4 Ways to Connect With Others With Your Health Condition

If you’re living with a health condition, you may feel like you never seem to meet other people with your condition.  If you feel alone in your struggles with your health, you may want to take steps to connect with other people with your health condition.  Here are four ways to start connecting with others who have the same health conditions that you do.

1. Browse the Internet for groups for people with your health condition.

The Internet can be a great place to connect with other people from similar health backgrounds, especially if your health often affects your ability to safely leave the house.  There are plenty of groups across the Internet that can connect you with others, from condition-specific Facebook groups to Instagram health communities to subreddits dedicated to specific conditions.  Each group or community you find may have a different focus or different rules guidelines than the next, so you may have to try out a few groups before you find one where you feel like you can truly connect with others.  Once you do, though, you’ll find plenty of new people who can remind you that you aren’t as alone as you may feel.

2. Use messaging apps to reach out to people with similar health conditions.

If joining a large group isn’t the best fit for you, there are plenty of messaging platforms where people openly discuss their health.  Platforms with messaging features, like Whisper, often allow you to share your health experiences as anonymously as you’d like and message people whose posts resonate with you.  Once you find a group of people who openly discuss their health and feel comfortable enough with them to share your experiences, you can reach out to individuals who may understand your health, life circumstances, and perspective.  Talking to one person at a time could help you stay connected to your health community without feeling overwhelmed by so many people chiming in at once.

3.  Read blogs or watch vlogs by people who share your health condition.

Blogs and vlogs may seem passé, but they can both be excellent ways to connect you to people with your health condition.  Look up popular blogs or vlogs by people who live with the same health condition that you do.  If the creator’s work stimulates conversation, feel free to contribute if you feel comfortable.  Interacting with other readers or viewers or directly reaching out to a blogger or vlogger whose experiences resonate with you can help you forge strong connections, especially if you make a habit of regularly reading or watching the same types of health content.

4. Use The Mighty’s features to find people with the same condition.

Whether you’re fairly new to the Mighty or have been around for a while, if you’re trying to start connecting with people in the health community, you’ve come to the right place!  Posting Thoughts and Questions about your health experiences and interacting with other Mighties when they respond can help you forge bonds with people with a similar medical history.  The Mighty also has a plethora of communities for all types of conditions — even rare ones! — so if you join a community and regularly post in the community or comment on other community members’ posts, you may find commonalities and forge bonds with other people on the site.  The Mighty even has a messaging feature, so you can continue conversations with new acquaintances outside of a group setting!