Who Are These Crazy People?

Know your sources! Just who is behind this site? As it states in the introduction this site is "by crazy people for crazy people."  No doctors, pharmacists, therapists, lawyers or anyone else with useful credentials.  Plus you get to know just how crazy we are.  Contrary to some of the e-mails I receive, we don't self-diagnose here.  These are all of the latest and greatest diagnoses from the best available doctors we see.

Name: Jerod Poore (jerod23 at gmail dot com) Title: Chief Citizen Medical Expert Age:  45 Location:  Missoula, Montana Diagnoses: Bipolar NOS, Convulsive Disorder NOS (the neurologist's latest guess is some form of progressive myoclonic epilepsy), Agoraphobia, ADD.  Although twice diagnosed with autism (once as a child and once as an adult), my current official diagnosis now has me with a large mélange of diagnoses that merely mimic a form of autism (Sensory integration disorder. OCD.  Social avoidant personality.  Prosopagnosia.  Having practically no visual memory while having an amazing command of facts and language; and yet being able to remember what I was told, what I read, or otherwise experienced to an uncanny degree.  Having superlative pattern recognition skills.  Having a "quirky" personality including a flat affect,  little empathy and low tolerance for frustration.  Etc.), but as of now I'm not officially autistic.  Ya think it's because I had stimming in public and a startle response beaten out of me?  Or eye contact and handshaking similarly beaten into me?  I'll let all y'all be the judge of that one.  One of the uberspazzen. Credentials: High School drop-out, AA in Data Processing, otherwise self-taught.  Former co-host of the Medications Issues folder and former host of the News & Information folder for the Bipolar Fora at about.com's bipolar site. Current Cocktail: Topamax 200mg, Neurontin 2100mg, and 225mg of Lamictal daily; lorazepam 1-4mg as required.  Approximately 7,800mg of DHA & EPA from omega three fish oils.  Plus one or more espresso drinks and either a bowl or two of pipe tobacco or a robusto sized cigar a day.  You can check out my recent history of meds. History: Diagnosed with autism in Hollywood, CA in the mid-1960s. Began experiencing ultradian rapid cycling in Stockton, CA in 1974. Had first nervous breakdown in Stockton in 1979. While living in Melbourne, Australia, I was diagnosed with manic-depression (as it was then known) in 1985, and started on lithium treatment. Found out about the epilepsy the hard way after a series of tonic-clonic seizures initiated by the lithium. Previous simple & complex partial and absence events were attributed to the autism. Had second nervous breakdown in 1986, with the combination of seizures and ultradian rapid cycling. One day I was in Melbourne, Australia and the next I was back in San Francisco with a new suit, a half-empty suitcase and a yidaki. I still don't know how it happened. Avoided most psychiatric and anti-epileptic medications, except for benzodiazepines afterwards because of the trauma and not being able to cope with how health plans worked.  Can you say "pre-existing conditions?"  I knew you could.  Later sought psychiatric help and no one thought that anyone with bipolar disorder could go unmedicated for that long and hold a steady job and keep his life together, so it just had to be really bad depression striking someone who was normally pretty happy. Ha-ha, joke's on me. Found out the hard way that SSRIs and multiple reuptake inhibitors and I don't get along either. Avoided psychiatry again until it was almost too late. Although still too late to avoid my third nervous breakdown on or about my 40th birthday in 2002. For more details, see my autistic-bipolar-epileptic blog Formerly treated at The Amen Clinic.  They pretty much saved my life.  Currently treated at a local clinic that deals with the more complicated brains.  I tried driving to Dr. Amen's Tacoma office.  Tacoma has too many people in too many cars for me to handle.  I like the staff there, but I can't deal with cities any more.  It's an autistic thing. For anyone who knew me back in the day who happens to be doing a Google search.  What is Jerod Pore / Jerod Poor doing now?  Now you know.  Yup, Jerod Pore, the Poppin Zits!-publishing, Factsheet 5-writing, Scientology-baiting, shortwave radio monitoring media geek.  Or Jerod Poor the Maximumrocknroll shitworker from the days of single digit issues. (Click on the Ancient History link to see me laying in front of the Bechtel building with an American flag draped over me.  A rather prescient image from over 20 years ago.)  And Jerod Poore - same person.  Amazing what one can do in 15 years of untreated hypomania.

