Welcome to Living with Raynauds Disease Patient Support Community!
Our mission at Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them.
This is an online support group for patients, friends and families affected by Raynaud’s Disease.
Raynaud’s Disease (RD), also called Raynaud’s phenomenon, is a condition of the cardiovascular system in which the blood vessels contract, restricting the flow of blood, usually in the hands, feet or both. RD occurs in up to one-third of individuals with lupus.
Lupus-related Raynaud’s usually results from inflammation of nerves or blood vessels and is triggered by stress or by cold temperatures. With Raynaud’s, the tips of the fingers or toes turn red, white, blue or purple. This may be accompanied by pain, numbness, or tingling. The lips, nose and chin may also be affected. The skin may return to a reddish color when warmth allows blood flow to return to the site.
Visit Raynaud’s Disease Patients Community.
LivingWithRaynaudsDisease.org is a virtual peer-to-peer community intended to be a safe place for patients and family members as young as age 12, to visit for information, discussion, venting and mutual support. Members come from many backgrounds. Some have a strong religious faith, and others no faith; some are children and others adults, rich and poor, graduate educated or taught by life. Our common denominators are that we share a life journey, and we try to help each other.
How is Ben’s Friends Different from Social Media and Other Support Sites?
Our mission at Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them.
We’re interested in you as a person, and in your struggles as a rare disease patient. But we don’t want to know your name or where you live. We won’t even allow you to use your real name when you register for one of our communities. Because when it comes to medical things, anonymity is important in our googly universe. Your information is never shared, and your activity never tracked by adware.
When Ben’s Friends asks for the country and region you live in, that’s in case your fellow members can recommend local resources and help, and so everyone knows what kind of medical system there is where you live. That’s important when it comes to giving and getting support. Because we are all about support, and we’re all in this together..
Ben’s Friends: Safe and Supportive.
And anonymous to keep it that way.
Why create an account?
Posts on the different Ben’s Friends communities can be read by anyone on the internet. You can browse through the different topics and find most of the information you’re looking for but there are many things you won’t be able to do unless you create an account. These include:
Making your own posts. Although you’re able to find useful information just by reading other members’ posts, you might still have a lot of questions in your mind. Either you want to start a new topic to talk about them in detail or you want to reply to a comment on a thread. These won’t be possible unless you create a new user account.
Viewing other members’ profiles. Member profiles include information about the country or region they are from, whether they are a patient or a caregiver, and details about their disease and treatments. Maybe you came across an interesting post and you want to learn more about the member. Or maybe you’re looking for members who are from the same country as you. Having a user account allows you to see other member profiles and find information that may be relevant.
Sending private messages. Aside from being able to post publicly and commenting on a thread, having a user account also allows you to send private messages both to other members and moderators. In case you want to discuss a topic only with a specific person, this is possible by sending private messages when you have created your account.
Click here to create an account and join.
Latest Discussions
- Heads up! Happening soon …by ben on March 7, 2023
One day soon, you will point your browser (or your DiscourseHub mobile app) in the direction of https://forum.livingwithraynaudsdisease.org/ and there you’ll be … in a completely different place! Well, not completely different: the page on which you’ll find yourself will be the new landing page for this community. From there, you will […]
- When “Rather Rare” Becomes “Done Well”by ben on February 22, 2023
Ben Munoz – November 1, 2019 I remember talking, not so long ago, with one of our AVM veterans. He has been battling this disease for 41 years now. When it was first discovered no one within 500 miles knew what it even was, let alone how to treat it. He says that it was a very scary time. Not only because of major surgery as an 8th grader but […]
- Our New Ben’s Friends Classroomby ben on January 26, 2023
Clasina Field – November 1, 2019 You must be wondering what Seenie has been doing these days. Well, I’ve been building our Google Classrooms and library where our Moderators and Interns will be able to learn the skills and tricks of the Moderator Trade. Right now, I’m about to stock our library with reading material and things like Slide […]
- Spotlight on Our Board Member: John Stamlerby ben on January 17, 2023
Ben Munoz – November 9, 2019 John Stamler, Ben’s Friends’ treasurer and a rare disease survivor himself, had a conversation with Garry Turner in the Episode 81 of Value through Vulnerability podcast. John shared his inspiring work as a mentor to startups and his admiration for the entrepreneurs he works with who are so passionate about what […]
- Ben’s Friends Members to Benefit from Cutting-edge Health Data Management Toolby ben on January 17, 2023
Sascha Gallardo – January 14, 2020 Members of Ben’s Friends patient communities can soon take advantage of a state-of-the-art technology that will enable them to manage their medical information in a secure multilingual digital tool, give them access to an online referral service for physicians and clinics, and let them participate in research […]
