chronic illness

If you have diabetes, regular exercise can make managing your blood sugar easier. Here's how to get started.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago, there weren't many places to turn to for help. I tried a support group, but I was the youngest person in the class by 20 years; the other recently-diagnosed patients faced different challenges than I did.

The few people I knew my age with diabetes had type 1, a disease that seemed at the time as different from type 2 as arthritis. I could find no one, it seemed, who was dealing with the same disease and circumstances that I was.

What a difference a decade makes. Thanks to social networks, bloggers, FaceBook and Twitter, rich communities exist that allow the afflicted to connect with one another and share information.

A lot of people might have scoffed at the benefit of such sites just a few years ago; really, who in their right mind would turn to a chat room or bulletin board for medical information? And who would publicly share details of their disease?

Count me among those initial skeptics. But I've come around. I like connecting with other diabetics--especially as my disease has progressed and become more complicated to manage. Now I use Twitter to share blood sugar readings, read blogs by other writers with diabetes and share interesting articles on my Facebook profile. While I still distrust much of the medical information I find, I feel more connected to people suffering from the same chronic illness as me--and I feel as though I have a community of support.

And it turns out I'm not alone: Studies show that such online activity helps mute the loneliness, stress and depression symptoms that attend chronic conditions like heart disease, arthritis, celiac disease and diabetes.

In one study, for example, women who participated in breast cancer groups online boosted their quality of life and decreased depression.

Want to connect?

But which online group is right for you? There are dozens of major health social networks on sites like Web MD, iVillage and Yahoo! Groups, and many smaller groups on Facebook, Ning and other social platforms. Here are a few groups to consider:

Patients Like Me

Health Central

Inspire

Cure Together

Alliance Health

Disaboom

TuDiabetes

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