, the energy envelope, fatigue, pain and sleep. The most important and helpful parts of the book deal with what I think is our greatest burden, mental suffering. There is extensive discussion of grief, managing feelings and improving support.
The text reads easily and is clear. It is clear that Dr. Campbell has written with the average CFS/FM sufferer in mind. There is little technical language and he writes as if telling a story. You should have no difficulty in understanding the book. There is an excellent and inspiring foreword by Dr. Charles Lapp MD, one of the most respected CFS/FM specialists in the USA.
Below is a quote from Dr. Campbell’s web site about his organization, himself and the course which summarizes it neatly.
CFIDS/Fibromyalgia Self-Help, a non-profit organization, has offered self-help classes over the Internet and in person since 1998. Our program was created and is directed by Bruce Campbell, Ph.D. Dr. Campbell is a recovered CFIDS patient who before becoming ill worked on self-help programs for chronic illness at the Stanford University Medical School. Our classes are taught by trained, volunteer moderators, most of whom are CFIDS or fibromyalgia patients.
You can learn more about the course, take the course online - see www.cfidsselfhelp.org - and order the book using a credit card at the web site. You can sample the book at the web site with the first four chapters available free.
A team of leaders has been formed to promote Dr. Campbell’s course in Australia. We have been trialing the course and will use the results as a means of validating its usefulness and to gain the support of the government and medical authorities. This is being done with the support of Dr. Campbell.
The course has been conducted with three groups in NSW, is currently underway in Victoria with two other courses soon to be started in South Australia and the ACT [as of March 2004]. I and Peter McKinnon look forward to conducting more courses in NSW sometime in the hopefully, not too distant future. See here for dates of upcoming courses in Australia
Those interested in Australian courses should contact:
The Chronic Illness Project Centre
Box 10 Flinders University Post Office
Sturt Rd. Bedford Park SA 5042
Phone: 08-8358-6086
The CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help Book is printed by CSH Press of Palo Alto, California. You can order the book directly from Dr. Campbell by mail at:
Dr. Bruce Campbell
CFIDS/Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program
777 San Antonio Road #121
Palo Alto, California 94330-4856
USA
Dr. Campbell can be contacted via email on: bruce.campbell@flash.net
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