Attendance Record for this MS forum!

[Lulu54]

Hello all,
We have had such an influx of new members recently, which is great.  And then we have a lot of members who seem to have been here from the beginning of this forum.  Of course there are the  rest of us who fill in the middle.

I'm interested in learning how long you have been using MedHelp's MS forum and what you think is the main reason you visit here regularly.

If you remember, it might also be interesting to learn how you found this site among all of them out there on the web.  

Please select one of these choices and then add your comments in a separate post.    Thanks, Lu

I have been a community member of MedHelp's MS forum for:

[Rena705]

My first post was Nov. 16, 2007 and this forum has been not only good for the help I get for myself but it has also been therapeutic because I have been able to help others.  Although I am not on the forum as much as I used to be, I will still answer some questions with a personal message which seems to work well for me.  I am planning on lurking and also getting involved for a long time to come as there are soooo many that need a helping hand including myself!

[deborah0904]

I guess I've been a member for about a year but haven't been a regular visitor until lately, when I got my dx.  I like to see what others are experiencing to compare with myself, etc.  I use it to validate that I'm really not going crazy, that the symptoms really are real.

[Lulu54]

I guess part of my interest in this is wondering about the staying power of this resource.  Does it just serve a short term purpose of getting a dx and adjusting to the idea of having MS,  or is it good for the long haul?

Thanks all,
LauraLu

[saveone]

12/08

Was told MRI was indicative of MS.  Began surfing for info.  Found this site, I have tried others, but this one is home.

[PastorDan]

Guess I'm still a newbie; I joined at the end of January, so it's been perhaps 5 weeks or so (?).  Waiting for dx, of course, time stands still, so I feel like I've been here, learning and sensing the concern and care of others, for a very long time.

How did I get here?  I have no idea, really.  I think I started plugging the symptoms I was experiencing into Google to see what I could come up with.  This was after negative results from audiologist, ophthalmologist, CT scan, and carotid ultrasound.  Somehow it brought me here, and as time passes, I see more of myself in the descriptions others have shared of their symptomology, and in the information I've read from other sources on this disease.

Why do I stay?  Why wouldn't anyone want to stay with such a great bunch of people?

[Quixotic1]

This is a good place to add some statistics I've picked up recently.

Since the opening of this forum exactly two years ago, we have had just over 1000 actually "Join" the forum.  I think that is amazing, expecially since no one has to join to participate.  

We had close to 150 speak up on the threads which asked for people who have been diagnosed and which are still in Limboland.

We often have over 100 posts a day.

Our most common Health Page has been viewed more than 8000 times.

Although the moon is one third the size of the earth, it's farther away.

Quix