Rxmas Consumerist Orgy of New Products at Straitjacket T-Shirts

I've been putting up a shitload of new products at Straitjacket T-Shirts.  Just the thing for anyone who responds well to retail therapy, with or without Havidol (avafynetime); including those who respond to online window-shopping.  

Most of the new merchandise is in the Pile of Pills motif, featuring buttons and cheap jewelry, and some ridiculous, and ridiculously expensive, household items, such as curtains and a tablecloth.  Those last two are among several items that, while actually for sale, are mainly for entertainment purposes. 

There are also more clocks, with both the pill design and the Medication Time design, some of which are reasonably priced.

By popular demand there are now buttons and magnets.  Currently only the most popular designs are available in those media.  I'll see how well these do before even thinking about adding any more designs, as buttons are a pain in the ass to do in the Pill Font.  As I was adding the buttons to the store I saw the designs fit three magnets, so I threw those in for the hell of it.

I hope to add some new designs in time for Rxmas.

Begging for Attention

The beg button is back on the wiki.  There will soon be an obnoxious expansion of links to the CafePress store.  As I'm one of the lucky people who actually responds well to BuSpar I'll be looking into some form of advertising that isn't subject to ad-blocking software.  Such as those supremely annoying keyword links.

Lots & Lots of New Merchandise at Straitjacket T-Shirts

I've put up a shitload of new designs on shirts, mugs, stickers, and assorted other media at the expanded Straitjacket T-Shirts.  I had to make some slight changes to the mug designs to get them to look nearly as good as what they can do at Zazzle.  When I compare mugs from each of them side-by-side the difference is probably something that maybe 5% of people would notice.

When it comes to media the only thing Zazzle does that is massively superior to Cafe Press is jigsaw puzzles.  Cafe Press' puzzles are a miserable 30 pieces, while Zazzle's puzzles are a respectable 252 pieces.  I'm not even bothering to add puzzles to the Cafe Press product line.  I don't know if it will be worth keeping the Zazzle store open just for puzzles, so check them out while they're still there.

I still have more to come, but as always I doubt if I'll finish when I need to.  What's up now is barely in time for RXmas.  

Straitjacket T-Shirts Consolidating at Cafe Press

Zazzle now officially sucks more than Cafe Press.  Which means I'll be shutting down the Zazzle store.  And since I have to recreate what I want to sell on Cafe Press, I'm getting rid of designs that aren't selling.  Including shirts.  So if you want any of the really crappy designs, get them soon.

I've been updating existing designs of shirts and mugs with new versions of the Pill font, as well as creating new designs.  I suggest you don't buy any of the shirts that haven't been updated (Brain Cooties Aren't Contagious e.g.), unless you like the original Pill Font more than the new ones.

By popular request I've finally created more bumperstickers and other items like mouse pads.  I plan on converting some discontinued shirt designs into one or more of bumperstickers, mouse pads, mugs and maybe some of whatever other cheap crap Cafe Press offers that looks interesting.

New designs include things like:

United States of Pharmaceuticals sticker

Medication Time Mug

So stop by the latest version of Straitjacket T-Shirts. 

The way traffic to and revenue from Crazy Meds is plummeting who knows how long I'll be around with this garbage.

Pop Quiz! Forum Software Upgrade

We're back up.  Annoying bug still there.

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I'll be doing a forum software upgrade today.  Sorry about the utter lack of notice, but, given my current spate of depression, I have no idea what I'll be up for on a day-to-day basis.

The usual parameters: starting noon Mountain time, 1800 GMT, and lasting as long as it takes. How much of the fix for the most annoying bug is IPB software and how much is system maintenance makes it difficult to tell how long this will take.

If You Can't Cure Them, Give Up

Should the Crazy Meds forum include more support group-like qualities?  Should we discuss 3rd parties?  Mentally interesting children?  To what, if any, extent should Axis II disorders be involved?

In other words, do we go back to what the place was like in 2004, more or less, but with better software?

You don't need to be a forum member to read, but you do if you want to join the discussion:

Let's Cloudsource To Re-Envision The Crazy Meds Forum Paradigm

New Content, more or less, and Software Update.

New content, of sorts.  I've finally put up the long-overdue page of: Definitions of Neurological, Psychiatric, Medical, and Miscellaneous Terms, Abbreviations, Acronyms & Initialisms used on Crazy Meds.  It is not a medical dictionary.  That is still in procrastination mode.

I'm also planning on doing a forum & blog software update this Sunday, 5 April 2013.  It should be business as usual - starting around noon Mountain time (18:00 GMT) and lasting as long as it takes.  An hour?  Two?  Less?  Hell if I know.  The rest of the site should not be affected.

Crazy Meds Content Updates

Nothing spectacular, but more than the unannounced tweaks to pages I do all the time.

