Definitely not a pity party, this meeting provides a place to share ideas, learn new ways to cope, and discover new helpful activities. The overall goal is to help each member improve his/her quality of life despite the challenges presented.  The meetings on the first Monday of each month from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. are facilitated by Dr. Sally Duffy and are held at 3030 Randolph Road, Suite 100.   For details, call SEPC at 704/248-5254 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A variety of pain groups met from 1994 through 1999 in Mecklenburg County giving people with any form of chronic pain a chance to help each other and learn new ways to deal with common problems.  Unfortunately, by 1999 all had stopped meeting so we are especially pleased to see the appearance of the group above that started in July, 2008.

Some folks also find emotional support and useful information at the support group associated with their own chronic pain.  Here are links to those groups:

AIDS
Cancer
Colitis
Fibromyalgia
Herpes
Multiple Sclerosis
Polio
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
Sickle Cell Anemia (and related disorders)
Spinal Cord Injury

ASAP (Associated Systems for the Alleviation of Pain) (1999)   (1451,805)
Pelvic Pain Support Group (2000)(,805)

This service provides comprehensive data and referral assistance for nonprofit and government resources in the NC counties of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Union, and Anson counties and in or near the city of Mooresville, NC.  If you are calling on a landline or residential phone in one of those counties, dial 2-1-1.  If that fails, if you are calling on a cell phone, or if you are calling from anywhere else in NC, call 866/744-7778.  For calls from out of NC, use their local number of 704/377-1100. Although they are open 24 hours a day, you may wish to call weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for non-emergency questions.

The friendly staff at this full service library can help you research any medical topic using their up-to-date computers, databases, journals and books.  No previous research experience or medical knowledge is required. Click here for details or call them at 704-384-6393.

MedLinePlus

This service of the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health is one of the better one-stop shops for beginning your search on the internet for medical information.  For those of you who live in Mecklenburg and Union counties in NC, we recommend that you contact the Health Library for more personal assistance from the experts there in searching for reliable medical information. Click here for their details.

Click to link to any of these lists of national groups: 

The Self-Help Sourcebook OnLine Index
The Genetic Alliance
NORD (National Organization for Rare Diseases) Database

Click here to branch to the American Self-Help Clearinghouse listing of toll-free phone numbers for a wide variety of topics.