Name: Kassiane Sibley

Title: Forum Moderator and Chief Medical Researcher Emeritus

Diagnoses: Bipolar NOS (mostly in the manic part of the spectrum), somewhere in the Autistic spectrum, seizure disorder NOS, ADD, GAD, dipsogenic diabetes insipidus, secondary adrenal insufficiency (she sees an endocrinologist for the last two). 

Current Cocktail: Topamax, Neurontin, Keppra, Prozac, methylphenidate, predisone daily; dexamethasone as required. 

History:  Kassiane was the first moderator for an early version of Crazy Meds' forum back in November 2004.  she wrote the article on Keppra and supplied research for some of the other medications.  Kassiane helped numerous people figure out which medications would probably be better fits and thus discuss those with their doctors instead of just taking the HMO / insurance company / pharm rep recommendations.  Kassiane is still helping people today on her site, Rett Devil. 

Name: Kim "Mouse" Hecht

Title: Founder Emeritus

Diagnoses: Bipolar NOS (mostly in the depressive part of the spectrum), Asperger's, Hyperlexia, Severe ADHD, Borderline Personality Disorder, Convulsive Disorder NOS, GAD, Fibromyalgia, possible adrenal failure, it goes on, she's a walking DSM-IV.  Mouse coined the term uberspazz to describe the mental and physical flailings-about that come from the conflicting personality traits of being bipolar and autistic.   And the extremely klutziness of being both epileptic and autistic.  And being on all the meds to deal with those three core conditions along with the two comorbid conditions that will always come along with them (ADD/ADHD and some form of a panic/anxiety disorder).  Plus the intense self-awareness you get with autism, an anxiety disorder, and having an IQ in the genius range.

Location:  Whereabouts in flux.  Now the mother of Noel. 

History:  The whole Crazy Meds concept was originally Mouse's idea.  She couldn't find anyplace on the whole freaking Internet that had straight information on meds, in English, for the treatment-resistant bipolar.  In 2000 during a Geodon and Celexa - induced mania that included purchasing two computers, Mouse downloaded a couple thousand dollars worth of reports from Blackwell-Synergy.  As well as purchasing dozens of books on pharmacology.  That was the start of the Crazy Meds knowledge base.  I got her a PDR for Christmas the next year.  She began finding out how some of the meds worked on freaks like us, about off-label uses and freaky rare side effects.  She's also the one who has had the most first-hand experience with the majority of meds on this site.  Really, it's easier to indicate when one of us hasn't taken a particular med, and that usually mean that Mouse hasn't tried it.  The only things that I've taken that she hasn't are a few of the older benzos (e.g. Librium). 

Between all of us we've taken almost all of the meds covered on this site.  Thus we know up close and personal what the effects and side effects have been like for us, at least.  And  if we haven't, we know people who have.  That's usually more than your doctor can say.

The Overlords of the 12 Zernox Galaxies have compelled me through messages in the Sunday Chronicle to beg you for your support.  Unfortunately I need money again, so if you can:

Visit the Support Page for how you can help if you don't have any money laying around.   This includes reviewing Crazy Meds for Amazon.com and/or

There's also our Mental Mall to snag some free software or a purchase some books. 

Better yet, if you run a business and want to advertise on Crazy Meds, see our page on ad rates and policies.  I'm all about fiscal transparency, so follow the money for full disclosure of my finances.

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Hey, did you find this page all by itself through Google or some other search engine? Great! But to really appreciate the entire site, you need to start here.