Frankie Campling Oxford, UK In December 1988 I was a successful career woman with a company making high tech scientific equipment. After emergency major surgery, things started going wrong. A year later, after another operation, I had to retire on medical grounds. I found myself in the limbo of chronic fatigue syndrome/ME (CFIDS for American readers). On the whole though I was lucky. Oxford where I live is a centre of medical excellence and I was referred to a psychiatrist Michael Sharpe who was doing research on treatment for CFS. We got on well and he taught me a lot about managing CFS. I think that we taught each other. I started doing telephone counselling for people with CFS, which gave him a new insight. 10 years later, even though he had moved away from Oxford, we wrote a book on CFS together. Previously I had published a patient information booklet (something between the leaflets available from the self help groups and the many books on ME) Now I find myself still disabled with CFS, but with a really good quality of life. I can sympathise whole heartedly with sufferers who have been treated really badly by doctors and be grateful that I have had a very different experience. My aim now is to help sufferers to manage themselves rather than waiting for someone to give them a cure. Life isn't too bad. Being an acknowledged author is fun - a change from my previous career and probably more satisfying. Frankie Campling YOUR STORIES Karin M. Amour, Fibromyalgia Lyssa Bode, Chronic Fatigue Immune Disfunction Syndrome Frankie Campling, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Laura Cerasuolo, Fibromyalgia/Myofacialsyndrome Karen Cerio, Fibromyalgia Rhonda Dewinter, Various Immune Diseases Jennifer Embree, Fibromyalgia/Raynaud's Syndrome Lynne Enman, Turner Syndrome/Various Fibromyalgia Patient, Covington, KY John Kennedy, Chronic Fatigue Immune Disfunction Syndrome Susan Larick, Fibromyalgia Melissa Lawler, Fibromyalgia Irene Leeder, Fibromyalgia/Various Cait Lommel, Pseudotumor Cerebri Jennifer Munn, Chronic Lyme Disease Robin Poole, Fibromyalgia/Lupus Pam Schmidt, Phenylketonuria Lynn Tonoli, Various Various Patient, Haughton, LA Suzanne Witt, Muscular Dystrophy/Fibromyalgia ARCHIVED STORIES WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Jose Pedro Greer, Physician W.F. Nagle, Physician Ronda Riebman, Exercise Cathleen Schilling, Case Manager Jim Sykes Home | Awareness | Patient Files | The Challenge | Your Stories | Outreach | Resources About the Program | About Fred Friendly Seminars | Our Partners | Site Map | Credits © 2001 Fred Friendly Seminars, Inc.