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Please don't Flame me for this post...if your so inclined. An interesting discussion on health showing how much we could use help on Health teaching newbies the very very basics. And how burn out from the few of us doing that is showing itself.
Hope to see some of you as visitors to a newbie.
 
I just read that entire thread and found it extremely interesting. Even though that conversation is over, I do have an opinion (you know what they say about opinions!! ;-) ). When I first found FDMB, I was scared crapless. I had just enough knowledge to know that what my vet was telling me wasn't a good idea and I was smart enough to start goggling and find FDMB. The requirement that you are REQUIRED to post in health first should be done away with!!!! If your cat is on Lantus, you should be allowed to post on the Lantus board from the get-go. Let me explain why I feel that way...there are a few people on the health board who are very off-putting with the way they talk to you, like they're writing a frickin Victorian novel or, even knowing you're there for the first time, have acronyms for every other word. I now know what ECID, FWIW, IMHO, etc., means, but newbies don't have a clue and the last thing I wanted to do was waste time asking what they meant or trying to find a sticky giving me the definition. I think that sticky is necessary for a newbie to figure it all out, but you shouldn't fill their first thread with them. Also, on the Lantus forum, we pretty much know what the hierarchy is...who are the experts and should be giving the advice. If I'm up late at night and someone comes on with an emergency, I'll post saying hi and please wait for an expert. If no expert shows up, I'll give the best advice I can, but as soon as an expert shows up, I shut up. When I first posted on health, I have what seemed like 20,000 people giving me advice, some of it the same advice, some of it conflicting advice, some people saying they disagreed with that person, etc., etc. When someone suggested I go to the Lantus forum, I couldn't get out of Health fast enough. The people there need to know their hierarchy...who are the experts, and as soon as they show up, they need to shut up. What until everything has settled down and then get all the hello's, glad you found us, you're gonna love it here stuff out there.

The experts we have on the Lantus forum are people who have outside jobs, families, and diabetic pets of their own. They help soooo many people on the Lantus forum that to expect them to go over to Health is just not practical, or fair. When I'm asking for advice, I don't expect anyone to waste time worrying about pleasantries. I don't need an emoticon to take away the "sting" of being told, no, do not increase the dose at this time, have patience. I know the experts are busy people and to have them worry about whether they're hurting my feelings or not when they're giving me advice is silly. I have seen one case where an expert was very mean to someone who was asking for advice, had waited for a couple hours with no help, and then made a sarcastic remark that I KNEW she meant to be tongue-in-cheek. She was lambasted and it wasn't pretty. Just reading it made me uncomfortable. She's only been back twice since and it's been a month since all this happened. That bothers me. Of course, the experts are human, too, and have off days so I don't think anything less of that person either. For all I know, she might have apologized via PM.

All I know is this....this board is so important. The help and info dished out here is invaluable. I think all the other forums could look to LantusLand on what good organization looks like....only one condo per day per person, how to set up your subject line so it's all uniform. These aren't silly rules; they make sense. FD turns your life upside down. It is so nice to come into LantusLand and have calm among the chaos. I have made such good friends here. I'm glad I hung on and found my way to LL.

I hope I haven't overstepped my bounds. I've just needed to say some of this for a while.
 
I have to agree with Patty...I don't know why someone using Lantus is required to post in Health first, and stay in Health for a while, before they can post in Lantus. (To be honest, I didn't know that rule existed until later, so my initial post was in Lantus. Whoops). The people in Lantus know the stuff inside and out and it only makes sense that a newbie should start over here, rather than getting conflicting information over in Health. FD is so overwhelming, but it may be a little less overwhelming for the new folks if they start off in the appropriate insulin forums.
 
Dear Patty,
I want to address a few of your feelings.
I don't think anyone wants a 'straight from the womb' newbie showing up in Lantus.
The job over on health is to inform about food choices, this is often not easy as many folks are kind of stuck on their kibble, or have multiple cat households. Then it is our job to help them transition the whole family over...or find some solution.
Next, it is just getting them to test. Sometimes also a trying task. Even with the offer of a free newbie kit.
You don't really want folks at that level coming over here do you?
So now we have the food, and the supplies ready...we then provide the video's of how to test. We also let them know if they are interested who their nearest neighbors are in case they want a hands on lesson. Many do.
At this point comes the job of setting up the spread sheet.

