Support Group

I find these days that I am a one-person support group. It appears that strangers find me on the internet and tell me the stories of their chronic illnesses. I just don't know what to do sometimes. I have my own demons to battle and it doesn't help ME to listen to them complain, but as a person of multiple chronic conditions, it's hard for me to turn my back on people who just need someone to talk to.

I have a young male friend in northern Michigan who has lupus and fibromyalgia.  He has always been a rough-and-tumble kind of farm boy, loves to go fast and go 4-wheeling and hunt, fish, all the outdoor stuff. Now everything hurts. Heat hurts, cold hurts, pressure hurts, lifting his son hurts, riding over bumps on the road hurts...you get the picture. His family doesn't believe there's anything wrong with him, and treat him like dirt. He had to give up working at his job and all of his outdoor hobbies.He lives is a small town and his doctor doesn't believe him either, so he's having a hard time getting disability. There's no money so he and his wife and son are living with his parents. His dad was just fired a few days ago. My friend is only 23. Now how am I supposed to tell him to shut up and go away?

I also have my friend Jeanie who was recently diagnosed with diabetes, probably type 2. She has crappy insurance through her husband's job, and it doesn't cover diabetes education. She knows I've been a diabetic for over 40 years so she asks me a lot of questions I don't feel qualified to answer. Her husband and family are totally unsupportive, probably because she doesn't LOOK sick. She's also bi-polar and recently lost the companionship of her old dog and desperately wants a new one. I know everything she's going through except the part about having bratty kids. She's always been very supportive of me, so naturally I want to return the favor.

But some days I have problems of my own I need to work on before I can be "there" for my friends. We need a bigger group, so we can tag-team!