• Each Coming Night pointed out some changes & errors regarding the availability of norepinephrine-selective reuptake inhibiting antidepressants. The changes being Strattera (atomoxetine) is now available all over the place, not just Canadia; the errors being Edronax (reboxetine) is not yet available as a generic in the UK and Ireland. So I updated the Strattera (atomoxetine), Edronax (reboxetine), and Norepinephrine-Selective Reuptake Inhibitor (NSRI) Antidepressants pages to reflect that.
  • In addition to availability, I made a few other minor changes on the page about NSRIs clarifying their common attributes and relationship to TCAs.
  • I was also able to dig up some information on the Catatrol (viloxazine), the original, or at least older NSRI. It’s still around, but I doubt I’ll write up anything on it.
  • I also got to add SPC sheets from the UK & Ireland, and a New Zealand MDS sheet to the Strattera page, along with its shelf-life of three years.
• Instead of dealing with my life, I completely redid the Stats page. To make things easier for everyone, you can now see traffic stats from AwStats, Alexa, and whatever alternate universe version of Crazy Meds Quantcast is looking at.

More Phone Friendly, I Hope. Plus Expanded Search Options

• I’ve improved, I hope, the way the site looks for people using various mobile devices. Especially those of you with iPhones, who now represent 20% of this site’s traffic. There is now an entire page dedicated to setting your browsing environment. It’s a bit flaky, but after a fucking month of working on it, it’s not going to get any better. Those of you with large phones, tablets, laptops, and real computers are better off using the settings at the bottom of the right sidebar. If you don’t see a right sidebar, there should be a “Show Sidebar” toggle link underneath the HON Code certification icon. Click on that to display it. And if you don’t want to see either sidebar, each of them can be toggled to display or not when using the Triad skin. There’s more info about that and more on the set environment page.
  • Unless you’re going to a specific page, when you first hit the site using a phone you’ll be asked to select the display you want to use. With any luck you won’t be asked that again, because we’ll be leaving a bunch of cookies lying around. More about those on the updated Privacy Policy page.
• Since mobile users haven’t had access to the Google site search, I’ve given everyone access to the wiki’s built-in search engine. It’s a lot like the forum’s search engine, except much more reliable. Just as the forum’s search engine will search only the forum and blogs, the wiki’s search engine will search only the wiki pages. You need to use the Google search engine if you want to search the wiki, forum, blogs, PI sheets and other .pdf files all at once - or search the PI sheets at all. The search is resource-intensive, so I don’t know if I’ll leave it available to everyone or not.

Wiki Software Update Postponed

Between the on-going problems with the forum software, and my inability to get the wiki software to do what it's told, the wiki software update is postponed until it learns who's boss.

Let the Upgrades Begin!

The forum, calendar & blog software upgrade has begun.  I don't expect this to take too long as far as these things go.

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We're back on the air, and there are all sorts of annoying little problems.  Quoted posts look funky, and various admin stuff isn't working like it used to.  That's what I get for being optimistic.

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I'm trying to fix some of what's wrong, but it's not letting me.  I need to kick everyone off, as in stop trying to access the forum, but I'm still not able to get enough memory do any cache management. 

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OK, looks like I need to open up a trouble ticket Monday.  We're back on the air, it's just that some posts will look funky.

Forum & Wiki Software Upgrades

I plan on upgrading the forum, blog, and calendar software Sunday, 13 January, 2013.  The upgrade should begin noonish Mountain Time (19:00 GMT), and end anywhere from two to five hours later.  I never can tell with these things.  As these aren't particularly major software changes, my money is on three hours.  The forum and blogs will be unavailable during that time.

Most of the changes in the upgrades are under the covers or behind the scenes, so you won't see them.  The most significant one, I think, is the Best Answer feature.  That's the sort of thing we've needed for a long-ass time.

Then one week later - Sunday, 20 January, 2013 - I won't be joining my fellow Caucasians in honoring the work and sacrifice of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. by skiing or snowboarding.  Instead I'll be updating the wiki software.  I don't think there will be any significant interruption in the availability of pages at any time during the process, but I'll have a better idea after I run the updates in a test environment.  


As always, you can check any or all of here, and Crazy Meds' Facebook and Google+ pages for status updates.

New Content: Geodon / Zeldox / Ziprasidone Pages

Actual new content! The long-overdue pages on Geodon / Zeldox (ziprasidone) are up. It’s a work in progress, like the entire site.

I should have written up a page on Geodon sooner, as it's a fascinating drug.  It breaks down into 12! freaking metabolites, using a sampling of every metabolic action your liver and gut have to offer, yet you still piss out 44% of a dose unchanged.  It's like Lamictal in having more antidepressant action at a lower dosage and more antimanic action at a higher dosage, but, unlike Lamictal, why Geodon works like that is obvious.

Pristiq Page & More

11 October 2012

• Actual new content! The long-overdue page on Pristiq is up. There are also a bunch of tweaks to the Effexor page, since I was looking up stuff for comparisons between the two meds.
• I filled in the page on Zyprexa’s pharmacokinetics, which a half-dozen people must have been waiting for.
• I also wrote up a bunch of stuff on how the FDA is still a bunch of liars when it comes to the Teva Budeprion XL fiasco. You’ll find the highlights, with links to more, on the Wellbutrin Brand & Generic Availability Page, and lots and lots of details on the Wellbutrin Expanded Comments page.
  • All that meant a few updates to The Brand Name vs. Generic Medications page.

