Some History

[Leslie]

I thought it might be good to go back and give some history about the PCOSA forums. I was told about the PCOSA in June of 2003 by my RE when I was diagnoised with PCOS. He told me there was an association out there for support and info called the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Association. I immediately went home, found the website and started trying to find more out about PCOS.

Upon finding the PCOSA I found that they had forums/discussion boards. The thing was it was not maintained on their website. You had to go to obgyn.net to be involved in the discussion boards. There were three board – general, diet and medication.

On the general board you found discussion about everything… ttc, pregnancy, general pcos, etc. Everyone just posted new questions/info in new threads.

In September 2003 the PCOSA brought the discussion boards over to their website. It was a different format, but you still only had the three boards mentioned above. After the boards were moved someone came up with the idea of starting separate threads for people ttc, or who where pregnant, or who were moms, etc. It worked well given that all these people had to post on the general discussion board.

Then, I can’t remember when, the PCOSA website crashed. The boards were gone for months, the email support lists were gone. Small groups were started on Yahoo by people who knew how to get in contact with one another privately, but it was like the PCOSA was no more. Finally after several months they got everything back up and running. I can’t remember if that was when the new format for discussions boards came or if it was shortly there after, but that is when we got all the new choices of discussion boards – TTC, General, Diet, Medication, Pregnancy, Mom’s, etc.

I guess my point is that if you go back in “history” you will see that people did not just always post to one thread. Heck if you just look at the ttc and pregnancy boards now you will see that they don’t stay on one thread. On Fertility you will find waiting to o, two week wait, etc. On pregnancy you will find first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, etc. They don’t all stay on one thread.

Oh yea, here is the link to the old obgyn.net forums. http://forums.obgyn.net/pcos/ You can still go to them, but you can’t post. It refers you to the new PCOSA boards.

Anyway, thought now might be a good time to point out some history. If it makes you mad, sorry in advance. I promise you I do not try to be a mean or hurtful person.

Was also wondering if there is anyone here who has been around and can remember the old boards? I remember many of you from the Fertility & Pregnancy boards in the current format but can't remember people from the old boards.

[lisamarie]

I remember the old boards..

[esarah]

Leslie- I was around on the old forums. I joined them in September 2003. They have always been really good. I am one of the one's that have been here a super long time.

[mara232]

Anyway, thought now might be a good time to point out some history. If it makes you mad, sorry in advance. I promise you I do not try to be a mean or hurtful person.

I'm sorry that you felt like you had to post this history to defend yourself. Leslie - trust me - no one here even remotely thinks you are a mean person. And if they do - poo on them! You (just as everyone else here) are entitled to do what you choose without having to explain yourself, and I am sorry if I personally have made you feel like that. ((()))

This morning I decided that it is in the best interest of all of us on these boards to drop this whole drama about the two mom threads. Only a few of us were vocal, but many of us were suprised and taken aback by the start of the new thread. Unfortunately, myopinion is that it will lead to cliques I that see on other boards I belong to. It's something I think we were all happy didn't exist here. I know some will argue that that isn't the case, however it is already evident that some people will post on one thread and others on the other.

Anyway - for the progress of these boards - can we let this issue die and just move along? So we keep the two threads and move on. I am just sorry how this all came out. :(

[tracy]

I was on the "old" boards, too. I think I joined sometime in 2003 shortly after my diagnosis.

For those that may not remember, it was my physician assistant that left me a voicemail after some blood work saying "you have pcos, have a good weekend". So, off to the internet I went to see what I had!!! :roll: Thank goodness for this site, or I would probably still be in the dark :D

[texasred1]

Leslie - I remember the old boards and I remember when the whole site crashed and went away. It was because of that happening there was a huge time lasp in between my posts, mainly because I had given up and then when i tried to come back I couldn't log in under my username, hence the reason I am now texasred1 vs. texasred. I came back around a little over a year ago when I suspected I was pregnant, but wasn't sure if it were some horrible side effect of pcos as we were NOT ttc.