There are a couple of lantus saints who have upon reading this I see immediatly showed up to say hi.

Many times a newbie also wants to cry and be told it is ok. breathe. etc.

This is what was done for you, for all of us I think.
You do not want folks at this point visiting you here.
That would not be practical.
We however would LOVE to see YOU there.
whether you are holding a nervouse hand, suggesting J$B's food chart, showing a video or helping with a spread sheet.
Thank you Patty...I wanted to explain what exactly goes on over there.
Lori
 
I agree. Every insulin is different and the protocols are different so it only makes sense to go right to the insulin you are using. I did post in the health section first and remember that the people were very put off and told me just to come here. I was a little concerned, but LL has been such a great place. Our experienced people help us and give up so much of their time. The main board is a maze and it is about absolutely everything. It is hard to dig through all of the posts. There has got to be a better way to organize things so it is not so confusing.
 
Thank you Patty. I'm not an expert although I have been around longer than I'd like. I too look at newbie posts and look to see who has responded. I only give a "Hi" and general advice for a bump up if that is needed for more eyes to see it.

I think it would be great if you posted you comments in the Health thread too.
 
As far as 'experts' or a 'maze'
you do not need to be an expert. just have basic diabetes start 101.
as well, it's easy to find a newbie. their subject titles are 'NEWBIE" or "Im new' or 'help, i don't know how to start.' etc.
it's really not all that complicated.
 
I mean if you want out of the womb newbie's on lantus sent over here great...i'll announce that on health.
can i get a concensus?
 
Lori, you DO need to be an expert to give ME advice. I have recently noticed someone with a week of this board under their belt giving dosing advice. If a newbie doesn't realize that, they just might take that advice even though it's wrong. I think everyone should feel free to support a newbie, but they should certainly refrain from giving advice. I should probably tell you what I mean by advice. I'm talking about dosing, what to give, when to give it, should you stall, not shoot at all, etc. Giving someone pointers about how to hometest, what has worked for them, how they got their cat to eat wet food, how to get your cat to pee on a ketone strip, where to buy the cheapest test strips, etc., is wonderful. But there is a difference between giving advice and giving pointers. I've gone over to Health on occasion when someone has posted in Lantus saying a newbie needs help. I've never bothered to leave a comment because that person is already being BOMBARDED with so much info by WAY too many people. Some consideration needs to be shown. Too many people want their voice heard, want to show what they know, that it becomes a mob scene. If one person is giving advice, and that advice is sound, everyone else needs to keep quiet, except for a "you're doing a good job" and "hang in their." The Health forum is scaring people off whether you want to admit it or not, people who NEED to be here.

I know there aren't any emoticons in this post, but I IN NO WAY want anyone to think I'm negating what they do or picking on them. I've never met a more accepting group of people as I have here at FDMB and I seriously know for a fact I would be in a loony bin without all of you. I love you all and I've never laid eyes on any of you. :-D (there's your emoticon!! :lol: )
 
i guess i'm the oddball :-) gonna mumble here.

i do think everyone should start on health. sending someone to an isg who doesn't want to change food or isn't interested in hometesting is pointless. what good will an isg do for that person? yes, they can get a little help but they will never save their cat's life or get their cat into remission if they don't know about that stuff or refuse to or can't do it. and as has been said, people help alot of people in some of the isg's and they have lives too so to ask them to also then do the basic educating is nuts. i see it probably actually driving more people away, causing hard feelings, and less helping going on.

but as far as getting more help on health, that's always been a problem. probably always will be. the amount of help comes and goes and probably always will as people feel up to it or don't, or have time or not. people learn, they move on. they lose their cat, they move on. they get smacked, they move on. it's life.

it is taxing, no doubt. and while thanks and appreciation are there from most, when someone gets dissed for trying to help, it is very off-putting and makes you wonder why you even bother. especially when someone asks for people to help and then disses the help. i've seen that happen time and time again over the years too.

so yes, i think everyone should take a moment here or there to glance at health and maybe answer a question or two but they shouldn't be dissed if they don't. maybe they are at the ER with their husbands, or taking their children to school, or remodeling their homes, or spending quality time with their own dying cat, whatever. for that matter, health does require a bit of hand holding and a warm & fuzzy one at that alot of the time sooooooo, some of us know we are not that type of person so i actually think some people are better off staying away from a newbie for a little bit :-)

ok, now i'm gonna go eat my darn healthy low calorie salad cause i'm bound & determined to lose some dang weight! LOL!!
 
