It is ALARMING, actually that is just so, so understated…it is miniscule in the larger scheme of what is happening - and we must hope that some smart, tough, no-nonsene legal minds, scholars, constitutional experts who WANT to protect the public’s rights, will yet converge - and guess what? - it ain’t over! - at least Canada has a bit more smarts..
…

The absolute sadness is the thousands and thousands of Vioxx victims, and that is what they are, who not only have had to endure Merck’s (alleged) neglect, deceit and fraud and suffer heart attacks; but now are going through the ups and downs of getting shafted again!
…

Hey MASS TORT REFORM - you are still “full of yourselves and your cockiness is just so nutty; I really don’t think you will have your way on tghis when the dust settles…butg in the meantime, I guess you shall maintain your smugness and scorn of the Vioxx victims while you have coffee with the attorneys who deserted their clients legal rights in droves…go ahead, have your fun for now; it is more than apparent that mean spirit is in your heart and minds…
…

Dennis Harrison
MBA - BGS
…

vIOXX victims - we know you shall gain no comfort with the arrogant anti civil right violation HAWKS, also apparently most of your attorneys, and certainly not Merck… but there is a group of individuals in a similar situation and KNOW what you are going

I liked “Concentration in a Pill,” and “Oh, just take half a Lexapro and you’ll be fine.” They both integrated your personal experiences and offered commentary on a tight topic that people care about: using drugs in ways they were not perscribed.

For similar reasons, I liked “What Happens When A Pill Does Its Job A Little Too Well.” Side effects are topic that people care abot - they impact your life.

I’d like to see your blog do more posts like these. A series of posts on side effects would be excellent. Pick a new drug once a week or something. Same for recreational/other was folks are using pills. They’re easy formulas to write to and a series would bring readers back.

A post that needed work:

“Chris Rock Hits It Right On the Mark” would have been better if you embedded the video. I’m glad you included the warning - though I’d shorten it to NSFW, the bloggy term.

Overall critique:

I enjoyed reading your posts. They’re funny and well-written.

Be sure to check your links. “Concentration in a Pill” has a link that does not work. I check mine for each post by previewing it and clicking each one. I screw them up all the time, but I catch it then.

“Heparin” would have been more scannable if you put the long quote into a blockquote.

You’ve got to get rid of the Wordpress default blogroll, which you have on your page not once, but twice.

Your linking technique has gotten better over time, but I’d tweak it slightly. In “Ass-backwards System,” your link is on the words “New York Times.” That looks like a link to the NYT main page, not to the “April 14 article” that should have been linked. You do this better in your later posts, but I’d like to see more than “AP article” linked. In your most recent post, I would have linked the words “It looks like yet another miracle pill may be falling by the wayside.” Then you don’t need to use the word article in the next sentence. You can just say “the AP reported” or something.

More pictures! You started strong w/ pics, but the later posts have none. Every post doesn’t need an image, but it helps to have some. You should be able to grab a pic for any drug you’re covering. When people are reading this in an RSS reader, you need something to catch their eye. A drug logo would do that, especially if they know someone on that drug.

Sorry if I’m being nitpicky, but I think you’re doing well, so I’ve got the nitpicky stuff left to criticize.

Aaaand, like I said at the beginning, I think a lot of these posts lend themselves to series. Each series could be a category in Wordpress too, making them easy to read as a collection.

Good job.

b

I really liked your post detailing the side effects of new drugs (http://aranyatomseth.com/2008/04/21/the-new-kids-on-the-block/)
It reminded me of the SNL “happy Fun Ball” sketch:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7358768984043835546&q=happy+fun+ball&ei=DjsVSN3OJI7k4ALxgoDVBA

Keep using multimedia as you have already for scan-ability.

You might want to edit your sidebars to incorporate a calendar, some del.icio.us links and some tags or categories so its easier to navigate once you have more posts.

I took Chantix to quit smoking and it worked like a charm. It never made me depressed, but I did experience some crazy side effects.

If you’ve ever used a nicotine patch, you probably know what it does to you if you leave it on when you’re sleeping - it gives you *insanely* vivid dreams.

I had similar problems with Chantix, though my dreams were less vivid than when I was using the patch, they were still pretty freaky.

The wackiness was worth it - I haven’t smoked in over a year, but I was very happy to get off the pill and sleep soundly.

http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous-waste/household-haz-waste/hhwc-schedule.html

Also from April 19 - 27 the EPA is sponsoring collections in the Great Lakes area - their goal is to get 1 million lbs of e-waste and 1 million pills of unwanted medicine collected before it all ends up in the water table.

Why do I know all this? I wrote about it last week on the illustrious medillnewsservice.com