Recent updates to Crazy Meds

13 September 2012

• What’s old is still new. I’ve converted and updated Bryan’s article on How to Apply For SSDI/SSI When You’re Mentally Interesting. As the article was originally published in 2004, and written and edited by a couple of guys who went through the process of getting disability benefits in 2002, the page with all the links to other sites is probably the most useful.

09 September 2012

• More new old content. The Adderall page is up. That leaves only the lithium orotate page, which I may or may not convert to the new format.
• And a page on medications used to treat ADD/ADHD in adults.
• Also a page on Sleep Disorders, which is actual new content.

07 September 2012

• Another rave from the grave of the non-wiki version of the site is back: site statistics. I’m sure that means a lot to both of the people who are interesting in that sort of thing.

25 August 2012

• Back on 23 July I enabled the right sidebar. In addition to providing space for links to other sites, and the replacement for the support group & more information pages, I also have given you, yes you the opportunity to change the color scheme, typeface, and size of wiki. At least on your screen. If you’re on a real computer and not a smart or not-so-smart phone. Why I made the announcement for this in all the usual places except this page is beyond me.
• What I have done today is something long overdue: a guide on how to actually use this site. Theory of mind is very different for those of us in the Asperger’s spectrum, which is why you’ll often hear us yell, “Isn’t it fucking obvious?” a lot. It also explains why we hate to write [l]user manuals. Many, if not most of us assume anyone who can grasp certain basic concepts must automatically know how to use our elegantly and efficiently designed and executed piece of crap. So I’ve expanded the old How to Read Our Drug Guides pages to now be the How to Navigate this Site, Use its Features & Read the Drug Guides pages.

Medication Pages Updates

Recent changes:

• I’ve converted the Depacon and valproate pages to the new format.
• That leaves only the Adderall page and a page on stimulants/ADD meds left to convert from the old to new formats. Or not, if I don’t think there’s anything worth salvaging on the stimulants page.
  
  • Duh - and the lithium orotate page. That’s a low priority, but I’ll leave the html version around. I don’t know if I’ll ever convert it, but I won’t delete it.
• Except for those three pages, everything from the old site should redirect to the new wiki. Including pages I don’t plan on updating, such as links to various support group sites. What I plan on having is one massive page of links to other sites that may or may not be categorized.
• There are still a couple other things I might still convert. Eventually. For now their HTML equivalents are going away.

I’m constantly tweaking/updating information, so check the following pages any time for changes I don't consider worth posting about. Everything except updated PI sheets will get listed on one of these:

• List of changes to medication pages
• List of changes to medication class/category pages. AEDs, antidepressants, etc.
• List of changes to medication information pages. Various articles about meds.
• List of changes to pages about the Crazy Meds site. Our bibliography, who we are, etc. This also includes stuff like copyright information and the big-ass disclaimer at the bottom of each page.
• List of changes to reader comments. And any pages associated with reader comment maintenance.

And we're back

The Crazy Talk forum is back up.  We'll see if the upgrades broke anything.

Forum Offline for Software Upgrade

The Crazy Meds forum and blogs will be temporarily down tomorrow, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, 8 July 2012, around noonish Mountain time (1800, or thereabouts GMT) for a software upgrade. I have no idea how long it will take as I'll also be doing the usual purging of inactive user accounts and database maintenance before the install. There's also an upgrade to the server-side Tapatalk software for the mobile app.

This should affect the forum and blogs only, the rest of the site - i.e. the pages on medications - will be available.  At least that's the plan.

Asocial Networking

I've added Facebook and Google+ buttons all over the Crazy Meds site.  I know Google+ works, but I'm not sure about the Facebook likes yet.  If you have a Google+ account it would help us a lot to add me (on the pages I wrote), and any specific pages on the site you like, to your circles.  If you don't have a Google+ account but use some other form of social bookmarking, adding any individual pages you like, and not just the front page, would also be a big help.

Turns out it doesn't matter where you decide to follow the Crazy Meds via the Google+ button, even here.  All those little +1 buttons, those add up on a page-by-page basis.  So any specific pages you liked/found genuinely useful, please be sure to +1 them.

Adding me to your circles as well makes a big difference.  A huge difference.  I'm not interested in personal popularity, and cannot wrap my head around why people have over 1,000 'friends' on Facebook, but as I have the purely monetary motive to keep Crazy Meds viable (and me off of SSDI):


I'm open to suggestions as to what the Google+ page will be good for, other than yet another channel to communicate site status reports & updates.
I've also changed the name of the site's Facebook page.  We're now at www.facebook.com/BrandCrazyMeds.
Because someone already has faecesbook.com/crazymeds, even though his profile has fuck all to do with medications of any kind.  So we're the brand-name good stuff and he's the generic wannabe.
The Facebook group which is the de facto Crazy Meds support group, has the same URL as before.

Software Upgrade

I've begun the software upgrade.  We'll see how long it takes.

Edit 2:04 PM Mountain time: The forum and blogs are back online.  Now let's find out if it really was all that painless.