Posted by Barbara D. (205.188.192.162) on July 30, 1999 at 07:09:33:
In Reply to: exclusion by language posted by David McDonald on July 30, 1999 at 06:18:33:
David,
You ARE very welcome to our little Clusterhead family. And we ARE glad you found us. Maybe we should have a dictionary of "terms", but a lot of them have been made up on the spot to try to describe what we're going through.
Shadows are a term used for "not quite a Headache" but it's there lurking in the background.
Some of the people on the board refer the CH as the "DEMON" and some name him/her, so they can make the curses personal. Pacer refers to those who must pace while in a HA (headache). Dancing with the Demon - same as above. Most of us can't sit still.
I guess I just never really thought about the terms we use. Some were "made up" months ago and just took hold. I've been hearing the word "Cliques" used TOO frequently on this board lately. There are a lot of "chronic" sufferers on this board (and yes, I've been asked what chronic is - it's NO BREAK - we have these HAs daily with very little time off vs. Episodic - those who know that in a couple of months, they'll be free of them for a while). So those of us who are "regular" posters on here do tend to get protective and forget that we're using terms we made up and that maybe everyone doesn't understand them. But for the record, I've been here since before the earth was formed and I still ask questions like, "What the heck is that?"
I don't know which post you're referring to that was told to go to the archives, but DJ has a search button that can look up things so much faster than someone can explain. That may have been what was meant.
This board is for support and help to CH sufferers and supporters. It's not meant to exclude anyone. But sometimes us "old timers" and chronics don't realize that everyone hasn't been here as long as we have and might not understand what we're talking about. Such as - a few months ago we were trying to explain our pain on a scale from 1-10, when one night (after a HA) Kip posted his pain scale. It was brilliant to most of us and was immediately adopted. We forget that "everyone" doesn't have a clue what #5 on the Kip Scale means. DJ finally put it on the sidebar so everyone could click on it without having to go to the archives. In fact everything on the side has been put there since I found this site.
After a few visits you should feel like "one of the kids" coming home for a visit. But we're all different and we all HURT, so sometimes things are said (written) as a joke that are taken serious and personal that are not intended that way and we get a good argument going. Then "Mom" steps in, slaps hands and everyone plays nice till the next one. But for my part, I want you here - you might have the answer to what will help me and I'm just selfish enough to WANT that info.
Please just ask questions when you don't know what someone's talking about and if anyone hurts your feelings e-mail me immediately and I'll slap their hand (in case you haven't figured it out - I'm Mom).
Now you know why no one will "let" me write the dictionary - I'm too long winded! But welcome to our family of Clusterheads and don't worry - in a few days, you'll feel like you've been here for years.
Hugs BD