When I began writing and blogging I did so in the hope that encouraging people to consider connecting and supporting each other would mean that more benefits might be achieved. 

It has been a long road to get here and sometimes I have wondered if I have ever really achieved anything. 

Over the years I had read many posts in many different support groups, about how isolated, guilty, sad, depressed, rejected and disrespected sufferers were feeling. So I thought coming together might help redress many of these concerns and feelings. 

However we are all so different and have so many different beliefs and circumstances. 

It seems with every new group that arises people become more polarized in their thoughts and attitudes about their illnesses and each other. 

Smaller groups develop within larger groups and then divide even further. There  doesn’t seem to be a single ethos about how to best use this collective wisdom or strength towards a common goal. 

Within all these small groups that pop up around the globe there is always the potential to increase awareness, spread advocacy and bring much needed respect and support, as a consolidated group, but I am not sure I see this happening from where I sit. 

Rather, it seems the trend for more and more ‘support groups’ to multiply all over social media and they are missing out on the potential that solidarity and unity might bring. 

I personally believe that underlying most autoimmune disease sufferers is the hope for a cure. The need for more effective medication and therapies. The right to respect and understanding. These things could form the foundations for uniting and joining together… At least i believe it could. 

Time will tell whether a consolidation happens or whether it is even wanted by sufferers, but there is a great potential in the power of numbers as history has proven time and again. 

Perhaps even writing this might give Autoimmunes something to consider and contemplate. 

Perhaps. 

Gentle hugs, 

Trish.