Hi Lori. I thought it was the webmaster, Rebecca who asks us to post in Health first if we are newbies. If you look at the Board index you can see where that is stated.
I thought I mention it because I don't want anyone to get their feelings hurt. :-D

Healthforum-1.jpg
 
Thanks Carolynn
Patty, you can be here a month and be an 'expert' at letting folks know the importance of hometesting, the difference between feeding high carb kibble and low carb canned....and what a test looks like.

That is a newbie.
Not someone with a dosing problem.
 
now that you mention that Carolyn, I think I do recall Rebecca recently addressing this and yes, she wants newbies on health....ok, went and found what i was thinking of. and while she seems to recommend newbies start on health, she leaves it open to them. while this particular quote was posted in the pzi isg, i would think she means it to cover them all.

"Posting in the FELINE HEALTH forum is the preferred beginning route for newly registered members. The insulin support groups, such as this one for PZI, are recommended for more experienced caretakers. Your level of experience or your level of time & education commitment can only be determined by YOU and the decision on which forum to post in is also YOUR decision. If you are a newbie, please do not let the extreme detail here overwhelm you. PLEASE BEGIN IN THE FELINE HEALTH forum. You can always cross-post here, too. Thank you, Rebecca, Founder, FelineDiabetes.com and FDMB"
 
Hi Ya Lori,

I would say that out of the womb newbies should be on the general health board.

What I find when I visit over there and find a newbie lantus user, is often very conflicting advice from some well meaning advice givers. Advice givers who simply don't have the experience with Lantus and potentially assuming a similar action.

As you know I've worked with several diabetic cats of my own on now what has been 3 different types of insulin. While no expert subject to the hierarchy of Lantus Land royalty...I don't consider myself having fallen off the insulin tree just yesterday either.

I would like to be able to give advice on health, but as pointed out you need a very thick skin over there. I actually utinlize the Friend and Foe function when I am over there. ohmygod_smile

But, I don't think that is what you are asking for in this post. You are asking for general help about general diabetic treatment that is applicable to any diabetic cat. You are not asking for us to just help the Lantus users and you are not asking for us to send our very best experts over there either.

You are asking us to consider taking up the mantle to become an Advice Giver. And I think that is something all users in Lantus Land should consider beyond our own forum. Our respected experts: Libby, Sienne, Jill, Mariam, etc. didn't get that way by sitting on the sidelines telling people to wait for an 'expert' to come along.

There are things we are all very experienced with and could help a newbie with on the main health board.
 
At the very least, I think when people start asking specific dosing questions about their insulin, they should be sent to their ISG for answers. I don't remember who all was involved, but I do recall one instance a while ago where a newbie was asking specific Lantus dosing questions and s/he was getting answers from people who weren't Lantus dosing experts. I suggested this person post their questions over in Lantus, and someone else replied saying the original poster needed to stay in Health for a while longer. I found that to be confusing and quite honestly a little unnerving, since the person did have very specific questions.

I think there are a number of people in Lantus who are willing to do the hand holding, talking through testing, tryingto convert to canned foods. We do a lot of that over here already.

I do try to pop over to health once in a while and do the same over there, but admittedly it IS hard to juggle all of it. I know everyone feels the pinch of trying to help others as well as manage our on cats and lives We should all make an attempt to help out over there at least once in awhile, but I also think that if newbies land over in Lantus, it wouldn''t be the end of the world.
 
Thank you Blue, that is exactly what I am talkin 'bout. 15 minutes out of your week could be very rewarding if you find a newbie to help. Tunarita's and Traveling panties aside :lol:
 
Hugs to you all and take a big breath!!! We're all in this together, sistas!!

Ok...Health is extremely important and newbies should go there first. In Health, they can learn the basics about hometesting, food, supplies, order a newbie kit, set up their spreadsheet, destress, etc. Health provides an invaluable resource to us in Lantus Land. Once a newbie gets over the initial shock, is hometesting, has a SS, etc, and then needs dosing advice and more specific advice on lantus, then they should come to LL.