I agree with Mara I think this whole "drama" should die. I for one have always liked the fact that there are/were no cliques over here on this forum and that we all (from what I've seen) are able to speak our opinions. There are no stupid question either. My dh belongs to a couple of forums one he was outright kicked off and banned from because he voiced his opinion (it's a stupid college sports team forum) he wasn't mean spirited or anything like that either. His other forum he tells me all the time how they are sooo clickesh. Infact he was so jealous of how we're not over here, even going as far as to do things like secret pals/santa.

I will say this and then hop off my soap box I have always enjoyed reading what others have to say about themselves. I have never once thought that one should reply to every single person in the way of what we call "personals". If you pop in to say you've found the best shade of red nail polish or you're wondering what to do about diapers it's all fine. I gather knowledge from those who are ahead of me in this journey, be it pcos, ttc, pregnancy, or already a mother. I've been to another pcos forum when pregnant and didn't like the fact that you were segregated by trimester or even due date months, I wanted to hear what those ahead of me were going through and I felt good knowing that I could answer questions for those who were behind me. I remember back while on the preggo board, Kelli posted something and apologized for (what she thought was) rambling. Sherri posted in saying how much she enjoyed hearing what Kelli had to say because she was 1 month ahead of her and she could then kind of see what was in store for her down the road. EXACTLY! what I'm talking about. This forum's members have come to my rescue with answers to my questions far faster than most of my family, friends or even dr.'s offices have (not saying I'm taking the word here vs. that of a dr.). I also consider most of you my friends even though we've never met. I have so much more in common with so many of you than I do my own friends. This site has become invaluable to me.

That's my .02 for what it's worth....

[ahacker]

Hey Leslie,

I was just browsing around the old site.... and was wondering if you remembered Sonnet?? Is she on this site? She was so helpful on the other boards!!

[Leslie]

I remember Sonnet. As far as I know she isn't on this site. I often wonder how she is doing. I remember she was a monderator on the other boards and was so involved and like you said helpful.

[mara232]

I spoke to Sonnet and she wishes you all well. (I posted this 8 months ago). She had another baby about the time I had Anthony. She is chipper than ever. We talk on another board.

[mara232]

July 2006

She asked me to post this for her:

My mom survived She was in a coma for a week, total organ failure, in the hospital for 4 months, and a wheelchair for a year. But she's ALIVE, and fine, and we worked through all the setbacks. She even kept both her feet and just a few months ago started walking on her own again! It has been amazing to see and very good for our relationship. I've been back and forth to CA a lot helping out but now things are looking really good, back to normal! We started heavy duty fertility treatments again in August and conceived in November only to have a miscarriage right before Christmas. But now, I am almost 8 weeks pregnant thanks to all my meds and IUI, and while I'm not totally committed I think this one might be a keeper. We've seen a heartbeat and it looks pretty good so far!

Tell them I think about the ladies there all the time and hope all of them are doing well. I'll come back over probably after this baby is born and I have the ability to handle one more thing in my life, but in the meantime they're all welcome to email me any time - I believe the PCOSA address is defunct after the last server crash but I'm still at sonnet_fitz@hotmail.com.

[elsie]

People are often asking about Sonnet on the Gen. Disc. board too. She was here before my time ... must be a very special person!!!

I also wonder sometimes about Laurie Stallings -- anyone remember her or keep in touch? She was a lifesaver and wealth of info. when I was first dx'd. She also has a daughter with Type I and is so knowledgable about diet issues.

I started coming here (to Gen. Discussion) a couple of months after being dx'd -- really helped me get past the shock and anger part and move on to action. Hard to believe that things have come full-circle and that now I am in a position to offer advice to newly dx'd women. Finding/building a community of any kind is very rewarding!

Coming to the moms board has been a lot of fun and I want to say "thank you" to everyone for being so welcoming!!! I would've been sooo much better off for having a board like this when my kids were little .... XXOO

[Leslie]

Mara thanks for the info on Sonnet. I remember that someone had posted an update on her within the past year or so, but I couldn't remember who or if it was on the mom's board or the general discussion board. Again thanks for the update.