The philosophy behind the forum

The World Wide Web was conceived as a way of disseminating technical information and, despite the influx of other interests that threaten to overwhelm it, I would like to think that this spirit still exists.

When I first ventured onto the web in 1997, I was amazed at the possibilities. Addison's Disease is a rare condition, and the web seemed an ideal medium both to learn more about it and to help others to learn. I was disappointed at how little information was available through traditional means. Although we live only 50 miles South of London, as far as Addisons knowledge was concerned, we could have been on a different planet. It was in fact through the Addisons Self Help Group that I got to find out about the endocrine department at St. Barts Hospital in London. A week spent there, with regular follow-up Day Curve tests, has changed my life. (I now go to the London Clinic). I was determined that I would use the web to help others to find the appropriate care and I was a regular on the The Autoimmune Disease Website, but there are still entrenched views about the care needed. For example, Day Curve Tests are not widely-spread , except in the bigger UK Hospitals

I set up the Addison Files in 1999, including a database of names worldwide, for those who might be interested in contacting other Addison sufferers. I have now set up the Forum. Whilst this might overlap in principle with some of the other forums on the web, I would like to set out my aims for the forum:

-It is open to all. It is not essential to register, but it is helpful if you do. You can still post messages anonymously if you want!

- I want to encourage open dialogue, so please feel free to post on (nearly) any subject.I will act as moderator and censor!

- I have set it up as small sub-forums to try to separate the "chat" from more serious topics. This categorisation is not set in stone and inevitably there will be some overlap, but please try and keep roughly to the right forum. I am open to suggestions for modifying the categories.

- Most of all, it should be FUN communicating with each other. Although the condition binding us all together is potentially very serious, I always try and take something positive from anything that happens in life-whether that is being able to help others or meeting new people.

- If you have an RSS reader ( what's that? ), you can have an RSS feed of the latest topics .

- Finally I must stress that I have no medical background and I can only pass on my own experiences which may differ markedly to others. You should not take any posts as the absolute truth but as the means of finding the truth.