Book excerpt: A Parents’Guide to CFIDS is the only complete book for parents of children with CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome). Written in a friendly, personal manner by parents for parents, A Parent?s Guide to CFIDS combines medical, parental, and personal experiences designed to minimize the negative effects of socialization and education on children with CFIDS. This guide will assist you in understanding CFIDS, also known as Fibromyalgia (FM) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), one of the most complicated illnesses in medical history. You will learn how to help your child overcome the major academic challenges of CFIDS and the socialization issues inflicted by being cut off from friends and peers at a critical stage of development. Some of the topics covered in A Parent?s Guide to CFIDS include: options for academic planning how to be your child?s number one advocate balancing your family life when you have a child with CFIDS helping your CFIDS child develop socially with support groups young people with CFIDS speak out about their experiences deciding how much physical activity your child can handle letters to the school from the physician 75 tips for coping with inflicted children, from pain to schoolwork A Parents’Guide to CFIDS is written by a doctor, educators, and parents of children with CFIDS, and guides parents and educators in understanding, coping with, and helping a child with CFIDS live a better life. This roadmap to recovery covers everything from medical terms and doctor visits to assisting with schoolwork and focusing on normal development to improve your child’s life.