Helping you put it into perspective...

[Ollie8557]

Ok i wasnt planning on posting, but having read the email about swine flu, and having read some of the posts in that forum, i just HAD to post.

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis when i was 18. I am now 23.

In that time, i have worked full time in the leisure industry, done 50-100 hours a month of frontline policing and started my own business.

Since being diagnosed with UC, i have had 37 operations and almost died from kidney failure.

If your not ill, make the most of it...i wish i could have had that luxury. If i drop down dead from swine flu tomorrow, thats life (no pun intended!). I try not to worry about other illnesses i could get, i just make the most of the time i have until i get them :p

Im nothing special, i just decided that i was going to fit in as much in as i could...

[bottleblond]

Hi Ollie and welcome along to NMP!!

I am glad you are continuing to lead a full, active life and thankyou for your positive input! It's lovely to hear!

Take care and nice to meet you
Lisa
x

[nomorepanic]

Hi Ollie

My frustration about the swine flu is the same as yours.

I have Crohn's disease and had a bad flare up 9 months ago and a heart attack too.

I was very very ill from the Crohn's and could have died at one point.

I now treat life very differently and I hate to see people wasting time and life on silly things that may never happen.

Make the most of life I say and like you I have this attitude now that I think is good - you don't know what you have until it is nearly taken away and there is no point worrying about things that may never happen or like swine flu aren't that bad.

Thanks for your post.

[nomorepanic]

Who told you that?

[bottleblond]

Miss

No one said you have no right to panic.

As and administrator on this forum and a member i also suffer from HA.

What was said above was certainly not meant as a critisism but an attempt to perhaps easy peoples minds who don't suffer from a spesific illness.

These post fill me will compassion for the sufferers yet easy my mind over certain illnesses.

Please don't take the posts out of context as i am quite sure that was certainly not the intention.


Regards
Lisa

[nomorepanic]

You know nothing about me Miss - I have no immune system cos of drugs I am on and went to docs yesterday who were debating whether to give me tamiflu cos I am ill but they can't cos of all the drugs I am on.

You don't even know me so do not judge me ok and if you don't like it then move on ok - I am sick of being slagged off to be honest.

If you have better things to do then go and do them to be honest!

[bottleblond]

Miss

If you mean Nicola 'momorepanic' then this is her site. She is the founder and owner of this site. Without her NMP would not exsist.

Nicola is one of the kindest most sympathetic people i know and has worked so hard today on certain NMP issues.

You are a new member Miss and have no idea how this site functions or the issues we deal with.

It would be most appreciated if you would read the full board issue on this subject before commenting on one thread and attacking our founder.


Regards
Lisa

NMP Administrator

[doorbell]

:) Hi Ollie
I bet you wish you hadn't posted this!!
Just to say your post should be very helpful to people who are worried about Swine flu.
And to Nicola and Lisa, you have my full support and thank you for all the good work you do.

[bottleblond]

Doorbell

Thankyou hun :hugs:Your support is appreciated!

Lisa
xxx

[Gee]

I agree, this post is helpful, it makes me realize I shouldn't worry while I'm still healthy I should enjoy , try to put worry to the back of my head because as my mum always said why worry about something u can do nothing about! Enjoy life for now and don't think about the future too much and all the what if's!!
(I can't promise I can do this lol but I'll try my best!)
X

[maddie]

Oh dear.

Nic - huge hugs. Please don't let you get this down. There's been so much fear generated about this swine flu that people aren't thinking rationally or considering others when they make remarks. It's a sad side to human nature that in a situation like this people become very self-centered and selfish. You know that there are hundreds of us on this site who would not be doing as well as we are without you and NMP.

Lisa - You work hard for us all too. Thank you.

MissCattington - welcome to NMP. My daughter, her partner and 6 month old baby have swine flu.
At the moment there are many scared people around and especially on this site. I think we have to remember that not everyone on here has the same fears as ourselves and we should be careful not to generate more fear by perpetuating threads about swine flu. Unfortunately some of the media are sensationalising the flu. It looks likely that most of the population will get it, but most also will not know they have it, or suffer very lightly. We can't stop it, or isolate ourselves from it, so we might as well live our lives as normal. The best we can do is eat well, build ourselves up to be as fit as we can to resist it and don't reduce our defences by making ourselves ill with worry.

[suzy-sue]

Miss Cattington,You obviously are the one with the attitude problem. May I suggest you read what is actually written before you make asumptions and start getting personal with people you know absolutely nothing about. We all are here because we have problems and Nicola is no different.She is a kind and caring person.I find your attitude obnoxious and pathetic. Suzy-sue

[SamanthaAU]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth too:)

Without this site, I have no doubt that I would be in a much darker place right now. Possibly not even here. This is the only place where everyone understands and no one tells me I am an idiot because I worry that I am dying of something etc.

So it is really hard for me to read when people here are now saying - don't worry/you are silly for worrying etc etc.

I understand how frustrating it must be for some people to read the same things over and over again. But for those of you it does frustrate can you please remember at the height of your anxiety/panic what it was like to be in a place as dark as what some of us still are?

I know for a fact I am wasting my life worrying about things. I am scared to death of swine flu - being that I am pregnant and in the middle of winter here in Australia.

