If You Would Just Get Out of Bed [Paperback]

Stephanie Kelley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003 | ISBN-10: 0974271004 | ISBN-13: 978-0974271002

The first book of it's kind! Feel what it's like to suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, written by a victim of the disease.

Take a look inside a disease impacting millions of Americans - destroying lives and families. See how author Stephanie Kelley copes with a condition that has no set treatment, no magic bullet, and no cure in sight.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A great avenue for other victims to know they are not alone. Finally, someone can understand the pain and suffering associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: KK Bell, LLC (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974271004
• ISBN-13: 978-0974271002
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,112,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Surface Treatment, February 7, 2006

By 

C. Gombar "christinagombar" (Saunderstown, RI) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: If You Would Just Get Out of Bed (Paperback)

As other reviewers have noted, this is an unshaped narrative, badly in need of an editor, not just to organize the material, but to bring it to a deeper level.

I've been dealing with CFS for fifteen years, and the biggest challenges are 1)financial 2)Getting across the life-altering nature of the condition to family and friends. This book is not going to help me in either area. The author, only 30 years old, comes off as somewhat of a spoiled daughter -- at one point, she said something like "my parents indulged my every whim". She had emotional problems long before symptoms of CFS set in -- wild mood swings that caused her to "find a new set of friends" every few months in high school. One could easily get the sense that the health problem did indeed mutate from an organic mental disorder.

She was/is lucky enough to have parents who helped her out every step of the way and believes she's met a "Knight in Shining Armor" in her new husband.

Most of us have families who at best ignore us or freeze us out. This book offers nothing, advice-wise or spiritually, to help us with that situation. Also --thinking that some man is going to save you? Please. I have the sense this girl is going to be in for a rude awakening in terms of the stresses this is going to put on her marriage. She says she's stopped working. How many of us, sick or well, have the option of being totally dependent on someone else financially? And how fair is this to the spouse? With multiple health problems, severe gyno conditions and heavy medications, she also thinks she's going to get pregnant. Well, I hoped to, as well. A book on dealing with this particular loss would be well in order.

As someone who's "been there, done that", I wish I could give this a better review. The author mentions nothing about medical research, or finding a good specialist. This is key to dealing with the illness.

I should applaud her attitude of "I wont' let this ruin my life" -- we all feel that, but she doesn't offer any practical tools for the reader, and one wonders how long this sentiment will last.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, February 23, 2004

By 

Laura N. Najman "lnajman2" (Torrance, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If You Would Just Get Out of Bed (Paperback)

This book is explains CFS to those of us with friends struggling with this illness. Stephanie's descriptions are so real that I almost felt as if I knew her. I truly felt as if I understood this illness in a personal way and I never realized previously what a huge impact this can have on someone's life. I would recommend this book to anyone who has this illness, and especially to friends and family of people with CFS.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY...Someone understands me!!!!, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: If You Would Just Get Out of Bed (Paperback)

I was so thrilled to see that someone with such a debilitating disease could actually have the fortitude to write about her story. I could relate to much of Stephanie's life and felt the same feelings of guilt and shame that she went through. Thank you for finally having a book about what it is like to actually suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome!