Posted by Eddie Sylvano on August 20, 2002, at 9:58:42
Having lurked through these postings for a couple of months now, I'm somewhat disheartened by the disparity of it all. Any given medication will clearly have entirely different effects on different people ("Quitting effexor!" "Effexor saved me!", "etc!"), rendering much of the ad hoc pharmacology advice offered here relative and of little utility.
What I've always wanted is a more systemic approach, perhaps a cross-linked database of (admittedly) self-reported symptoms, illnesses, and relevant test results, and the drugs that alleviated or exacerbated those problems (along with the extent and duration of relief). Not unlike Amazon, which suggests purchases based on similarities in preference profiles, once a user had established an approximate definition of their mental/physical status and reactivities, they might derive more benefit from the resulting information.
Another benefit would be the ease of information retrieval. Instead of having to search for specific problems/drugs, and perhaps being unable to benefit from older information that the user has difficulty finding, all information would be indexed in myriad ways. Essentially, it would be much the same as this, but with an attempt to establish greater order and efficacy.
This would allow for both a continually refining algorithm for potential prescriptive avenues, and a forum for discussion of the results (and plain old social gabbing :).
Does anyone like this idea? Has it been done anywhere? If there were any interest in such a site, I'd be happy to program it (being a programmer and all).
Anyway, just my two cents...
poster:Eddie Sylvano
thread:117084
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020814/msgs/117084.html