About This Community

This online community is a social network from Mayo Clinic that connects patients with each other and with others interested in learning more about Mayo Clinic or a particular health interest. Each year, more than 500,000 unique patients from every U.S. state and nearly 150 countries visit one of our Mayo Clinic campuses in Arizona, Florida or Minnesota for diagnosis and treatment. These patients, their families and friends, and Mayo Clinic's 50,000 employees and students are part of the global Mayo Clinic community. This site provides a place for community members to share their experiences and connect with others who've faced similar experiences.

About This Community Member Support Feedback Terms of Use Privacy Policy

New Member Guide

General Guidelines

  • Be respectful and kind.
  • Realize that sarcasm and joking will often be misunderstood.
  • Typing in ALL CAPS is considered shouting.
  • Be careful about giving out medical advice—sharing your own experience is fine, but don't tell others what they should do.
  • Know that abusive or offensive behavior is not tolerated.

Discussion Guidelines

Discussions are a great place to interact with and learn from others. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your experience in the discussion boards.

  • Discussions with specific titles will receive more responses and better participation.
  • Ask the community for their experience, advice, or opinion.
  • Beware of telling others how to use the site—it's better to share any concerns directly with the community managers.
  • Use the discussions for topics of general interest and the inbox for private conversations.

A Note About Categories

All sections of the site, including discussions, news stories, blog posts, and videos, provide the option of adding categories. By including keywords about the concepts and content of a particular item, you help make it easier for others to find information that can help them.

Your Privacy, Profile Page, and Settings

Use your Privacy & Settings page to control the information you want to share about yourself with the community. You can choose to make information such as your name or email address completely private, shared only with your friends, or open for the whole community to see.

In addition to privacy controls, we allow you to post questions and comments anonymously to help facilitate discussion of sensitive health topics without fear or embarrassment.