Off Topic - the impact we have on each other

[Guest guest]

I enjoy interacting with all of you, but I have to say that the constant discussion of our problems tends to make me focus far too much on the negative health issues that MS has brought to me. One of the reasons I've avoided participating in MS support groups locally is that I have always tried to avoid defining myself as an "MS person". It is very easy to become so involved with whatever disease happens to be your own personal challenge that you begin to define yourself by it instead of the healthier aspects of your life. I tend to become too aware of my symptoms and pay more attention to them as a result of reading all of the posts here. Yet we do need to vent, and we need to vent to people who understand. It is very important to our mental health to have our feelings about our problems understood. So I'm not leaving; I still have a lot to learn from you folks and may have something to share as well. But I don't think I'll read and respond to as many posts as I have in the past, either. (That might be a relief to many of you.) I'm going to depend more on the subject line to decide whether to read or delete. And I love to hear the updates on how people are doing. I often share them with my older sister (addresses deleted...) who is a physical therapist. She is trying to get the LDN word to those of her patients that might benefit and really enjoys sharing the stories of stability, improvement, and relief from the CRABS side effects