Is it helpful... (x post)

Maybe because the OP deleted it as soon as she (apparently) got a couple of responses she didn't like.  Just like she had now delete almost half of HER responses to people on THIS thread (which SHE started).

She accused other people of being unkind and then apparently was unkind enough herself to other people on THIS thread that she was embarrassed to leave her own replies up!  Not the way to make friends and influence people...

Unfortunately, the valid point(s) she may have had are going to be ignored because of her hit-and-run, post-and-delete (and, presumable, to follow) block-unblock-reply-reblock) approach.

Actually I blocked a couple of people and thought that because of that I just had random answers to things other people couldn't see.  I didn't realize until someone explained it to me the thread shows up in total, just not to me.

But there we go jumping to conclusions and being nasty when we don't know the whole story.

There's a wealth of literature examining "peer support" programs for patients with chronic illness such as renal failure, heart issues, etc. I'm at work and can't pull up a full list of citations at the moment, but IIRC the most successful relationships (i.e. those with the highest satisfaction ratings in reported outcomes for the mentee at subsequent medical follow-up visits) are those in which the mentor is most open in regards to their experiences, and the patient is most willing to change his/her habits and attitudes based on the mentor's advice.

There is a difference here and I believe it's in where we are assuming this mentor role is. I hardly believe that the people accusing her of making up her suffering would be considered her "mentors". 

I have always found her to be very open to trying new things and learning from other people. This post is not about constructive criticism but rather those who can't post without getting completely inappropriate and unwarranted digs in based on their personal "truth".  

Not attempting to make a direct comparison to any sort of mentorship; just pointing you in the direction of the relevent literature, since you seem to be so interested in peer-review science at the moment.

Let me know when you find it.

OP is standard internet speak for Original Poster - it's used when someone replies to someone other than the OP, but then wants to address a part of their reply to the OP - it lets you know which part of the post is for you!