Overcoming Chronic Fatigue [Paperback]

This is not a good book to read if you are trying to get better from Chronic Fatigue syndrome. It is written with good intentions - however the authors dont really have any idea of what is really going on with ME/CFS or how to treat it. The suggestions are very simplistic and quite frankly - just silly to anyone who has experienced this condition. Its very unlikely they will have a positive affect and if they do it is most likely chance in my opinion. It is an expansion of the currect NICE guidelines (pacing and graded exercise) which anyone who has CFS will probably know - are useless and dont help. I met Trudie Chalder early on in my journey after finding this book and she was nice but it became clear quite quickly that she was not going to be able to help. I studied Neurobiology, pharmacology and physiology myself at university and on asking more specific questions about the biology of what was going on - there was no real understanding or clear answer. It did not take long for me to come to this conclusion and move on...and I would not advise anyone searching for recovery to spend any time on this book or following its recommendations.
Sadly there are no books I am aware of currently published directly relating to ME/CFS that are very up to date. Research in this field is very fast moving - and practitioners are generally treating rather than writing books...I would just recommend getting in contact with a good clinic that specialise in CFS such as the Optimum Health Clinic. There is a community of people there and many of the practitioners have got better themselves from ME/CFS.
Good luck to anyone having difficulties like me with this condition.

This was recommended to me by my CBT therapist; I was a bit sceptical after reading the other reviews on here.

Basically you have to read it with care. Most of what it talks about is fatigue; separate this in your mind from chronic fatigue as an illness. It's true what it says about trapping yourself in a feedback loop which perpetuates the illness, however this is not what caused the illness in the first place. Don't let it make you think that you're not ill, or that it's all in your head.

In my case, I use the advice here when I'm on an even keel, and it's helped me get my recovery back on track. However, when I start feeling tired because of chronic fatigue (as opposed to normal "fatigue" fatigue), I know that it's because I am genuinely ill.

This is not a book to be read at face value. There is very good advice here, but the way it tends to lay blame on you as a patient for you illness should be ignored.

If nothing else, it's worth the cover price for the chapter on advice to friends and family alone. It has helped them accept my illness and to be supportive to me in the correct way as I continue in my recovery.

If you are reading this, you probably are - or are close to - an ME or CFS sufferer. You've read reviews of 'Overcoming Chronic Fatigue', some glowing and some highly critical, and you're wondering if this book will help you. If so, then before you buy it - or indeed any other book - you should read two pieces of recent official advice, both available online: Parliament's Gibson report (Google: erythos Gibson enquiry) and the care guidelines from NICE - the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Google: NICE CG53).

From both documents you will see that there is no magic bullet to `cure' ME/CFS; the condition varies so much from patient to patient that each must be treated as an individual case. A major criticism of Burgess and Chalder's work is that they take insufficient account of this variation, implying - despite their caveats - that their therapy can help all sufferers.

So in considering whether this book is likely to help you, let us divide symptoms into two arbitrary categories (based on the Canadian protocol as quoted by Gibson):

1) "Physical" symptoms such as headaches, muscle weakness, joint pain, fever, mental confusion, memory problems, sensitivity to light/sound/smell, tender lymph nodes, sore throat, etc.

2) "Fatigue" symptoms: gross fatigue, sleep dysfunction ("reversed or chaotic diurnal rhythms"), lassitude.

The method used by Burgess and Chalder (and, I gather, in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy generally) is to think yourself well. Reviews show that this approach can be valuable to some sufferers whose symptoms are purely or primarily in category 2 above - fatigue-related. But no amount of positive mental attitude or filling in charts is going to address category 1 symptoms - to make that headache go away, stop your eyes from watering, or help you express your fugitive thoughts before they slip away.

To quote Gibson, "CBT is most effective in those with less severe forms of CFS/ME and appears to be much less effective in those with severe disease." Hence the variation in reviews of this book: some people find it extremely helpful, others describe it as dangerous.

The main danger is the idea that you are ill for emotional, psychological or spiritual reasons - and it's amazing how many otherwise sensible people think that way. The subtext is "if only you had been like me / followed this regime / followed this diet / had spiritual enlightenment / signed up to my wacky theory - then you wouldn't have got like this".

In other words, it's your fault you are ill. It's all in your mind, and if you change your way of thinking you'll be cured. Burgess and Chalder stray perilously close to this approach, one which Gibson and NICE both make clear is unhelpful at best. The World Health Organisation classifies ME as a neurological disease - not a psychosocial one (see Gibson). ME sufferers are not lazy, confused or emotionally disturbed: they have a recognised physical illness, so obviously there is a limit to how much help a purely psychosocial therapy can give.

The main treatment this book offers consists of setting targets for yourself, keeping diaries of activity, and filling in charts - again, probably excellent for category 2 symptoms, but useless for category 1. It's clear that neither author has suffered from ME. There is a brusque doctorly `pull your self together' tone which some will find patronising. There is an overly simplistic reliance on changing thought-patterns and a generalised approach to treatment ("one size fits all") - both things heavily criticised by Gibson and NICE.

For me, one of the worst aspects of ME/CFS is hope: every now and then you'll get such a good day that you'll think you're cured. Then you'll get such a bad week that you'll think you're right back at square one. Gibson and NICE agree that there is no quick fix: any therapy that claims to help anyone "overcome" ME/CFS must be slightly suspect. Therapists should be more cautious about their claims than Burgess and Chalder, and sufferers should be wary of letting out this last item from Pandora's Box.

I'm glad this book has helped other sufferers: sadly, it was useless to me.

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UPDATE MAY 2012

A friend recently recommended Better Recovery from Viral Illnesses. I found this to be MUCH better, and written with genuine understanding. Try it.