That's the ideal situation. We get newbies in LL that need LOTS of help doing a SS at the same time their cat is tanking in the 30s. Wouldn't it be great if their SS had already been set up in Health so when the cat does drop, they can get over to us and we can actually see a SS and our wonderful dosing folks have something to look at? Wouldn't it be great if they already had a hypo kit ready so we're not saying "do you have ice cream, syrup, honey, DRY FOOD?" :-D :-D

We in LL give back to each other immeasurably and I am very guilty of only occasionally sauntering over to Health to see what's going on....mostly in the middle of the night when my own kitty needs monitoring. I think Lori's request is reasonable.....we shouldn't be giving dosing advice on Health and neither should the Health posters. We should be helping with the very basics and we need to do it in a very calm, non-DO IT MY WAY OR ELSE :lol: :lol: manner.(Can you believe bossy me just said that?? :lol: :lol: :lol: ) Whether you came to LL or went to Health first, think back on when you were a newbie and you were scared &*$(@! and so upset over the diagnosis. Right then, you just needed someone to tell you what to do first, then next, then next. Calm help..."we understand because we've been there" help. In Lantus, we get down to the nitty gritty...managing lantus curves, dosing, etc etc. And our dosing experts shouldn't be expected to do Health duties and Lantus....they are experts in Lantus and we need them here (as Lori insinuates) but the rest of us can help out in Health.

I'm going to try harder to go over to Health and help the folks out there occasionally. Just grabbing one newbie and giving them some very basic info goes a long way and then they also "know" someone when they come over to LL.

Love you all...I really do...you are all amazing. It's so okay for us to have differing opinions but I believe it was always the intent in FDMB for newbies to start in Health.
 
i do think everyone should start on health. sending someone to an isg who doesn't want to change food or isn't interested in hometesting is pointless. what good will an isg do for that person? yes, they can get a little help but they will never save their cat's life or get their cat into remission if they don't know about that stuff or refuse to or can't do it. and as has been said, people help alot of people in some of the isg's and they have lives too so to ask them to also then do the basic educating is nuts. i see it probably actually driving more people away, causing hard feelings, and less helping going on.
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Hi Lori. I thought it was the webmaster, Rebecca who asks us to post in Health first if we are newbies. If you look at the Board index you can see where that is stated.
I thought I mention it because I don't want anyone to get their feelings hurt. :-D
Click to expand...

Ok...Health is extremely important and newbies should go there first. In Health, they can learn the basics about hometesting, food, supplies, order a newbie kit, set up their spreadsheet, destress, etc. Health provides an invaluable resource to us in Lantus Land. Once a newbie gets over the initial shock, is hometesting, has a SS, etc, and then needs dosing advice and more specific advice on lantus, then they should come to LL.

That's the ideal situation. We get newbies in LL that need LOTS of help doing a SS at the same time their cat is tanking in the 30s. Wouldn't it be great if their SS had already been set up in Health so when the cat does drop, they can get over to us and we can actually see a SS and our wonderful dosing folks have something to look at? Wouldn't it be great if they already had a hypo kit ready so we're not saying "do you have ice cream, syrup, honey, DRY FOOD?" :-D :-D
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Thank you Cindy, CD and Marjorie!
Health has always been the place to learn the basics while the ISGs take things to a level beyond. the ISGs shouldn't be bogged down with teaching hometesting, feline nutrition, and the basics of feline diabetes.

If anyone wants that changed, they should take it up with the owner and webmaster of this site. Rebecca.


RE: Experts. please, please, please don't call anyone an expert. anyone offering advice in this isg is doing so based on their experiences... what they've seen with others, knowing how to "read" a spreadsheet, knowing the action of the insulin used, and an understanding of the tight regulation protocol. in other words, there are no "experts".


