Chat Star cfresque I am a 35 year old male from NC, diagnosed in 2008 after optic neuritis showed up. It turned out that I had been missed diagnosed for many years. After 2 wks of testing my neuro, optic neuro and another neuro that my neuro called in, confirmed in April of 2008 I have RRMS. I was scared at first as a career firefighter I didn't want to loose my job that I dearly love. I just put my faith in God and accepted the fact that I have MS. My wife of 12 yrs Kathryn had a harder time accepting it than I did, we are still learning. Doc has me on steroids to get a handle on my ON. As my wife says I need to slow down, but I don't know how to. So I am going back to built furniture in my spare time, you don't rush craftsmanship and my 8 year old son enjoys being in the shop with me.  (Action Pic)

Coordinator of Room Administrators JolyRox is coordinating all Room Administrators Please contact her with any problems. She may make some suggestions about how to be a more effective Room Administrator. Work with her she has some very good ideas. We need Team work! She will help with anything she can when it comes to helping others in chat.

Or contact us at PWMS@PeopleWithMS.com

Chat Coordinator! Norma is coordinating all chats.  Please contact her for any changes. All you have to do is look at the schedule for and find a place that fits  when hosting is good for you.  If somebody is already hosting then, pop in to support them, and let them know you'll back-up, or buddy host with them.  Just let her know what you choose! Norma's email is NORMAJJOHNSTON@SBCGLOBAL.NET

Chat Hosting Schedule                                                                                                      

The Chat Schedule breaks things down by day, and show the equivalent times in different time zones.  Hopefully this will make it a bit clearer how an Eastern Standard Time relates to your personal timezone or country.    

Reading the schedule is easy: Just click on the day of the week to jump down.  and then look down from your local time zone on top to the time you are interested in => bold times are when hosts have volunteered to be present.  

Knowing someone is available to provide support at dependable, specific local times makes a chat more successful.  

Please, if you go in chat and a host does not answer you right away, please wait,  Our hosts do a 2 hours stretch and need bathroom time and coffee time.  So if they're away right at the sec you arrive, be patient, they will come back.

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Click Here  to enter our new chat

Click Here to enter  our new chat

Trivia Night in the PeopleWithMS Chat

Tuesday 7pm CST 8pm EST 5 pm PST

LFShaw hosts our Tuesday Night Trivia! Trivia Tuesday, where the host ask the questions. Sit back, relax.  It's Tuesday night.  Enjoy! Our Trivia will start Tuesday! Trivia Tuesday July 1st fireworks Independance Day themes were the play-of-the-day.  LFSHAW blew us all away with an explosive array of trivia.  Proving that none of us were smarter than a Japanese 5th grader !  After a second round snack break and sugar high, BoomerGirl was all charged up.  Ready to nuke any competitor on her way to victory.

Check it out on our inspirational Poetry Pages

Please Email us with any poems you would like to share with us PWMS@peoplewithms.com

OUR MISSION

Our objective is to provide an informal, supportive site for people seeking on-line information about  Multiple Sclerosis.  We aren't doctors, we aren't experts.  We just live it everyday.  We formed this site to share what we have learned, provide a focal point for exchange of information,  and give back to the community. 

Support is a very big word when it comes to MS.  Doctors can only tell you so much during an office visit.  Leaving unanswered questions, concerns and issues.  People with any disease can often learn best from each other.  To this end we provide a chat forum to share information and suggestions, posting of the latest news, and links to authoritative sources of information. 

There are many informative sites out there.  Visit them all!  You can never have enough information.  We do not intend to compete with any other sites.  Like coffee shops, each has it's own unique atmosphere and clientele.  There can never be enough of them.  

Our chat is open for anything that has to do with MS. Some topics are not pleasant. But need to be talked about. If you have a problem, no matter what it is, chances are there is someone in chat that can help you. The one thing that PWMS will not accept is being laughed at for any MS problem. We expect all chatters to be considerate of others. 

We have appointed JolyRox Coordinator of RAs.  Our current list of room administrators is:  Norma, LFShaw,  Debby, Linda-NV, MS_Kitty70, JackIL, Aileen, Soporific, Pixie_Dust, Barry, and Sumo58.  All host at scheduled times and frequently chat off-hosting hours as well.  They can help you if you need help. 

 

Chat Etiquette Reminder Please make a point to welcome any new chatter that comes in our room. Introduce yourself.  Ask if there is anything special they want to ask about, know about.  Don't ignore the new chatter.  Offer them coffee and a muffin.  Make them feel at home.  Don't keep chattering about peripheral MS stuff with others, or off-topic stuff. Just keep in mind the one rule we have:  nobody gets to play Doctor in chat.  What we mean by that is;  don't go diagnosing chatters ailments or recommending medications.  Share your experiences, and what any of the drugs have done for you.  Don't encourage the idea that any medication is a miracle cure. Or dismiss any, or all, medicines as doing nothing.   Even the well known medications have a wide range of effectiveness.  The effectiveness of non-traditional and alternative medicines is even less certain.  So talk about your experiences, factual studies and medical trials.  Offer your opinions with care, and never recommend.  Third hand medical testimonials from a friend of your auto mechanic's wife aren't welcome, unless they are really funny. Also keep in mind that Laws and Health Care options also vary widely both within countries and across the globe.  So be sensitive to the personal situations and tribulations chatters face.  Don't rub in how great things are for you.  Between the laughs, a serious note:  We are a support chat. With that said, we can only help by listening; none of us are professionals. In our years of chatting with MSers online, one of the most common problems is depression.  This is a very serious problem. We do feel sometimes just being a good friend, listening, and kidding around can help. And sometimes is just the right thing to turn the a bad mood around.  But when things just don't appear to be getting any better in a reasonable amount of time, and chat is just a temporary fix, it is time to get professional help. Many times it's as simple as a medication change.  Or something else. I have not told many, but when my daughter was dx'd 12 years ago, I had to learn as much as I could. I wanted to know what is the worst case scenario, and what is the best with MS.  What courses could it take? How likely one versus the other? I wanted no more surprises.  Having my one and only daughter dx'd with MS was enough of a surprise. I went to Gaylord Rehab for a very long seminar on MS. It was the mental problems that really got most in a lot of troubles, because they were not ever taken seriously. I have seen this many times in my years online.  If you see someone in chat that seems headed down this road, try to cheer them up, focus on the positive, and give them some suggestions. If they come back just as bad off, try again.  If they keep coming back, let them know that they might be in need of some support beyond what any of us can provide in chat.   So, About Our Chat:  We try to maintain a positive, upbeat attitude.  We may have MS, but MS doesn't have us.  It's not the focal point of our existence, it's just one part.  So if there's a problem, no need to moan and groan - it just needs solving.  Go over it, around it, blow it up, or joke about it.  We won't ignore somebody's problem because it's gross, unseemly, or offends somebody else's sensibilities.  We'll help figure out a solution.  If somebody want's to wallow in their problem, we're not going to be too sympathetic.   Don't feel bad if you visit our chat and don't like things:  The folks in it, what's talked about, the limited avatars and emoticons, the sounds, or anything else.  We don't have room for every MSer in the universe, and don't claim to cater to every taste.  If you want something different,  we encourage you to search out another chat room.  There are chats for those that want to wallow in pity, moan and groan. sing songs on a voice chats, fantasy-date, or do whatever comes after that on web cam chats. If you don't find what you need, or think you can do better, we encourage you to go buy your own web server, start your own website, and run your own chat to cater to that unmet need.  Please let us know about your site and chat, so we can direct any like-minded folks your way.