Spelling Counts

February 4, 2006

Dear Group,

I remember the moment I was diagnosed with EN. It was 5 yrs. after I

suffered my first bout of " bug bites " and the third bout of

" phlebitis " , neither of which I had. After I was told what I had I

asked the Dr. to write it down for me. I wanted to look it up in the

library. No computers back then. No Spell check. I had to know how to

spell it right to find it: E-R-Y-T-H-E-M-A N-O-D-O-S-U-M.

Today we all have computer access and that is wonderful. We even have

spell check. Yet many new members haven't been told the correct

spelling of what they have, even though they have suffered it for a

long time.

In Latin, Erythema simply means RED. Nodosum means Nodule. So erythema

nodosum is just a description of the red lumps we experience.

Whenever I am aked what I have I say " erythema nodosum which means red

nodules in Latin, yes it is painful, and no it is not contageous. "

I want to thank everyone who is using GoodSearch expecially since it

requires typing in erythema nodosum the first time.

Nothing is easy. Having EN is bad enough and the name is hard to spell

and pronounce. I think the first step to getting better is learning

all we can about EN starting with the spelling so we can do research.

Ok, that's my rant for the day. I guess I just saw too many

misspellings this week. I guess I should have become a teacher :-/

PS: Oddly enough I have never seen PYODERMA GANGRENOSUM misspelled by

members.

Jeff once told me it is spelled as it is pronounced and I have not had

a problem spelling it since then. Thanks Jeff! Here is an interesting

link on PG,

and on EN:

Humm 53 searches a day for PG and 209 for EN. Not much online research

going on. Maybe if it were easier to spell :-/

Love,

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