The Social and Emotional Choices You Make Every Day as a Patient

As David Williams discussed in his blog on Monday, we all have to make choices. And for patients like you living with serious medical conditions, there are obvious treatment and career decisions that you have to make—finding the right doctor, deciding which treatment options to try and determining if it’s still possible for you to… Continue reading The Social and Emotional Choices You Make Every Day as a Patient

The Choices Patients Like You – and Like My Mother – Face

Patients like you with life-changing conditions have to make choices every day, just like anyone else. These choices, however, typically have more at stake than how to RSVP to a party or even whether to walk away from an “underwater” home. For patients like you, your lives may be at stake. I have watched my… Continue reading The Choices Patients Like You – and Like My Mother – Face

Treat us right: Comparing Cymbalta and Lyrica in the fibromyalgia community

At PatientsLikeMe, we strive to put the interests of you, the patient, first in everything we do.  After all, you are the customers of the healthcare industry, and you deserve to have a say about the products and services created for you. Unfortunately, your needs and opinions often haven’t had the influence on the decision-making… Continue reading Treat us right: Comparing Cymbalta and Lyrica in the fibromyalgia community

Share and Compare: The Launch of Two Medications

The launch of a new medication can be a very exciting event.  It can renew hope for a better future and provide proof of the billions spent on research every year.  It can also stimulate a lot of interesting conversation. Or not.  We’ve learned from you that not every new medication warrants your attention and… Continue reading Share and Compare: The Launch of Two Medications

One for All: A Cross View of Patient Sharing

With more than 82,000 patients on PatientsLikeMe, there’s a lot of information being shared with one another.  Last month, we highlighted how your sharing affects the experience of many on our site (One For All series). Today, we continue that theme by taking a look at information being shared across all of our communities that… Continue reading One for All: A Cross View of Patient Sharing

How Patients Like You Use Your Treatments in the Real World: Two New Studies

Ever wonder how many patients like you are using drugs off-label?  Or how hard is it to take MS medications as prescribed?  You’re about to find out. In January, the PatientsLikeMe R&D team published not one but two studies in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) in an effort to provide answers about how… Continue reading How Patients Like You Use Your Treatments in the Real World: Two New Studies

Learning from Others: Newsletter Highlights 2011

In the spirit of the New Year, here are some highlights from our recent newsletter.  Read what patients like you have to say about what they’re most interested in learning from other patients this year. * * * (Amy) What are you most interested in learning from other patients this year? (bradley25 – Mood Conditions… Continue reading Learning from Others: Newsletter Highlights 2011

Share Your Data to Untangle ALS!

Our ALS Community recently broke the 5,000-member mark, making it the largest of its kind in the world as well as the ideal platform for expedited research.  And that’s just what we’re working on. Since the community’s launch in 2006, we’ve conducted a number of research studies, both internally and in collaboration with leaders in… Continue reading Share Your Data to Untangle ALS!

ALS Patient Interview: Never Give Up

We continue our series this week of getting to you the person, not just the “patient.”  Today’s interview is with “iceberg,” a member of our PatientsLikeMe ALS Community and another 2010 newsletter interviewee.   Read on to learn more about what keeps him motivated, how his condition has affected his work life and how he… Continue reading ALS Patient Interview: Never Give Up

Aligning Interests: A PatientsLikeMe Year in Review (Part VII – Business Development)

2010 was a strong year for business development at PatientsLikeMe.  Our goal was – and continues to be – to align patients’ needs with industry interests in order to maximize interaction between the two.  Here are a few of our successes and challenges over the year. Successes 1.  New Partnerships, New Communities In the first… Continue reading Aligning Interests: A PatientsLikeMe Year in Review (Part VII – Business Development)