Health & Fitness
Chronic pain sufferers find valuable support from online chat groups
People living with chronic pain are often socially isolated due to their immobility. But they can still find valuable companionship through high quality online support groups.
By Dr. Michael J. Cooney
A colleague shared this article supporting online chat rooms for people living with chronic pain. For those of us at Calmare Therapy NJ, this is not news. Many of our patients are enthusiastic users of Facebook groups, Twitter and other sites where people living with neuropathy or specific medical conditions can interact and share support. We often join in relevant discussions as well from a healthcare provider perspective.
The caveat, of course, is when non-medical professionals share healthcare information that is one-side on simply incorrect. We have had more than a few patients contact us with mis-information about Calmare Therapy, in fact.
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Nonetheless, my team and I actively join in on some of these online discussion groups because we can often offer clinical information on scrambler therapy and answer simple questions to help patients determine if this therapy (or another) might help minimize the cause of their pain.
My suggestion? Search for some online support groups and read the posts for a while to see if the tone and quality of information suits your needs. If you choose to jump in and ask a question or share your experience, you can maintain your privacy by posting under a username that protects you.
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Nearly all the chronic pain support groups have chat rooms. Here are a few groups that we participate in below. If you would like to share additional recommendations, please do so below in comments!
DailyStrength.org (sign-up required)
Dr. Michael J. Cooney is one of only 10 nationally certified providers of Calmare Pain Therapy in the U.S. and the only one in New Jersey. Calmare is an FDA-cleared, pain free, drug free, scrambler therapy to combat several types of chronic pain including back and neck pain, RSD, fibromyalgia, diabetic neuropathy, post surgical pain, cancer and chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.
