The Northern Virginia
CFS/FMS
Support Group

Page	Full Directory of Topics
Coping	To Newly Diagnosed	Relationships	Strategies, Stories, Stress
CFS/ME & FMS Main Page (You are Here)	CFS/FM Treatment	Symptom Checklists	Major Sites
	CAM, Integrative Med	Sleep,   Exercise	Major Newsletters
	Youth, Parents, School	Orthostatic Intolerance	More! Misc. Links
	Health Care Providers	Memory, Cognitive	En Español, Languages
Page II	Conferences	Laboratories	Research Publications
	Travel	Tests	Government Info
Shopping	Vitamins, Minerals, Supplement Companies	Health Product Companies	Medication & Supplement Information
	Food & Water	Products	Pharmacies
Financial, Crisis Aid	Disability	Money Tips	Emergency Services
	Working While Ill	Housing	Legal Assistance
Similar Syndromes	Compare & Contrast	Irritable Bowel	Vulvodynia
	Chronic Lyme	Chronic Pain	Post War Illness
	M. Chem Sensitivity	Interstitial Cystitis	More Syndromes
Connecting/ Outreach	Chats, Pals, Forums	Carers & Caregivers	About Support Groups
	Advocacy, May 12	Blogs	Poetry, Art, & Film
Inspiration	Recovery Stories	Gratefulness	Spirituality

To the Newly Diagnosed

• Q&A, Our Way: I've just been diagnosed. Now What? CFSupport
• Newly Diagnosed CFIDS Association of America
• Advice to a New Patient: 2005 CFIDS & FMS Self-Help
  
• To The Newly Diagnosed Patient Rothenberg / FM Partnership
• An Overview of Fibromyalgia for Newly Diagnosed Patients Bennett / NFA
  
• After the Diagnosis: Grieve Your Old Life Richards / About.com
  

Strategies, Stories, Stress

• Ten Keys to Successful Coping CFIDS & FMS Self-Help
• Dr. Turk's Tips for FM Patients NFA
• 10 solutions for daily life - Cognitive Function [PDF] The CFIDS Chronicle
  
• Hope:  30 FREE Recipes for Vitamin H Berne / Living with Illness
  
  6.  Kick the dirty words should, should have, and if only... out of your vocabulary. 
  Don’t should on yourself.
  
• Managing Anger Harmon / The CFIDS Chronicle
• Dealing with Guilt Smith Noyes / The CFIDS Chronicle
• Guilt-Busters Berne / Living with Illness
• EGGing Each Other On - Incitement to Insight Brosius & Marshall / Pain Connection
• The Evolving FM Experience Mirsky / FM Online
• Living with Severe CFIDS The CFIDS Chronicle
• Hiring a Personal Assistant, an Organizer, a Cleaning Service CFSupport
• Living with CFIDS and Personal Stories Columns The CFIDS Chronicle, CFIDS Link
• Inclined to Recline: Our Tips for Managing OI Brosius and Marshall
• Making Music Lewis
• The Silent Teacher Baker
• CFIDS, Change and Loss Caissy 
• Explaining an Invisible Illness Campling 
• Life Before and After CFIDS Bare 
• Confronting the Empty Nest Day 
• Fatigue 101 Spotila
• Katy's Story Gehling
• Not a Normal Existence Gibbs
• Three Reasons for Hope Becker-Bean
• A message of hope, It’s never too late to begin anew Prichard
• Learning to Let Go A dozen ways to enjoy life without a "career" Floyd
  
• Those "Old Me" Days Goranson
• Chronic illness and the Internet Floyd
• Finding new meaning in life through spiritual focus  Moore
• Living with CFIDS, serving others Watson 
• Positive Behavioral, Mental and Emotional Coping Strategies CFS Empowerment Project
• When You Accept the Illness Copen / Rest Ministries
• Fibromyalgia: 9 Lifestyle Changes for A Challenging Condition Spirit of Change
  
