Hi all,

I suffer from Fibromyalgia and as part of my degree research project, I am interested in finding out how effective workplace accommodations are for people with chronic illness. I have comprised a really short questionnaire that takes 2 minutes to complete (honestly!). I would appreciate any help from anyone who currently has workplace accommodations (any time of adjustment made by your employer in order to help you do your job). The link is surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2JC856M

If any one would be interested in having a quick 1-1 chat to discuss the topic more in-depth, please feel free to send me an email for more information [email protected]

I really appreciate any help – thank you 🙂

I am disheartened at the fact that these forums seem to have dwindled… I just found this website today and was excited to find a place where I may be able to connect with those who face the same things that I do on a daily basis. Hopefully this site will get revamped soon.

On another note… I have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder, and PTSD. You would think that having all of these diagnoses would make it easier to get treatment or to at least gain some understanding from the people in your life, but it really doesn’t. I’ve lost so many of my friends, most of my family members do not understand, and everybody thinks I should just be able to “suck it up” and function like a normal adult. It is so hard for me to get out of bed in the morning. Trying to hold a job has become impossible because every time I try, my anxiety and PTSD go into full gear and I get so stressed out and anxious that I start having debilitating physical symptoms (chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, losing consciousness, just to name a few), and most recently lost a job because I got really bad bronchitis of all things from this weakened immune system that my anxiety and stress is causing. It is so hard to try and explain to people why it isn’t as simple as just “sucking it up” because I have to pay bills and whatnot. You wouldn’t tell someone with cancer to suck it up and keep working even though they throw up regularly due to the chemotherapy, would you? How is telling someone who suffers from severe anxiety and PTSD to suck it up any different when my symptoms are just as real? Just because they are mental disorders does not make them any less real or debilitating… and that is why I have lost so many people in my life. They just do not understand and think that I am just being lazy or childish.

So the advice that I am hoping to find on here is… if someone you love who loves you were willing to support you and allow you to focus on therapy/recovery full time, would you be willing to let them? My fiance is an amazing man, and all he wants for me is to get better and focus on only that, regardless of what that means for him. In a way, it will require a sacrifice on both of our parts, as I will have to move with him back to his hometown nearly 1600 miles away from where we currently live (which is my hometown) as he has a great job offer there that will allow him to support the both of us. I trust him completely and know he would not do anything underhanded to me, and if he really did not want to do this, he never would have offered. But a long time friend of mine does not understand why I would be willing to essentially put my fate into my fiances hands instead of standing on my own two feet. I’ve tried explaining my symptoms to her and how I have tried for almost a year now to support myself to only keep losing job after job after job because I get ill with one thing or another to the point where my employer lets me go and tells me to come back once I am in good health (which never happens). My mom raised me to be independent and essentially beat into my brain that I should never rely on a man to support me. On the other hand, however, I am continually being told by non-biased others (such as counselors) that it is okay to accept help, especially under my circumstances, as long as I am not intentionally taking advantage of the person who is willing to help me. It is not my intention by any means to take advantage of my fiance, and I fully intend to try and hold a job again in the not so soon but not so distant future once I get my mental illness under control, and my fiance knows that. Honestly, I feel like anyone who truly knows me should know that I am not some lazy mooching loser who is using my mental illness as an excuse to not hold a job… especially since I keep trying to.

It is really hurtful that people that I have considered friends for a good decade now have turned their backs on me and think so horribly of me when I feel like I am doing everything that I can and do not understand why they see me the way that they do. I feel so misunderstood, and there is nothing that I can do to get them to see things from my perspective since allowing them to switch bodies with me for a day is not in the cards. Any advice on that front would be extremely appreciated too.

Mental illness is extremely misunderstood in general, something that most people think you can just overcome by forcing yourself to hold a positive outlook and forcing yourself to function. My dad is bipolar and won’t even admit it because he thinks mental illness is just a bunch of crap that someone came up with to justify their immature/childish behavior (so obviously I do not get much support on the family front). And then there are those who suffer from mental illness themselves but have a different degree of it and think that everybody else is on the same level (which would be the case with my friend who thinks I should be able to “suck it up” and not have to rely on my fiance for help). It would just be nice to be understood and for once not be told that I am full of it or just lazy.

ive been taking cellcept for more than a year new, two grams a day (1for breakfast, 1for dinner) and i am doing good with it

I have lupus SLE and wanted to know has anyone tried cellcept if so what should I be aware of. Thank you

i read this

Expand ONCE YOU’VE STARTED READINGTHIS YOU CAN’T GET OUT! READ ON IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DIE

A year ago A girl named Kathy was hated by everyone. Everyone made fun of her. She was ignored. Even by messages.

One day she decided to …kill herself.
B……eca……use………………… even her parents ignored her.
She jumed out her window. No one noticed utill people started
dissapearing. Kathy haunted the…m. She made them suffer like the way
she did. She hung them slowly and stabed them over and over very slowly
so they could suffer like she did.

If you don’t send this message to 15 diffrent comments you will die tonight by Kathy. Because she considers it ignooring her.

What has happened to the forums? And will they be returning?

The spoonie community was wonderful and very strong there.

Tried to log into message board. Unable to do so under disqus and facebook