RE: Lantus dosing advice being given on Health versus the advice being given in the Lantus ISG:
Yes, it can be different and that may be confusing to some. What I don't think people realize is the dosing advice on Health is basic. The "Start Low, Go Slow" method is followed. For the most part, no one follows the SLGS method in the Lantus ISG. We practice a Tight Regulation Protocol which is far from the SLGS method. It doesn't mean the SLGS method is wrong! On the contrary. The SLGS method is a good way for new caregivers to get their feet wet while they're getting comfortable with hometesting, learning about proper nutrition, and the basics of feline diabetes. Let's face it... most of us arrive here overwhelmed and with our heads spinning. What's the rush? There's enough pressure as it is.



and Lori re: your original thought on Health....
i can only speak for myself. IF and/or WHEN my life allows me the luxury to visit however many condos there are in the lantus isg on any given day, i'll be sure to stop by to lend a hand in the health forum.


stepping off the soap box...
have a good day everyone! :-D
 
I don't see a soap box, Jill :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

RE: Experts. please, please, please don't call anyone an expert. anyone offering advice in this isg is doing so based on their experiences, what they've seen with others, and an understanding of the tight regulation protocol. in other words, there are no "experts".
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I'm sorry :oops: :oops: :oops: I know better. I just told Mike that this morning. Mea culpa mea culpa. ;-) ;-) :lol: :lol:
 
Melissa & Tarragon said:
The main board is a maze and it is about absolutely everything. It is hard to dig through all of the posts. There has got to be a better way to organize things so it is not so confusing.
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I would suggest picking out only one or two newbies to follow and help. When the time comes for them to step over to an ISG, they go over and you check-in with them, but pick-up another newbie in health.

I bet anyone of us could walk a newbie through how to home test. I would dare say anyone of us could walk a newbie through a low number event.
 
Jill & Alex said:
RE: Experts. please, please, please don't call anyone an expert. anyone offering advice in this isg is doing so based on their experiences... what they've seen with others, knowing how to "read" a spreadsheet, knowing the action of the insulin used, and an understanding of the tight regulation protocol. in other words, there are no "experts".

stepping off the soap box...
have a good day everyone! :-D
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Sorry Jill, but you guys really do seem to be them! :-D
 
What about sub-dividing some major categories under health, such as

- Nutrition and Feeding, including what, how, when, and reference links
- Tests and Testing, including veterinary testing and home testing, what, how, when, and reference links
- Other health problems occuring with diabetes, such as hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, hyperthyroidism, etc

It seems like these categories come up pretty often and this could focus the reading for folks.

Just my $.02
 
I sent this to Lori in a PM shortly after she posted in Loose Lips and think maybe I should have posted it here:

I appreciate your posts today. I would like you to know that I agree with you. I don't want you to think I ignored it though. I would love to help out but I do not have capacity at all right now. I'm dealing with a chronic fatigue type issue and its hit harder than normal lately. I only get to about three condo's on LL a day now. I promise you if I get more mental capacity I will be there to help the newbies. I can't thank the people on health for being so receptive to me when I joined and I was one that wanted to listen. I help with another forum dealing with assist feeding cats and I know what its like to repeat the same things over and over for new members who need this critical information and also dealing with less than receptive people. It is finding the way to word things, getting your message across without running people off etc. I wanted to email you to say thank you.

I only had to manage Maverick's diabetes for five months and it was a good experience. We had horrible vets and I tear up often thinking about what it would have been like if it weren't for FDMB and Lantus Land. I would like to pay it forward. Thank you to everybody.
 
BJM said:
What about sub-dividing some major categories under health, such as

- Nutrition and Feeding, including what, how, when, and reference links
- Tests and Testing, including veterinary testing and home testing, what, how, when, and reference links
- Other health problems occuring with diabetes, such as hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, hyperthyroidism, etc

It seems like these categories come up pretty often and this could focus the reading for folks.

Just my $.02
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as i mentioned earlier, how about sending your thoughts to rebecca? :-D
any changes would come through her.


ps --- i have no idea why you're sending people from health to this thread. the OP in this thread directed responders over to the thread on health.
 
This looked like the longer thread.

And if folks thought subdividing the Health forum was a bad idea, they'd be ... clear about it.
 
Some of the problems I see are a lot of the "experts" on the board don't agree with each other. Maybe it is what Jill alluded to where some practice tight protocol and other don't. I have seen some very conflicting dosing advice and at times some of the advice has scared the crap out of me and it was coming from an "expert".

One of the biggest problems I see (and the problem in the thread that was linked) is that people feel so strongly about the issue that they don't answer the question at hand, pretty much telling the person they shouldn't be asking the question. It wasn't that anyone was mean, sometimes the zealousness scares people.