• Coping Strategies Articles CFIDS Self-Help
• Coping Strategies Articles NFA
• Coping with CFS - Guidelines For CFS Patients Factsheet (PDF) CFIDS Association
• Understanding the Different Phases of CFS Fennell / The CFIDS Chronicle
• Youth Coping Corner CFIDS Association of America
• Youth Coping Issues CFIDS Association of America
• Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) Therapy Fact Sheet CFIDS Association of America
• Sleepydust's Online ME/CFS Course (brainfog-friendly)
• CFIDS/Fibromyalgia Self-Help Online Course Bruce Campbell / CFIDS Self-Help
• Lifestyle Adjustments:  Coping With Chronic Illness Katrina Berne / Living with Illness
• Assertiveness and Chronic Illness: How to be Up & At ‘Em when You’re Down & Out Katrina Berne / Living with Illness
• Fibromyalgia Course, Lesson 4: Coping with Physical Aspects Suite 101
• Fibromyalgia Course, Lesson 3: Coping with Psychological Aspects Suite 101
  
  
  
  
  Share Your Story / Read More Stories
  
  
• CFS is a Call For Soulwork: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Stories Nassar Brooks
• Who cares? Chronic Illness in America PBS.org
• Voices of People With Pain American Pain Foundation
  
  
  
  Stress & De-Stressing
  
  "Practice forgiveness. When you are under stress, you can’t digest. Forgive yourself, forgive your parents, forgive your children, and forgive the system." 
  
  - Sally Fallon, Author of Nourishing Traditions
  
  
  
  
• The Mind-Heart Connection: What Is Stress and the 'Stress Response'? Wm Collinge
• The Healing Power of Deep Relaxation – Simple, Proven Techniques for Calming Your Mind and Body  Wm Collinge, Immunesupport
• The Biology of Stress Young / The CFIDS Chronicle
  A four-part series exploring the physical impact of stress. Part 1: Understanding your stress load.
• Don't Distress--De-Stress! NFA FM Online 2005, Deffner
• Alter Your Stress Perception NFA FM Online 2004,  Deffner
• Laugh Your Way to Symptom Management NFA FM Online 2007,  Deffner
• When Pushing Stops Working - Audio Presentation CFSupport Awareness Day 2008
• HeartMath Techniques we've discussed for Stress Reduction CFSupport
  
• Stress Injury to Health (CFS, IBS, anxiety,...) Workplace Bully Online
• Posttraumatic Stress, Fibromyalgia Linked WebMD
• Stress and Brain Development McEwen
  "Comparable human disorders involving lower-than-needed cortisol include fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome."
• Physical Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Are Exacerbated By the Stress
  of Hurricane Andrew Klimas et al
• Stress Relief - First Step of CFS Treatment Protocol CFS Healing - von Konynenburg
  "Many PWCs were overloaded by various types of long-term stressors prior to the onset of their symptoms, and some continue to be so. There is considerable published research supporting the observation of stressors in the etiology of CFS. In an initially healthy human, the long-term stress that results from these stressors causes the secretion of adrenaline and cortisol by the adrenals for extended periods, and these lead to suppression of cell-mediated immunity and depletion of glutathione, which in turn can produce a range of deleterious effects, leading to CFS in genetically susceptible
  individuals. Unless the load of stress is lifted or at least greatly reduced, it is probably not possible to achieve health, so this aspect should be dealt with early."
  
• Malic Acid & Oxygen ATP vs Lactic Acid ATP
  Getting More Oxygen For More Energy [Type A Personalities and CFS] Cooter
  
• Treating Fibromyalgia and the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection ImmuneSupport / WebMD
  Dr. William B. Salt II: To illustrate the mind-body relationship and the expression of stress and emotion into the body, one of the administrators at my hospital shared an interesting observation; she said, "When I'm under stress, I have a numbness and tingling that occurs in my left arm between my elbow and my wrist." I thought that was fascinating and evident of the mind-body connection. But then she added, "And I have learned that I may not be actually aware that I am under stress at the time. I may not actually feel stressed at the level of my mind, such as anxiety. I have become aware that when that physical symptom occurs, that I am under strain and then I become aware of that strain."
  
  This brings us back to one of the points Dr. Season and I would like to emphasize. We all experience stress and emotion expressed in the body, and that stress and emotions occur at the conscious and unconscious level. It is not a weakness or mental illness to have the expression of stress and emotion in the body.
• Stress Comes In Many Shapes and Sizes 4Therapy.com
• Understanding the Mind-Body Connection in CFS/Fibromyalgia Teitelbaum 2007
• The Stress Response (includes 10 Easy Ways to De-Stress) Longley, FM Online, June 2007
  

• Laugh Your Way to Symptom Management NFA FM Online 2007,  Deffner
• A Wit Fix FMS Surrey and Sussex, Jeanne Hambleton
  
