Looking for a support group in cyberspace to find out treatment options for lower back pain? Keen to keep in touch with parents of autistic children around the world? Need to know how best to decorate a bedroom for an asthma sufferer?
Online support group sites have become a new source of information - and comfort - on many rare diseases and illnesses for distraught sufferers and their carers. These online groups are enhancing networks of professional researchers as well as providing informal contacts among sufferers and their carers across the globe.
One of the best places to start is the WellnessWeb (http:// wellweb.com/index.htm), an educational site which divides its information into three main areas - complementary medicine; conventional medicine; and nutrition and fitness. The WellnessWeb describes itself as a collaboration of patients, healthcare professionals and other carers "to help you find the best and most appropriate medical information and support available". The site includes information on clinical trials, community health, drug dosages and compliance, treatment options and research, an A-Z of illnesses and conditions, tips on healthy lifestyles and complementary medicine. On a more playful note, it also includes a Be Happy Be Well page (with the subheading that nine out of 10 doctor visits are stress-related) with a section on therapeutic pets and links to other stress-relieving sites such as Animal Network, Sports, Travel and Movies.
Online support groups also emanate from international federations or societies. The asthma and allergy site (http://www.efanet.org) set up by the European Federation of Asthma and Allergy Associations, is a good example of one of these. It has sections for children and teenagers, the most interesting of which is an interactive bedroom where visitors can click on each object in the room, receiving useful information on its appropriateness for an asthma sufferer and how best to deal with it. For example, avoid all soft toys - or it says you should at least wash and tumble dry them (or put them in the freezer overnight to kill the house dust mite).
Closer to home, support groups with sites include one for people with Motor Neuron Disease (http://homepages.iol.ie/killeen/ stevemnd/stevehom.htm). It has information on possible causes and cures, and details of the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association. The pages are maintained by Steve Killeen, with plenty of personal anecdotes.
Muscular Dystrophy Ireland (http://www.mdi.ie/index.html) includes a detailed introduction to the condition, family support and links with other similar organisations.
Age-related Health Care at the Adelaide & Meath Hospitals, Dublin (http://indigo.ie/arhc/) claims to be the first geriatric medecine/ gerontology Web page in Ireland.
A growing number of other healthcare organisations now have a Web presence, from St James Hospital and the Central Remedial Clinic to the National Safety Council and the Environmental Health Service.
The site for the Coombe Women's Hospital includes information on the hospital's services, patient information leaflets, recent hospital developments and academic publications. If you are pregnant you can even use its calculator to estimate the due date of your baby.
The information on the Irish Medical Directory (http:// www.ireland.iol.ie/imd) ranges from lists of doctors' email addresses to its medical humour section, called "Public Enema". Finally, thousands of Usenet newsgroups also exist to discuss everything from multiple sclerosis to attention deficit disorder. Look for them in a good searchable index such as Dejanews (http://www.dejanews.com/categories/ med.shmtl).