But, if I could stop my anxiety over silly things like this then I wouldn't be a member here. And honestly - wouldn't that be such a wonderful thing!

[justbananas]

yes my thoughts are that it is inspiring to hear about people who have ways of rationalizing or dealing with panic and have themselves moved on from it, or don't suffer from it, or try to give others perspective - i myself try to offer perspective when i can on certain issues. however - being an HA sufferer, i know it's very much not just about being silly or wasting time so to speak. it DOES seem like people are wasting their days worrying about this nonsense. it IS unfortunate. but it's such a strong disease and really has nothing to do with just appreciating ones' health and then moving on from it, or reaching some pivotal point where that is possible. it may be that case for the average person but not someone who's really in the throes of it. it's like when i look at my brother and he's depressed i want to explain to him from an outsider's view how to pick himself up, but i know it doesn't work that way.

i encourage everyone with HA to try CBT, speak to people, read the books, do what they can .. but being a sufferer, i know the difficulty in getting over that hill. it's many layers and many relapses and so much suffering. and i'm over my fear of lymph nodes, and swine flu, for the most part, but am worried about other things.. and if i'm not in the mood to revisit those fears or watch people obsess to a point where it frustrates me because i'm thinking 'how can you be so silly about this??', i simply skip over those threads. or read them with an open mind. or decline to comment. .

anyway, not saying much here but just saying.. i see where everyone's coming from.

[eeyorelover]

Well I'm going to stick my foot in my mouth and post even tho I'm pretty sure I will get beat up for it! LOL

There are several thousand members on this site at varying stages in their fight against anxiety/panic.
There are those who are just starting out who have absolutely no idea what to do or where to turn and are searching for information. There are those who have been struggling and are in the thick of it, so to speak. And there are those who are having successes in conquering their fears and anxiety.

The diversity of our online family is, in my opinion, the reason it works so well but it also the reason that we sometimes, like sisters or brothers in a real family, have differing opinions or even spats.

When I came to the site I worried about every little ache and pain, every panic attack I had I thought I would definitely die from it!
There had to be something physically wrong with me!! How could anxiety cause all the physical symptoms and worrying thoughts I was having. But reading posts from people just like me who had been there and come out the other side ALIVE really helped me to battle thru and I am so much the better for it!
It's hard to read when someone says "don't worry" when you are in the middle of it.
How can I not worry?
I could be dying and nobody cares!!

Truth is tho that no one says 'don't worry' to belittle what you are feeling. We say it because we know you WILL live thru it because we did!
All that any of the people who have had successes over their anxiety are trying to do is to be the voice of logic for you when you're own mind is turning everything you think about into a catastrophe.

It's meant as encouragement altho sometimes when you're in the thick of it that may not seem to be the case. Everyone who is a member here only wishes success for the other members against anxiety!
Please keep that in mind :)

Sorry for the mini novel!!
xxx
Sandy

[SamanthaAU]

We say it because we know you WILL live thru it because we did!


Geez - hope you are right about this one. In fact I am sure all the people that are terrified of swine flu hope you are:winks:

[Meewah]

I feel this thread typifies the frustration we are all feeling. Fear and anxiety make us irrational. I am not sure if you can win an argument or even talk rationally to anyone who suffers anxiety?

I feel it is time to put this to bed and start supporting each other again. I feel like I am in the middle of the doors on the first day of a Harrods Sale.

Please don't argue. Everyone is correct in there view. WHY, because its your view. That's what makes us all individuals.

I love you all because you take my mind off what is going on in my head.

Thanks

Nicola. Bless you always xx.

Mee

[pd]

Perspective is good, it's useful, it makes me appreciate the good things.

It's pointless worrying about something you can do nothing about, but it doesn't stop people worrying.

And I was scared to death of swine flu, the only reason I'm not anymore is that I've had it and presumably a mild version of it. It's easy to understand why people with young kids/health issues are scared, but IMO most of the panic has been generated by the media, like with avian flu, which came to nothing in the end.

[Ollie8557]

I think i have been misunderstood a bit here. The reason i decided to post this, was because i felt i had a story to contribute that may help. It wasnt a dig at anyone at all.

Oh well...live and learn.

[Jaco45er]

Hiya Ollie

Very inspiring story, and help it did :)

Forum eh ;) so much can be taken the wrong way. I think Misscarrington might have just interpreted it wrong, and it would be a shame if she doesn't come back.
I am sure no one mean't to upset anyone, it's just a wee mis-understanding is all :)

Welcome btw Ollie

Jaco (in a passive mood)

[Ollie8557]

thanks mate...i honestly was just trying to help!

[nickieb]

There are a lot of people that have suffered here in different ways with their health, asides from a heart attack or crohns. This may be in the form of depression or health anxiety or simply panic induced symptoms. I don't think that peoples issues with the way they percieve the swine flu should be belittled in any way, because to that person this is as scary as any heart attack!!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing & if we could all realise that what we are worrying about is a waste of time & or 'not real' that would be a wonderful thing, but it would also mean there would be a no more panic website!!!!!!

For everyone that is worrying about swine flu & need reassurance please feel free to contact me but least of all try not to panic. Its flu at the end of the day, it has just all been blown out of proportion.

Nic xxx