My plea for lightheartedness: Hello All, I’ve been... - PMRGCAuk

PMRGCAuk

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My plea for lightheartedness

5 years ago•2 Replies

Hello All,

I’ve been wondering about the recent disappearance of all things lighthearted from this wonderful forum. I see in the new guidelines that we are to “share experiences that are relevant to living with PMR or GCA.” Surely the effects of laughter on health is relevant to living with PMR/GCA? I very much appreciate all the very helpful medical information on this forum, but I always felt much better after a laugh or two provided by forum members, or a sweet photo of someone’s garden or grandchild.

In reference to the positive effects of mirthful laugher (the kind I often used to experience on our PMR/GCA forum), I did a lit search on PubMed looking for the beneficial effects of laughter on chronic pain and other health issues. Many interesting papers turned up and it seems the connection is well supported by the literature.

One paper “Mirthful laughter differentially affects serum pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels depending on the level of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis” suggests that mirthful laughter affects the levels of serum pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines differentially, depending on the RA disease activity, See full text at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/163...

Another review, “Laughter Prescription”, by WB Strean, quoted Scott Burton, a cancer patient who said, “The other reactions; anger, depression, suppression, denial, took a little piece of me with them. Each made me feel just a little less human. Yet laughter made me more open to ideas, more inviting to others, and even a little stronger inside. It proved to me that, even as my body was devastated and my spirit challenged, I was still a vital human being” See the full text at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

There is a whole series of articles by Bennet and Legacher investigating the relationship between humour and health. I would be happy to send the links to anyone interested.

So, my plea is that the moderators could consider a way to allow postings to indicate the content may be lighthearted (even just the word lighthearted) and so let the reader decide to read or not to read according to their preferences.

Sincerely, Coda

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coda123

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5 years ago

Hi coda123, i took a break from the forum for a few months so missed all the kerfuffle. I have got to say i think the light-heartedness is still there as far as i am concerned. I have been back a month and have laughed just as much as i previously did. I am a great believer in humour as a tool for negotiating illness. Used to teach about it for years. If i want a belly laugh i watch videos of dogs being daft or find a good comedy to watch or read. I have used pm facility to continue conversations that fall "outside the rules". There are lots of platforms for sharing ideas beyond the remit of healthunlocked and I use those for things too. I am only saying what i have found as a "returner".

PMRproAmbassador5 years ago

There has been considerable thought and discussion about this topic and the decision to return to the way the forum is now has not been taken lightly. This forum is the public face of PMRGCAuk and it was felt the serious side was being lost amongst a great deal of non-PMR related posting. Although we now have more people taking responsibility for moderation, every single post must be read to be sure nothing slips through - something that was always a risk when someone asked a serious question in the middle of a long and rambling thread. And it happened, several times. You personally may choose to not read a particular post and many people make that choice - the moderators do not have that luxury and often it required 4 or 5 hours to get through everything, Almost everyone involved in the forum is a volunteer.

It is not just the moderators who make these decisions, The primary decisions have been taken by the charity itself. There is also a large group of people who have expressed the opposite feelings and are grateful the forum has returned to the style it was previously. There is also a large number of people who have returned having been put off by the non-relevant content.

If you want a different type of forum then there is one at mewe - however, I'm sorry, I don't know how to direct you there. I'm sure someone will do so later.