Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:
A Treatment Guide
by Erica
Verrillo
Description
This one-of-a-kind
reference – now completely revised and updated – includes over 100 effective
treatments, from antivirals to vitamins, as well as locations of specialists
and clinics, Internet ordering information, and national, local, and
international CFS/ME organizations. New and expanded sections include doctors'
protocols and research on the causes and mechanisms of the illness, all written
in concise, easy-to-understand language.
Every aspect of the
illness is thoroughly examined, from diagnosis to an in-depth discussion of
symptoms, from traditional to alternative therapies to essential coping
strategies. The new edition contains chapters for those coping with multiple
chemical sensitivities and dietary restrictions, as well an expanded section on
children and adolescents with CFS/ME. Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide, remains the most
comprehensive reference guide on this disease.
Excerpt
INTRODUCTION: THE TREATMENT DILEMMA
“Healing is a matter of time, but
it is also sometimes a matter of opportunity.”
—HIPPOCRATES —
CFS/ME is
one of those illnesses for which receiving a diagnosis can bring as much
frustration as relief. All too often a person who has spent years searching for
a diagnosis expects that identification of the illness will bring with it, if
not a cure, at the very least an effective treatment plan. Unfortunately, most
of us who have received the diagnosis have also been told that CFS/ME has “no
known cause or cure,” a phrase that invariably creates enough hopelessness to
offset any relief the diagnosis may have offered.
The lack
of known cause or cure, while discouraging, certainly does not imply that an
illness cannot be treated, or that those who suffer from it will not recover.
Throughout the ages, physicians have successfully treated diseases on the basis
of their knowledge of symptoms and human physiological responses rather than on
test results. And because human physiology has not changed much over the past
40,000 years, treatment approaches, for the most part, have remained remarkably
consistent. For example, the Chinese medical system, which relies heavily on
nutrition and the use of herbs, was codified more than 5,000 years ago. Herbal
remedies, their pharmaceutical derivatives, massage and manual manipulation
techniques, nutritional therapy, and stress reduction methods (meditation,
yoga) are treatments that have withstood the test of time, and still form the
mainstay of medical systems throughout the world.
The
premise of this book is that the absence of a cure does not in any way imply
that there is no treatment for CFS/ME. To make the grounds for this position
clear, consider the popular concept that an illness "attacks." Cure,
in this conceptual framework, consists of killing the attacker. In CFS/ME, the
attacker is unknown, unidentified, and perhaps not even a single factor; thus
counterattack is impossible. The victim is left with only two choices: lie back
and let nature take its course (which in CFS/ME can be agonizing), or seek
alternative points of view. The alternative is to view CFS/ME as a form of
systemic damage that must be gradually, methodically, and thoughtfully
repaired. Or, to use an analogy, if CFS/ME is like falling into a hole, as some
patients have observed, recovery is like climbing out of the hole, step by
step, rung by rung.
Review
According to the CDC
more than a million people across the country suffer from chronic fatigue
syndrome; yet information about the condition has been scattered and largely
unavailable in one place - until now.
The second updated
edition of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide acts as both a modified
encyclopedia and as a sourcebook for any seeking information about the
syndrome.
There may remain no
cure for the syndrome - but there are treatments: many of them; in fact - and
many effective approaches for understanding the condition's triggers,
management, and outlook.
Over a hundred
effective treatments, from medications to antivirals and holistic approaches,
are included in this volume, along with lists of doctors, clinics and
specialists working with chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers, print, and
Internet references and links, and more.
The long list of
therapies and treatments which have proven successful are contained in a
reference guide section that lends to quick browsing and location of data: from
an overview and history of the illness to discussions of how CFS affects body
and mind, descriptions of various CFS symptoms and treatment approaches, and
discussions of traditional and alternative therapies, this book is packed with
material discussing a wide variety of coping methods.
New and expanded
sections to this second updated edition include not only the latest research
findings and recommendations, but physician protocols and keys to self-help and
management.
Also discussed are
the multifaceted symptoms of CFS. Symptoms may run the gamut, but often include
recurring infections, fatigue, nausea and abdominal pain, confusion and
attention span problems, and much more. Each symptom receives an in-depth
coverage including various treatments, likely causes within the CFS diagnosis,
and bibliographies for further reading.
The author herself
was completing a doctorate in 1992 before she fell ill with the disease, so has
many years of personal experience with CFS, during which approaches to and
understanding of the condition have seen much change. These changes are
reflected in this new edition of the book, as well as her own compassion for
other sufferers.
There is simply no
other treatment guide on the market that is presented with such expansive
coverage, making this a 'must' for any health collection and for any reader
concerned with understanding the extent of CFS.
About the Author
Erica Verrillo was born in Rochester, New York on May 10th, 1953. Her
parents, both classical musicians, named her after famed violinist, Erica
Morini. Following in her parents' footsteps, Erica studied piano with her
mother as a young child, and then flute with John Oberbrunner. At age seventeen
she moved to England, where she played in the Oxford Symphony Orchestra and
studied with Gareth Morris, principal flutist of the Philharmonia Orchestra. A
year later she moved back to the U.S. where she attended New England Conservatory
as a student of Boston Symphony Orchestra's James Pappoutsakis.
Although Erica's first love was music, she
finished her undergraduate education at Tufts University, where she majored in
Latin American History. Soon after receiving her B.A. from Tufts, she set out
to explore Latin America on foot, hitchhiking through Central America, over the
Andes to Argentina, and finally to Brazil. She describes her
two-and-a-half-year sojourn as "The Motorcycle Diaries, without the
motorcycle."
Erica returned to the U.S. to complete her
M.A. in Linguistics at Syracuse University, after which she moved to Manhattan,
where she taught English as a Second Language at the World Trade Center and at
the New York Association for New Americans. In 1982 Erica entered SUNY
Albany's Ph.D. program in Anthropology, where she became linguistic supervisor
of the Albany-Chiapas project, an eighteen-month field project among the
Chamulas of southern Mexico.
Living in Central America,Erica soon
turned her energies to refugee aid. In 1984 she founded the Guatemalan Refugee
Crafts Project, a weaving co-op funded initially by Seva Foundation. As
Erica describes it, the idea was to make an aid organization which was fully
self-sufficient. Over the next ten years, Erica earned $100,000 for the
camps, supporting over 600 people.
In 1990, Erica resumed work on her PhD at
UT Austin, this time in Speech Communication, where she combined her knowledge
of linguistics with anthropology. But, in 1992, after several bouts with
tropical diseases in Guatemala, Erica fell ill.
"I had to let everything go - the PhD, the
refugee project, my husband, my home, everything. It was the end," says
Erica. "But it was also the beginning. Being ill for so many years
makes you re-evaluate your priorities. It's amazing how many things just aren't
important."
When asked what things are important, Erica doesn't hesitate: "For me - writing, my children, and writing. In that
order."
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