Thomas
You are probably gonna take a bit of heat for this post. I don't think that's your intention and I don't think you were looking to slight anyone here or the degree that they are suffering with AS.
I understand hestiancy in joining any support group because before I ever posted here I thought the notion foolish and in all honesty I didn't have a legitimate reason for feeling that way except that ... well it wasn't for me and it wasn't how I grew up. I grew up in pain since I was 10 years old and I grew up in the wise tradition of "suck-it up and get to work." That didn't work so great.
Well since I've been here I probably posted about 4000 or so times. NOt so much lately but I found folks who could sometimes identify with what I had and at other times they hadn't the foggiest notion what I was talking about.
I found people willing to playfully insult me and congratulate me on un-AS related life events. I'm not sure what it is you expect from this place but give it a chance.
Most of my early posts here had little to do with AS and little to do with me telling about my symptoms. Folks who wanted to respond to those posts did. Folks who didn't care passed on the opportunity to reply. Its realy a terrific little exercise of one's right to express themself in a simple way.
Appreciate folks who respond to you in a way you can identify with. MAybe there will be a lot of people who do that. Maybe there won't. Give it a try. THe people here when I first showed up amazed me. The folks who have come and gone since then similarly showed me how genuinely compassionate and wise they could be.
There is a great tool here because no matter what else this place offers it offers a lot of people with different opinions on the best way to treat this thing. That means ideas abound. Pick the one's that you like.
you ended your post with this question
"Has anyone else had these thoughts as they first started to open up about what's going on with them?"
Well, implicit in that question is the statement that you are going to open up about what's going on with you. Maybe you do that first and see how people respond. My bet is they surprise you.
To be truly honest after all these years here. There's still only so much I relate about my AS. Probably because I do my best fighting AS by denying what its done to me and because I was raised in that wise tradition of sit donw shut up and tough it out. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a wise tradition.
Best wishes on your fight and I hope you stick around.
