Support Groups for People Living With Aids On the Internet

For someone like me that has been living with HIV/AIDS for so many years, I have been to enough support groups and therapy to last a life time I thought. Until, I found the HIV/AIDS Chat Rooms on American Online.

About 2 months ago, when I was able to go online after about 6 months I decided to go into the Chat Room area, something I never did before. To my surprise they had two Chat Rooms that were of interest to me. One is called Health HIV and the other is called HEALTH AIDS.

I will tell you how to access these rooms when I finish telling you what a joy it was to enter a Chat Room and talk with people that were seeking information and giving it as well. My first week in the Chat Rooms was a great experience. I have been surfing the net for a few years, but never even thought about entering the Chats because I didn't think I would like them. Well, to my surprise it was a great experience. There are people there from all over the world. Some as far as Australia, all of us sharing something in common. It was the best form of Support Groups I had ever experienced. For those of you that are PLWAS and want to keep your anonymity it is the best.

It got so I was going in everyday sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. People from all walks of life from everywhere. There are even those that are not infected but affected by AIDS that just come in there to learn or give support what ever you need, it's in there. WHAT A FIND.

I was a little shy my first time and just sat there and watched the screen scroll up faster and faster, then I realized that I had something to give also. So, I decided to introduce myself. When I told them how long I've been living with this virus everyone seemed to just gather around and squeeze information out of me. I felt like a celebrity.

There are the ones that are in recovery and are trying so hard to stay clean, and those that are married to a person with HIV, or a mother of a PWA or even a son or daughter or a single parent that has lost their partner to the complications of AIDS, just wanting to share. My fingers cannot type fast enough when I'm in that Chat Room.

For those that are infected and are dealing with side effects from a certain medication. I can give them The Network's web site and they always come back and find me either by sending me an email or wait until I come into the Chat Room, and thank me for giving them information that maybe they didn't think to ask their doctors about. You can always find someone in the room that is going through the same thing that you are. Example: The Sustiva Crazies, I have told many people how I survived through the first month or so with the Sustiva Crazies, and have also gotten some good tips from others that are going through the same thing. One member came in one night and we were discussing the Sustiva Crazies, and they said that their doctor had put them on a medication for people who suffer seizures called Neuropentin. That helped them get through the Sustiva side effects. The information you get in this room is priceless. The reward is when the come back and thank you and tell you "Heh it worked for me, thanks so much". I hear the word thanks a lot in that room, it is very rewarding.

Other rooms to chat on AOL are the Positive Living Room. That room is hosted every day from noon to 2pm and addition to the general chat and support of the Positive Living Room they also offer specific topic chats and support groups meet in the Positive Circle. You go to AIDS AND LIVING, and you will find all sorts of Chats there. They even have a page that teaches you the lingo that is spoken in rooms. Example: J, BRB (Be right back). BBL (Be back later) the list goes on and on. They teach you the shorthand of Chatting.

For those of you that have computers and want an education on HIV/AIDS I implore you to join us in the HIV or AIDS Chat room, or Positive Living Room. You will not be sorry.

I have given out the web address for the network out so much that I can type it with great speed because the screen is scrolling so fast. The best part is when they come back and thank you and bless you for giving them that web address.

They have questions about medications, transmission and the mental torture that one goes through waiting for the results of an HIV test. Every time someone comes into the room and says "I just got tested for HIV", it seems like you can just feel the embrace in the room. Everyone starts talking to this person, telling them that we've been there and not to worry. There are those that come in and say "I don't want to live anymore, I just found out that I'm HIV+". I can't express in words the warmth that comes out of the people that are there. When we finish talking to them and consoling them, they leave with such a better attitude. They don't want to die anymore.

They know that there is life with HIV. That person is given a wealth of information from everyone in there, from all over the world they are there giving love and consolation and advice on how to deal with the news they just received, after all we have all been there, so we talk and talk. Sometimes hours go by and I don't even realize that I've been on that long.

