ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that patient make a plan for setbacks and relapses before they happen. It is much more difficult to work out how to deal with a setback when patient are experiencing one, than when patient are feeling well. In order to plan what to do, patient need to figure out whether patient are experiencing a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) or a non-CFS/ME setback. A CFS/ME setback is a major intensification of patient’s symptoms due to CFS/ME, and a non-CFS/ME setback is due to everything and anything else. It is helpful to plan to treat CFS/ME setback differently than patient would a non-CFS/ME setback. Despite the overlap between the symptoms of CFS/ME and those of a cold or the flu, there are some characteristics that might help patient distinguish between the two. If patients sleep pattern has become disrupted, then this may, in part, contribute to an escalation of patients CFS/ME symptoms.