• Calendar 2007 - Cartoons about life with CFS Hans-Michael Sobetzko
• Wacky Doc Sayings 12-20-06 Immune Support
• Wacky Doc Sayings 11-29-06 Immune Support
• Wacky Doc Sayings 10-25-06 Immune Support
• Expecting a Laugh Boosts Stress-Busting Hormones Immune Support
  
• CFIDS Lite: Chronic Fatigue (Immune Dysfunction) Syndrome with 1/3 the Seriousness Katrina Berne, Paperback, 110 pages.
  Chronic illness is no laughing matter, but humor can help us keep a healthy perspective on living with CFS and other illnesses. The jokes, riddles, limericks, and cartoons in CFIDS Lite help to combat pain, depression, and isolation. Perhaps laughter is the best medicine!
• Sick Humor - Cartoons that Take a Twisted View of Life with Disability Wachsler
• CFSdays Humor Bill
• An Automated CFIDS Wake-Up Service Herd / The CFIDS Chronicle
• Sick Humor But You Don't Look Sick?
• 7 Things NOT to Do When You are Depressed
• Answers to But you don't look sick?!
  
  
  
  
  Holidays, Family Gatherings
  
  
• Top 10 Non-Traditional Ways to Spend a Holiday Marshall /CFSupport
• Gearing Up to Enjoy the Holidays (4 pages, PDF) Uslan / FM Network
• Holiday Hot Tips - Tips for People with CFIDS (PWC's) CFIDS Association
• Living with CFIDS: Something to Celebrate (Birthday) Lorden Myers
• Holidays; The Gift of Listening Cynthia Webber (Jausten) Suite101.com / FM
• Give yourself the G.I.F.T. of a stress-free Holiday Lee Richards / FM Aware
• What You Can Do Before the Holidays Begin Lorden
• Holly Jolly Pain-Free Holidays FM Online 2005, Deffner
  
• Pacing Your Way Through Christmas FM Online 2005,  Longley
  
• Sugar Plum Visions and Coping During the Holidays FM Online '05,  Reddin Lennon
  
• Holidays Index NFA
• Putting the "FUN" in Dysfunctional [Bingo!] Beck / O, The Oprah Magazine
  
  
  

Relationships

• CFS and Personal Relationships The CFS Empowerment Project
• Developing supplemental support relationships CFS Empowerment Project
• To Love, In Sickness And In Health Lorden / FM Online
• FM & Friendship: Seeing through Invisible Illness Lorden Myers / FM Frontiers
• Living With CFIDS: The dating game, CFIDS-style Gregory / The CFIDS Chronicle
  
• Relationships Articles Index NFA / FM Online
• FM and Relationships Q&A with Connie O'Reilly 
• New: Fibromyalgia is a Friendship Challenge—and an Opportunity
  Friends can be a great support to the FM patient—but their misunderstanding of fibromyalgia can also cut very deep. 
• The Dating Game
  Don’t let chronic illness prevent you from playing!
• Singles, Take Heart
  New romance is always possible.
• Marriage and Fibro DO Mix!
  A firsthand look at how one marriage has survived the challenges of fibromyalgia—and tips to help make sure yours does the same.
  
• A Healthy Marriage Despite the Added Challenge of Fibromyalgia
  The secret to a successful marriage—when both spouses have FM.
  
• How to be a Better Friend, Spouse, or Relative to Someone with FM
  Advice from a psychologist whose marriage is impacted by FM. 
• Are you Really Listening?
  The four most common ways of not listening—and how to avoid them.
• Some Friendly Advice
• Finding Love Online
  

• Reclaim Your Sexuality FM Online / Deffner
• Sex & CFS Fennell / The CFIDS Chronicle
• What About Sex? Cynthia Webber (Jausten), Suite101 Fibromyalgia
• Excerpt: Fibromyalgia and Sex Can be a Pain in the Neck...and back and shoulders
  Kimberley Linstruth-Beckom
  
• Chronic pain, married, everything hurts including sex Med Help
• The Intimate Relationship of Sex and IBD [Applies to many chronic illnesses]  CCFA
• Sexuality: Chronic Illness and Your Sex Life FamilyDoctor.org
• How does [Chronic Disease] affect sexual feelings or behavior in a relationship? VHL.org
• Breaking the Ice on Sex, Intimacy & Chronic Illness But You Don't Look Sick?
  

Disclaimer: NoVA CFS/FMS Support Group members are not medical, counseling, or legal professionals. Please seek qualified practitioners for diagnosis, treatment and legal advice.