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How To Read My Drug Information Pages
You should take a moment to learn how to read this information. Some of it is pretty obvious, but some of it isn't.
Just as the drug companies don't have a single format for their PI Sheets, we don't yet have a single format for the drug pages. That's the wonderful thing about standards, there are so many of them from which to choose.
Here is my new & improved format for side effects information. Eventually all meds will be converted to look like this. Many of the meds still have most of this information on one page. This multi-page format is my current goal.
Here's what the side effect page for a med will look like:
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Side effects - these aren't all of the potential side effects, folks! These are just the typical and the notable ones. For all side effects you have to read the PI sheets and the drug classes. So you can stop sending me all the e-mails about how I missed one. Really. The odds are I didn't miss anything. You should check out the side effects page for tips on dealing with side effects that are common to all meds. Also note that, except in very rare cases, side effects will go away when you stop taking the medication in question. Eventually. Usually after a medication clears out of your system. But sometimes it takes longer.
Typical Side Effects: Everyone gets these. Don't freak out if they happen to you, they happen to everyone. Most of them are short-term effects, or they're bearable. Believe me, you learn to live with some of this crap, you really do. This is where the core site philosophy of "Which sucks less?" really comes into play. These data are a factor of the most likely side effects reported in the clinical trials (frequently, but not always published in the PDR / PI sheets, sometimes I just find them on my own) combined with those reported by people on Remedy Find, the experiences Mouse and I and our friends have gone through, and those of people in other support groups (sorry about not naming them, but there are privacy issues involved). When possible I include information from PI sheets published outside of the US, as these will have different numbers regarding how popular certain side effects are. See the page on the PI sheets I use for more information on those PI sheets. I'll also factor in the take on side effects from Dr. Diamond's Instant Psychopharmacology, Dr. Drummond's The Complete Guide to Psychiatric Drugs , Preston et al.'s Consumer's Guide To Psychiatric Drugs. I'll also cherry pick from other books listed in the bibliography. Are my data 100% accurate? Hardly. But neither are the data of the clinical trials. Not everyone who takes a particular med is going to get these effects, but I feel that I've got a good reading of what is typical of a med. This is what you can expect. It's not a guarantee it will happen, so don't bet the rent money on it, but these are fairly likely, so you could be some spare folding money on their happening to you.
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Not So Common Side Effects: These may or may not happen to you don't, so don't be surprised one way or the other. The drug has earned a reputation because of these effects, but there is no guarantee that these are going to happen to you. Sources are the same as for the Typical Side Effects above.
Freaky Rare Side Effects: You aren't going to get
these. I promise. I included these because I have a twisted sense of gallows humor. I feel
sorry for the one person in each of the clinical trials or studies who reported these. At
least, most of the time I do. Some of these I seriously doubt had anything to do with the
medications, but they happened during the trials or studies and the one person to whom
they happened claimed that absolutely nothing else could have caused the adverse effect.
Whatever. Some of these are really serious and aren't even funny, and are included because
some medications really are fucked up and should be reserved until you've run through all
the other options. Sometimes, though, the freaky rare side effects do happen.
Mouse,
Kassiane and I
are living proof of that. But we're known freaks. When you're a
bipolar-autistic-epileptic spazz meds are just going to have weird effects.
No, really, some of these things did happen to us.
And we also run across these effects happening to other people in support
groups. And, really, this isn't something you have to e-mail me about
either. With over 10,000 people a day reading this site, the odds are
every day someone out there is going to read about the freaky rare side effect
they've had. But you figure that you're one-in-a-million in some
other way. All of the freaky
rare side effects listed here are published in the PI sheets. Most of them I get
from the
PDR, Mosby's 2004 Drug Guide, or the latest PI sheet I have or published by the drug companies.
A few come from case histories, and those are reported as such. Books for
consumers rarely, if ever, address freaky rare side effects.
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Suicide Risk: As all neurological / psychiatric meds carry a suicide risk of some form, I'll provide whatever information I have. From the PDR / PI sheets, from studies, wherever I can find it. This isn't something that's new and just for SSRIs. Antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, TCAs and many other meds have had such warnings. Such warnings were buried in the PI sheets. A rash of teenage suicides have forced the makers of modern antidepressants to make such warnings more prominent. It's a pretty good idea, so I thought I'd follow their lead.
Weight gain: Everyone asks about this specifically with every med no matter what, so it will start getting its own section. Sexual side effects: As with weight gain. No matter what everyone asks "Will such and such med make me fat and kill my libido?" If it's not Wellbutrin, no one wants to take it, regardless of what they have. Pregnancy risk: This is a question we get often. Most of the data come from the PI sheet / PDR, where we decode the Class B, C and D codes. If I get information from other reliable sources, I'll provide it. Seizure risk: With so many epileptics reading and working on this site, this section was sorely lacking. If I have hard numbers, I'll publish them. Otherwise it might be vague. Interesting Stuff Your Doctor Probably Won't Tell You: There is so much to know about every drug out there, so many disorders and so many patients to deal with, you honestly can't expect your doctor to know everything, let alone have the time to tell you everything. So I've included a few tidbits that might be of help to you, or at least of interest. Most of the information here is in the PI sheet / PDR, buried in an obscure place. If it comes from a study or two I should have a reference to the study in question.
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Here are the links to other pages about a med:
Basic Information Page
Side Effects Page
Dosage, Discontinuation and
Half-Life Page Effectiveness, Comparison with Other Meds and Ratings
Pages How it Works in Your Brain Page Buying, Pricing
& PI Sheets Page Special effects &
Issues page
Comments
Check for Drug-Drug Interactions This is the link to another great site, just to check drug-drug interactions. I use this site because they include drug-food interactions and interactions with non-prescription medications. They also differentiate between sustained release and immediate release version of meds. It's the most comprehensive drug interaction site I've seen. Don't freak out over the AIDS thing. Yes, it's owned and operated by HIV+ people. So what? It's not like you're going to get HIV through your computer. Practically every freaking drug on the planet is in their database, that's all that matters. No matter what sort of wacky combination of drugs you take, if a drug-drug interaction has been published, it finds its way into their database. Eventually. Hey, nobody's perfect. If you want omniscience, take it up with some deity or another. Because of the HIV issue, they cover food interactions, and that's something too many doctors and pharmacists won't even think of. Maybe the grapefruit thing will come up, but there's a lot more than that. Anticonvulsants, commonly known as "mood stabilizers," are especially sensitive to what types of foods you eat or if you take your meds with food or not.