April 5, 2009

Dealing with Insensitive Comments About Your Disease


There seems to be an invisible stigma attached to the diagnosis of COPD, or any other disease caused by smoking. It's almost as if being a smoker, or having been a smoker, makes a person "deserving" of getting a disease. "So, how long did you smoke, anyway?" "You knew that smoking was bad for you. Why didn't you quit a long time ago?" "Why did you start smoking in the first place when your own father died of COPD?"


Indeed, people can make some truly insensitive remarks which, for the most part, aren't meant to hurt you, but are made without the presence of forethought. Instead of letting a nasty comment ruin your day, the following article asks the question:




While the article provides some excellent tips on how to deal with harsh comments, About.com has just launched a new type of interactive article type, entitled User Answers.


What does this mean? Well, after reading the article, not only will you be able to share your story which will be included as part of the article, but you'll be able to read other people's stories as well.