Immune-Survivors is a special list that is not open to the public. It is for people who are survivors of childhood abuse, domestic violence, rape, or other forms of severe trauma (or their significant others). The list explores the intersections between emotional trauma and immune-system problems. There are around 40 subscribers and 10-20 posts per week (much fewer lately). If you are not sure if you qualify for this list, please write me and ask.
Immune-Survivors is a support and information sharing group for people who have immune-system problems and who are survivors of abuse. You are welcome if you fit both catagories (or think you might).
Immune-system health conditions: the focus here is on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), and fibromyalgia (FMS) plus similar conditions such as multiple scorlosis (MS), lupus, porphyria, arthritis, Gulf War syndrome (GWS), candida, environmental illness (EI), severe allergies, chemical injury (CI), and asthma.
Abuse survivors: most members of this list were sexually or physically abused as children. Other members suffered emotional child abuse or neglect, domestic violence, rape as an adult, ritual or cult abuse, and other forms of abuse or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You are welcome if you are an abuse survivor, are experiencing abuse now, or suspect that there may be abuse in your background.
If you do not have a history of abuse and wish to join this group out of curiousity, please do not. The intent of immune-survivors is support in a safe and private environment. Please use other sources of information for research or learning purposes. If you are the significant other of an abuse survivor, you may join the list. If you are a professional working with abuse survivors you may also join but keep in mind this is not a professional list. If you aren't sure if this is the right list for you, please ask.
With this list, we intend to provide a much needed place to discuss the intersections between abuse issues and health. Sample topics for the list, that couldn't really be discussed elsewhere, might include: multiple personality systems with different allergic reactions across alters; the effects of torture on the body; dealing with an abusive family who deliberately exposes you to chemicals; the effects of sexual abuse on the immune system; posts by littles (child alters in an MP system or "inner children") trying to make sense of their bodies.
People of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, religions, internal organizational systems, and abuse histories are welcome here. We ask that sensitive topics are spoilered (which means they are prefaced by a one sentence neutral description and a page of blank space) but that does not mean they are off-limits. Examples of spoiler topics include: sex and BDSM; religion; details of abuse; descriptions of reproductive or intestinal health; suicide and self-harm; strong expressions of anger or swearing. Topics that are not appropriate for the list (even with a spoiler) include: questioning the reality of multiple personalities, multiple chemical sensitivities, satanic ritual abuse, or a particular person's abuse history; deliberately setting off triggers or programming (many triggery posts can simply be spoilered, but not all); advertisments for commercial products or services; computer virus warnings; chain letters; or topics having nothing to do with the list.
Who runs Immune-Survivors? The list is a spin off of the Immune Mailing List, run by Cyndi Norwitz, and uses the same list software. In addition to Cyndi, Immune-Survivors policy is set by a small group of volunteers. For more information, please write Cyndi at cyndi@immuneweb.org.
Confidentiality issues: the subscription list is private and is known only to the moderators. Your name will not be sold or given away. The moderators may need to contact your postmaster in extreme circumstances. You do not need to give anything but an email address in order to subscribe. You may post from the address of your choice (Operamail, Juno, Geocities, Yahoo, Hotmail, and similar free email sites are good options for privacy). Archives of the list are available to subscribers only and will never be made public.