Support & Discussion Groups

One of the most powerful applications of the Internet is its ability to bring together patients from all walks of life, to share experiences, advice, and support with one another. Find links to online support and discussion groups, usually carried out through message board or chat technology, in this section.

ABCNEWS.com:
The Doctor Is In Go here to view archives of ABC’s “Healthy Helpful Chats.” Topics include: genetic therapy, lyme disease, teen depression, fertility, impotence, job stress, cardiac disease, lymphoma, HIV/AIDS, female sexual dysfunction, arthritis, and much more.

Body Positive Message Boards
“The Body Positive message boards are for the sole purpose of discussion relating to the Body Positive concepts, including efforts to care for our bodies, exploring body image, and cultural issues relating to body image.” This online forum allows its visitors to post a new message, search the articles for a word or pattern, or read last year’s Body Talk archives.

Diabetes Stations
Offering a “place for intelligent conversation about diabetes,” Diabetes Station does not require registration, or forms to fill out; “all you need is your name and e-mail address to join in a discussion with diabetic people from all over the world, and to attend programs with the world’s foremost researchers and clinicians.” The site lists a program schedule, program notes and transcripts, a message board, and an area devoted solely to “teen talk.”

DrGreene.com
Participants in the DrGreene.com chats are doing so in realtime with the intention that “through chat you can meet others who share your joys, concerns, day-to-day experiences and where you can develop long lasting friendships with people from around the world.” The chats are divided in three sections: “Parenting Plus,” the main chat room reserved for casual chat where visitors discuss general parenting issues, “Parenting Circle,” the scheduled chat room where a designated host will guide you through a specific topic, and “House Calls,” the chat room that is reserved for chats with experts, which include Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin, MD, Sue Ragni, RN, Mindy Swagel, LCSW, and, of course, Dr. Greene. Be sure to check the schedule for chat times.

FoodFit Community
“This is the place where YOU can exchange ideas, swap recipes, and give your two cents about FoodFit’s articles and tools with other healthy living enthusiasts.” Registration with FoodFit.com is required. To join the conversations, choose from the topics and click “post a reply.” There are currently five forums, entitled: “Get Fit With Friends,” “Pot Luck Suppers,” “Weight Loss Secrets,” “Family Food Fights,” and “Weight Loss Success Stories.”

HealthBoards.com
With more than 120 topics ranging from acne to weight loss, visitors to this site will be hard pressed not to find the health topic in which they are interested. Should you fail to find a particular topic, the site welcomes suggestions. Visitors must simply register with the site to join a discussion thread.

MDAdvice.com:
The Reliable Health Information Source With a very strong visitor-based community, MDAdvice.com’s Community page is a place where visitors can communicate and share experiences, concerns, worries, ideas, problems, conflicts, suggestions, and other information regarding health issues with other members online. The site includes more than 100 health topics on its message boards and provides live chat schedules in real-time, as well.

Parents’ Talk Forums at KeepKidsHealthy.com
These forums are designed to provide parents a place where they can discuss such topics as home schooling, pregnancy, stay-at-home parenting, baby names, breastfeeding, weight management, ADHD, asthma, and chronic conditions, along with many other threads. Parents can also visit the site to ask a pediatrician questions, exchange advice with other parents, discuss childcare for newborns, infants, and toddlers, as well as for those of preschool and grammar school age, and as adolescents.

RemedyFind.com
Billed as a place where visitors can rate the effectiveness of treatments for specific health problems, RemedyFind.com allows its visitors to give a number rating to those remedies they have tried, thus sharing personal health experiences with others. Current medications addressed include those in the areas of allergies, anxiety disorders, arthritis, asthma, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and many more.

Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders
The “Online Support” portion of this site provides those suffering with or recovering from an eating disorder, as well as their family and friends, an online community where they can express their thoughts and feelings. Options include “Remember Where It Hurts,” an interactive Web board where you can read letters from others who live with or who are recovering from an eating disorder, “Something Fishy Eating Disorders Chat Rooms,” which features an eating disorders recovery chat, a 25-and-over chat, a chat for teens, an anorexia and bulimia chat, a compulsive overeaters chat, and a chat for abuse issues. Additionally, a family and friends page exists, as do ICQ and AOL Instant Messaging lists.

Support Groups Chats For Mental Health
“Whether you have a disability, depression, or just need a friend, you can find them in a Support Groups Chats For Mental Health. Mental Health Support is one of the best assistants in treatment that you can ask for. Depression Support Groups not only provide a place for information but allow you to get a first hand look at how others deal with similar problems.” Topics include ADD and ADHD, panic anxiety, depression, autism, OCD, schizophrenia, and medications. Registration is required to participate in this chat.

Support Path
Leading visitors to thousands of resources, SupportPath.com is the premier directory for supportrelated online communities and message boards, chats, organizations, and information on more than 300 health, personal, and relationship topics. Choose from hundreds of conditions and diseases, and view all of the online support groups available in those topics.

SusanLoveMD Community
Dr. Susan Love, founder of this site, is President and Medical Director of the Susan Love MD Breast Cancer Foundation in Santa Barbara, CA, a nonprofit dedicated to the eradication of breast cancer, as well as a Clinical Professor of Surgery at UCLA Medical School. This particular page of her site, intended for women, features sections entitled, “Your Voices and Stories,” “Your Questions,” “Information and Resources,” “Advocacy and Support,” and “Young Women and Breast Cancer.”

Women’s Health Interactive Discussion
Women’s Health Interactive Discussion asserts that the “learning process happens through interaction with others, and the formation of communities who share common concerns, needs, and growth opportunities.” Resources include discussion groups, health convergences, frequently asked questions, and an online version of WHI’s bi-weekly newsletter.