The best times to come in are in the morning. People sign on before they start their day getting their kids off to school or going to work or to the doctors or just having their coffee. We laugh and sometimes I swear I can hear the tears of frustration through the words that they type, but we are there to pick each other up and get on with our lives.

The worst times to come in is in the afternoons when kids get out of school. We get young kids that come in there and call us names and curse us, but we are like a family with stick up for each other and condemn those that do this. I guess nothing is perfect. It were not for the times when those mean kids come in and start their torturing us it would be the perfect place at all times for someone that needs a support group and just doesn't want to go to one that is public.

When I sit at my computer and I'm in the Chat room, I have my Treatment Reviews, and The Experimental Treatment Guide beside me so I can answer any questions, and if I can't find the answer I tell them to go to www.aidsinfonyc.org/network and they will find what ever they need. Sometimes I have to type it over and over again because the screen is scrolling so fast that they have to get a pen, but I don't mind. I am thankful for the information that the Network gives me to give to others.

Another great web site for long term survivors is www.onelist.com. I was introduced to this web site through Gatway.net. Every morning when I sign on to this web site, which is more like a newsgroup, I find poems and kind words from other long term survivors. I recommend these sites to anyone that wants information about HIV/AIDS or is living with HIV/AIDS. If you have a computer then sign up with America Online and go to Find a Chat, then you click on Special Interests, then you click on View Chats, then you scroll down the list till you find the 2 rooms that have made a big difference in my life. 1 Room is called Health HIV, and the other is called Health AIDS. Most times the HIV Room will have someone in it. I fix my coffee in the morning and sign on and someone is always there, they might be in a good mood they might not be, but when you enter they always have a kind word for you. Some of us have even exchanged phone numbers and we call each other just to see how the other is doing, like on days when I'm busy and don't have a chance to sign on, for sure my phone will ring, and it will be someone I met in the Chat Room. A few even find love in the Room especially if they live in the same City.

Another great Find, is www.onelist.com that I mentioned earlier for long term survivors like myself. I found this site through Gateway.net. They have a long term survivors newsgroup their, and most mornings when I wake up and turn on my computer I go to get my mail and there are the poems I spoke of earlier and caring notes from others.

Try it, it just might make a difference in your life the way it has in mine. I am truly helping people and they are helping me.

By Eleanor Mitchell

Email - emitc25402@aol.com

Always Your Choice Medical Office proudly thanks Ms. Eleanor Mitchell for her wonderful contributions to our web site as well as for her personal contributions to several of our patients. She truly is a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I am a Hispanic, Afro-American mother of four and have been infected since 1979. I did not find out about my HIV+ status until I donated blood at work in 1981. My blood donation turned up the fact that I was HIV+. I offered $1,000 by the company I worked for to simply resign. I refuse to simply "go away".

I have served a two year term under the Dinkins Administration with the New York City HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council. I also work with and contribute to the research of The Experimental Treatment Guide. This is free of charge to anyone with HIV or Health Professionals living in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Philadelphia, although they do send them to other states.

I have been asked to be and serve as a member of the Clinical Subcommittee for the HIV Uninsured Program (ADAP), which meets quarterly to decide what medications can be added to the formula of medications available through the ADAP program. I have also been on the Board of Directors for The Aids Treatment Data Network, as well as a Commissioner for The Black Leadership on AIDS. I was also a member of the Advisory Committee for The New York University/Bellevue Hospital.

Several times I have been a keynote speaker at several HIV/AIDS Conferences all over the United States, especially Conferences for women of color. I have also contributed to publications, such as El Diario, Newsday, and The Daily News.

I counsel a lot of women on living with AIDS instead of worrying about dying from complications of it. I have been very sick at times from this disease, but thanks to new medications available I am feeling great and healthy today. I am privileged and honored to share my experience, strength and hope with my co-survivors with HIV.

I was also a featured Columnist for Women Online on the Microsoft Network internet for the year of 1998, until MSN decided to close down the Women Online Forum.

I continue to help anyone that needs my help in the areas of HIV/AIDS and what their benefits are concerning this illness.