Cirrhosis

[rpooo]

I Love MedHelp and I try to help out as often as I can. Although I wonder why there isn't a group specifically for "Cirrhosis"? I belong to a few other support sites such as Daily Strength and MDJunction and their Cirrhosis groups do quite well as there are so many of us with this disease. You may probably already know that Cirrhosis is a terminal illness but with proper treatment and knowledge a person(s) can survive for many years.

Not long ago a diagnosis of Cirrhosis seemed as though you were a recieving a death sentance and this is the first question in every patients mind when diagnosed but is no longer the case. There is much to be learned about how to "live" with Cirrhosis and still be able to enjoy the next twenty or thirty years of your life, without this knowledge sadly some patients don't even make it a year. Although advancement of this disease must be taken into consideration.

MedHelp has a very creditable reputation and many come here to seek answers. The liver disorders forum just doesn't seem specific to enough to this disease. When I first started coming here to MedHelp I opened a group and named it "Cirrhosis" but without it being in the main listing it just never did well. So you can just close that one if you decide to give my idea a try.

Thank you for your consideration and for being here for so many!

Randy

[rpooo]

Thank you very much Emily :)

Randy

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi Randy -

Thanks so much for the great info, and I will definitely pass this on for you!

Em

[rpooo]

Hello Emily,

Thank you for your reply and consideration. There are over 100 different forms of liver disease that affect men, women and children. This group would be specific to cirrhosis since there is much to be learned about the disease and new developments are often being made. This would be a group to share that information and offer support. Support that is badly needed for those who have reached the final stage where further education about cirrhosis is no longer beneficial, knowing that others are going through the same thing in a strange way can be comforting. Hearing how they cope day to day. Regrets for things they did and didn’t do. Simple ideas for pain management since drugs metabolizing in the liver only cause the disease to further progress. Many cirrhotic patients do not have much time and share a bond until their end has been reached. This is Not found in our liver disorders forum due to the topic being so generalized. Please don’t misunderstand there are very helpful and compassionate people there.

For instance," Addiction"  here at MedHelp we don’t generalize. We break it down into categories to more specifically cover everyone’s needs. Those are as follows:

Addiction: Alcohol/Drug Rehab
Addiction: Living with an Addict
Addiction: Social
Addiction: Substance Abuse
Addison's Disease
Alcoholism

Listed below are the most common types of liver diseases:
Alagille Syndrome
Alpha 1 Anti-Trypsin Deficiency
Autoimmune Hepatitis
Biliary Atresia
Cirrhosis
Cystic Disease of the Liver
Fatty Liver Disease
Galactosemia
Gallstones
Gilbert’s Syndrome
Hemochromatosis
Liver Cancer
Neonatal Hepatitis
Liver disease in pregnancy
Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
Reye’s Syndrome
Sarcoidosis
Toxic Hepatitis
Type 1 Glycogen Storage Disease
Tyrosinemia
Viral Hepatitis A, B, C
Wilson Disease

Well this is my take on it and I know many others like myself feel the same way. This support can be offered here at the best medical forum on the internet or can be sought elsewhere.

Cirrhosis is the eighth leading cause of death by disease, killing
approximately 25,000 people each year.  

Source: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

This I think should justify a specific category. Thank you again.

Randy

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi there -

We cover this in our Liver Disorders Community - http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Liver-Disorders/show/286

Can you tell me why you think a separate community would be beneficial to members?  We are always open to ideas!

Emily