FibroHaven on Facebook Last month I started a FibroHaven page on facebook. I have been promoting it quietly with a link on my sidebar, and with little fanfare we are already up to over 200 participants. It is meant to be a compliment to my blog and a quick way for me to share current articles and information. You do not need sign up on facebook to participate. Just click on this link to FibroHaven on facebook and join in on the conversation. If you are signed up on facebook, click on the "become a fan" button and the daily posts will feed automatically to your home page. I hope you enjoy this … [Read more...]
Online Resources for Fibromyalgia Support and Information
Part 3 of my series on Fibromyalgia Support and Information. In my previous posts I listed the main social networking sites (part 1) and group forums (part 2) available if you are looking to join an online community for support, encouragement, camaraderie, or just to have a place to vent. My inspiration for putting these posts together is to help alleviate the potential for isolation if you are living with Fibromyalgia or most any chronic illness. For this post I am going to focus on general resources available, like blogs and websites. Again, this is just a partial list of what is out … [Read more...]
Online Social Networking for Fibromyalgia Support and Information
On a recent post, Conversation on Isolation, I promised I would put together a list of online resources for Fibromyalgia and chronic illness support and information. Below you will find many - but not nearly all - links to social networking online resources. Because I am not an active participant of each site listed I am only making comments on the sites I have firsthand knowledge of. Please feel free to add to this list in the comments, or leave your thoughts, feelings, experiences on any of the listed sites. Due to the amount of information available, I am breaking this information up into … [Read more...]
Melancholy Monday
I have been contemplating the value of online support groups and social networking sites. Value is not really the right word for it, but I am not sure what the right word is. My first exposure was to a yahoo support group for Fibromyalgia. It did not take me long to realize that it was not the place for me. Each person on there had a signature which listed all of their illnesses and health complaints. The longer the list the more clout you had. People were listing every trivial thing wrong with them in an attempt to make their signatures longer. I was really turned off to it, and it did not … [Read more...]
Score One For the Support Group
It did not take long for my moderator responsibilities for the Fibromyalgia support group to get interesting. This past weekend one member showed her ambition and several others showed their displeasure. I organized the support group through an online social networking site. They are masters at making it easy and organized to start your own group. Before this weekend, the only requirement to join my group was to live locally and be suffering from Fibromyalgia and/or chronic pain/illness. Of the 23 members, 22 joined because they were genuinely looking for information, coping skills, community … [Read more...]