Greeting card post

Greeting card post! The greeting card industry is all about writing generally universal feelings in a presentable way that you can use to express yourself when you just can’t think of the words to say.
Write a greeting card for someone in your community to help them express themselves about a new diagnosis, treatment, or experience.

Front of Card: 

Welcome to the Fibromyalgia Community
You are now a member of the Elite Invisible Illness Community 

Some Wonderful sites we would love to share with you:

The Fibromyalgia Funhouse  is a support page for The Fibromyalgia Crusade 

Leah Tyler also has a blog Chronicles of Fibromyalgia and on Twitter: @FibroFunHouse

Please check out  http://www.fibromyalgia.com/  and WEGO Health  

Wondering how to explain your diagnosis, battle fatigue and daily pain to family? 

Check out Christine Miserando's "The Spoon Theory" at But You Don't Look Sick 

Wishing you more lilac than amethyst days...

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9Jhttp://www.fibromyalgiacrusade.com/

The Phoenix

#NHBPM #HAWMC Day 24 Prompt: My Mascot!

Give your condition, community, or self a mascot. 

Who is it? What do they represent? What is their battle cry?

The legendary Phoenix has been my Mascot for many years. I proudly sport a Very special Phoenix tattoo on my back right shoulder. The Phoenix represents rebirth and renewal as it rises from its own ashes anew each time refreshed and ready for the next five hundred years. 
Living with Invisible illnesses or any chronic ailment we are beaten down and battered like solders at war yet we are never down for long and like the Phoenix we rise from the ashes of our pain each tme, refreshed and renewed ready to go forward again for a spell and travel the next leg of our journey.
Like the Phoenix we who live with Chronic illnesses will also rise from the ashes and continue to be renewed. We may be down for a bit but never completely out. We Will Always Rise again!
Peace, Love and Light

Photo Link to Phoenix Story

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

Online communities - Life line of Hope

#NHBPM #HAWMC Day 11 
#HAWMC PROMPT:

 If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. What is working well in your community, healthcare, blogs, social media, or your work in particular? What do you like about it?

I Love the online communities. They are an absolutely vital link and life line of Hope and life preserver for an incalculable number of people. Within our online communities we are able to gather and rally as support systems for each other any time of day or nite. Support is crucial no matter what your diagnosis is. We need that uplifting group of friends and/or family around us. The option to remain anonymous in forums using a pseudonym allows for individuals who are not ready to shout to the world their condition(s) or experience extreme anxiety upon leaving the home to attend support groups. This can be both pro and con however in a better moderated forums this is very much a plus and the support is awesome. All to often, the online community is all the family and support some folks have.


There are countless individuals who are, due to varying conditions and illnesses are home-bound and unable to utilize any available resources in their geographic communities. The interaction for some, being able to just get online and connect with others is what keeps them going, propels them forward or just helps them stay afloat on a monumentally bad day. 


Due to health reasons I had to retire too early in my life. I was less than happy. I felt so alone in the beginning. Over the course of my personal journey and forced early retirement I discovered the rewards and blessings of volunteering. I also discovered online forums and there I spent a great deal of time for support and offering support.
My volunteering has been in the areas I have vast life experience in. I am able to relate to others in a capacity that brings them comfort, lifts them up and lets them know they are not alone. Social media, communities and forums can be very helpful. Blogging is a different approach and not the same interaction yet still sharing information, education and spreading awareness in another form. If you journal you can blog.

It is a huge comfort for someone to know and hear they are not alone in what they are experiencing and that the person advocating for them has been there, knows the trail to walk and guides them through it.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

The future of online activism

 #NHBPM Day 10: The future of online activism. 

Our favorite social media sites are constantly undergoing renovations to become quicker to navigate, easier to interact with, all encompassing, mobile, and everywhere. Imagine the same thing about your community – how will they evolve, improve, and grow?

Before the Internet we were so limited with sharing information with getting the word out and education the public as well as being able to offer support to others. The Internet has opened up a new world of opportunity for activism and they sky is the limit. We can literally reach anyone who has access to this technology. 


How will my communities evolve, improve and grow? I see the community growing and evolving daily reaching countless people in the sharing of knowledge, educating and exchanging of information. Working to help shatter the silence and break the stigma that is so ingrained within our society today. Ignorance is not pretty. We must spread the seeds of education, watering them with kindness and love. United as activists we journey forth helping these seeds of knowledge and truth to grow until ignorance and myth exist no more. 


Online activism is here, growing, evolving becoming stronger and the online communities are ever busy with the presence of those who are searching for ways to help support their loved ones, share knowledge of their illnesses and of activists working to help break the stigma and educate the world. Online activism is growing and evolving as patients become their own advocate and activist seeking what is best for their health they take to the Information Highway. Some in the medical profession are less than thrilled with the knowledge we hold when we enter their offices...We are our own best advocate, activist and knowledge is power. 
Peace, Love and Light
This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J