In the case of food, the "they can NEVER have hard food or treats AGAIN!!!" is definitely a banner waved emphatically in Health, but it is realistically wrong to say it can never happen and we should be able to say "if you need to feed hard food then it is best to _____, but I really recommend wet food/raw diet because_________". Usually answering the question and adding the advice softens telling them that what they want to do isn't the best option. I about choked on my tongue when I saw a newbie told in gloom and doom that they would never ever be able to feed hard food or give hard treats again. Smokey eats hard treats (never stopped) and even eats hard food occassionally and it certainly didn't/isn't affecting diet control of her diabetes, I've just been around enough to get the proper tools and information to do it correctly. We need the newbies to stick around long enough to get that information.

Ideals are not absolutes. We need to soften the ideals sometimes or we end up with Venita trying to arrange rescue because someone was too overwhelmed by what they HAD to do that they dump the cat at their vets to be pts.

eta: I just realized this post is actually in Lantus ISG. If Lori was trying to get some of the dosing advisers from Lantus ISG to spend time in Health, yeah it would be great but is asking a lot. The ISG is very active and tight protocol takes time looking at spreads and stuff, just keeping the people who are active in the ISG responded to has to be a full time job some days, let alone days with problems. Usually if someone sees a 911 it gets cross posted to other forums for eyes, but anything that isn't urgent really shouldn't be another load they are asked to carry.
 
So I've been following this thread and the one in health, and frankly, I have no idea if I'm one of those people who should shut up or continue giving advice. I give advice in health because while I have Lantus dosing experience with Bandit, I would not consider myself an expert. However, I don't think you need to be an expert to tell a newbie who's been started on too high a dose of Lantus, or arrived at their dose by incorrect increases that you think it's a problem. There are really two types of newbies that show up...those just diagnosed looking for more information and other people in their same situation, and those who have been following their vet's instructions for a while and not being able to regulate because of diet, too high a dose, or lack of data.

In real life, I'm a librarian. I spend all day giving people the information they have asked for. When people show up and say "why can't I regulate my cat?", I try to explain why, give them information so they can understand my explanation, and then send them to a place where they can get more advice and information (LL). This is exactly what i would do with any person seeking any information. However, before they can come to Lantus Land, they have to not just be hometesting, but collecting enough data so that people can give advice, on a wet low carb diet, and prepared with the knowledge that will prevent hypos while making these changes. So that information needs to be given as well.

I thought I was helping the people in Lantus Land by getting newbies ready with that information, but now I have no idea. I have no idea if I'm too blunt, too vehement, too wordy, not wordy enough. Whenever I ask for advice from someone, I never worry about the tone in which its given to me, because I'm just grateful someone has taken the time to supply that information. And if I get an answer that I don't want to hear, I'm not going to be angry with the person who gave me the answer just because I don't like it. There is honestly nothing that can be done for someone who behaves that way, because they have already decided what information they are going to accept.

So I guess my problem is that I don't see a problem. People are taking time out of their busy lives to give strangers advice, and I don't think they should have to constantly worry about how they are wording things. Some people deliver information with more emotion than others, but that doesn't change the content.
 
I can't remember if I ever posted on the Health forum first before posting on Lantus. All I can say is that I'm not an expert at giving dosing advice. I'll do my best to help with whatever I can, if and when it's appropriate. Otherwise, I'd rather allow the experts give the proper advice. In fact, I'm thinking about asking for dosing advice in a couple of days, if I don't see anything changing by then (forwarning the experts here LOL).

Today's my first year anniversary on here, and I'm glad that I did find this board. Ya'll have been extremely wonderful and helpful to me and Blackie.

I DO remember posting on ProZinc, or PZI first, though, before I switched to using Lantus.

Ok, now I have to go and test, and give shot, then feed a certain "queen". LOL
 
Well i wanted to add my 2 cents.

I remember joining the forum, posting on health and having the living s@#t scared out of me, it wasn't a good thing. If i was more of a sensitive person i think i would have just thrown up my hands and said "forget it" and do the unthinkable to my cat. I think the people over on the Health forum are angels for doing what they can, there are just too many people replying to posts from newbies with way too many opinions, like for example "ditch the dry food or YOUR CAT WILL DIE" maybe just tone it down a little. Scaring the crap out of someone isn't the best way to say 'Welcome to Feline Diabetes!' I can understand how people would be asking to have their accounts deleted when all your getting is negative comments about your caregiving.

