Blogs, blogs, blogs.

http://www.healthline.com/health/best-health-blogs-contest
Search alphabetically for 3 Years and 13 Dumpsters - Vote!


I've been looking through some of the other blogs that are competing for Best of 2012 and finding some interesting stuff. Some of the blogs are huge, run by larger organizations perhaps, or have been around long enough to become authorities and money-makers. Some blogs are smaller, like mine, started by someone who just had something to share, or someone who had had enough and wasn't going to take it anymore and wanted to talk about it. It's heartening to see people sending their little voices out into the dark, not knowing if they'll be heard, but trying to make a difference anyway.


There are diet blogs, and blogs about pregnancy and parenting. There are blogs for aging, for exercising, and for mental health... and there are, of course, blogs for various illnesses and syndromes. I've been a little shocked and surprised by how many there are about Rheumatoid Arthritis, which is the chronic pain condition that I struggle with and write about occasionally, especially as it impacts my caregiving. It seems that more and more people, often women, are being diagnosed with this terrible disease, and are fighting back the only way they can, through the written word and over the internet.


I'm glad to see they have a forum, and I'm fascinated by what they have to say and how it compares to what I experience. It strikes me as a little funny, though, that I could actually have TWO different blogs out there for the two big things I have experience in - dementia and dysfunctional joints! Maybe I'll start the second one later; I'm a little occupied with the dementia stuff, as it is now! I'm pretty proud of the information and support I've been able to provide with my blog, and so honored that anyone has found it to be of use.


While it makes me a little sad that so many people have such terrible and long-term challenges that they have to start a whole blog as a way to find and provide information and support, it is encouraging that the days of not being able to find someone who understood what you were going through - whatever that might be - are largely gone. So here's to the bloggers, who get their message out there, because the need for information, compassion, and help only seems to be growing.

And thank you, to everyone who is spending their valuable time voting for me, because I'd really love to win this contest!

,