Wednesday, April 11, 2012

"I survived, so you can, too"

The internet is a wonderful thing where anyone can write anything.  Sometimes, though, I really think that people should shut up.

One of my more recent encounters with someone who should not be allowed to post some things was on a post a friend of mine made somewhere about her HG and how she was having such a hard time with it.  One brilliant woman replied saying that she had gone through HG, too, and "I survived, so you can, too."  She was basically saying that my friend should just suck it up and deal with it and not complain about it so much.

I think that she was essentially trying to be helpful and trying to say that we could get out of this whole on the other side, but it didn't come across like that.  It came across as, "shut up and suffer in silence".

Few enough people have HG to begin with, and there is so much misunderstanding out there about the disease, that it really is not wise to just shut up and deal with it.  There is a big psychological factor involved (NOT as the cause, but rather an effect of being so ill).  Many mothers wind up feeling very isolated, among other issues. One way to combat this isolation and general feeling of desolation is by connecting with other women going through the same issues - or who have gone through and come out the other side.  It can become a wonderful support network.

To tell someone to just suck it up and deal with it is so not helpful.  A forum like the one where I saw this post should be a safe place for everyone to complain about everything going on, because chances are it's the ONLY place they can do so.  Think before you write, people.

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