I for one promise to try and make it over there once in awhile to help while i can, and not dole out dosing advice of course. I know when i'm home from work most times i'm up at 12 or 1 in the morning surfing the net, i'm sure i can make an effort to check in to see if anyone needs urgent help.
 
I am here 3+ years- Guess I am an Old Timer!!-I came on Health, which was always the beginner forum...I stayed on there a while, but I had a special problem, Moonie would not let me test her & went wild when we tried..I got a lot of flak about that, so when she was changed to lantus, by a new vet--I came to lantus--
I also ran the Alternative Monitoring forum for a while..When I went to lantus, a member came to my home & helped me test Moonie & then it began!
As I know, HEALTH is about the basics of this site, hometesting,the Health of the newly dx'd cat, and help in the acute beginning of the FD experience! It is also recommended for verification of Medical Problems that maybe encountered..I say the ACUTE stage--That's when we are all totally freaked out & frightened & overwhelmed by this disease!
We have had some Wonderful people on this board, and I could name them, but the oldies know who I mean-
AND we have DR. Lisa, and Rebecca-Webmaster for assistance-
Yes the food lists could use revision, yes the Stickys can be confusing..
That's why we have different forums to assist those with different problems--A Levemir board was tried.
They came to Lantus as many were there and we had Jill & JOJO(a legend in her time!)-
A problem was presented, and Jojo & Jill would write 2 lines and be able to tell you what to do, what was the cause & how to fix it!! Magical! No gigantic paragraphs, no excess banter.
But time marches on, and This Is A SELF HELP GROUP!
MY IDEA IS THAT YOU SHOULD not give ADVICE UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED IT YOURSELF,
or you know from experience how to remedy that situation.
LORI--Look at the amount of members on Lantus!! We are also overrun!
If a post comes to lantus to help a newbie on health, I know our peeps come there to help, and I have also.

So, there is no answer to this question, but hope that some verification & improvements can be made in the literature(stickys and food lists) to be more specific.
I have been so very happy and BLESSED to have this website to help me through--We all should be so
THANKFUL for it, and try to find ways to improve it
Not to look for negative in it!
Every day I try to post to a new newbie..It's all I can do to Pay It Forward..
 
Let's begin with a group hug :YMHUG:
I just want to add my worth & it may or may not mean anything to most, but I feel it is important for me to bring it up.. now that Rebecca has.. I feel as if I won't be attacked.
Rebecca said:
"wording was harsh and invited no learning or compromise" "they feel ganged up on"
"Be gentle" "Please"
Click to expand...
I concur that newbies should be in Health for all the obvious reasons. Additionally, it is important to recognize how you may come across to those new & "old". Words (in all forums) have been harsh more than a lot. I for one don't give Baby a daily condo anymore because I felt attacked a lot -- I post when I absolutely need dosing advice or I am in Health posting. I love that we all support each other, but being just not nice is hurtful & I know the saying here is "its not about the beans, its about the cats" well screw that.. the beans are just as important & always have their furbabies best interest in their heart. Please recognize that 99.9% are not absent minded, ignorant individuals just stopping by because we have nothing better to do. We ALL have our cats best interest always. However we are human, we do fall asleep, we don't always make the right decisions, etc. To point out & criticize in a public forum only makes one attacked & really not so cool to gang up & bully in the interest "of showing newbies" how NOT to do something. I think/hope most of us have our own minds & do not make decisions based on one persons condo who happened to be neglectful unintentionally & already feels bad enough. It isn't appropriate (in my opinion) to ever attack someone & humiliate them "just to show others or prove a point"

I learn a lot from everyone & am so very thankful & blessed to be apart of this message board. I do hope that we can all be nice always.. knowing we all love our furbabies & we are human too.

It is overwhelming for newbies.. but those of us who have been here once.. maybe twice ;-) also get stepped on unnecessarily.
 
I think a lot of ideas have been generated from this thread, but at the same time some have been offended.
There are many, many caregivers who volunteer their precious time to help on each and every forum on the FDMB... and there are many, many caregivers looking for help and reassurance.

I'm donning my moderator hat to close this thread. IMHO, this thread does not belong in this forum anyway. If Rebecca disagrees, she'll reopen it.
Feel free to open a new thread without making others feel badly on the Think Tank Forum if you wish.
 
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