Treat Us Right: Comparing Cymbalta and Lyrica in the Fibromyalgia Community

Since its launch in November 2008, our PatientsLikeMe Fibromyalgia Community has served as a place for more than 11,000 fibromyalgia patients to share with, find, and learn from others.  Over the past 2 years, thousands of you have reported using Pfizer’s Lyrica® and Eli Lilly’s Cymbalta® as prescribed treatments for your fibromyalgia. PatientsLikeMe recently analyzed… Continue reading Treat Us Right: Comparing Cymbalta and Lyrica in the Fibromyalgia Community

Treat Us Right: Mapping What Patients Think About Medications

One of the ways we can better understand whether you, as patients, are having a positive or negative treatment experience is to “listen” to the conversation you’re having in our forum.  By understanding whether you are having a positive, negative, or neutral experience with a particular treatment you are taking or are considering taking, we… Continue reading Treat Us Right: Mapping What Patients Think About Medications

The Patient Rules. A Discussion with the PatientsLikeMe Executives

We recently sat down with our executive team here at PatientsLikeMe in our first-ever roundtable-format podcast.  In this PatientsLikeMeOnCallTM interview, we ask Co-founders Ben and Jamie Heywood, Chief Marketing Officer David S. Williams III, and R&D Director Paul Wicks PhD to discuss why our recent series themes are so important to the history and future… Continue reading The Patient Rules. A Discussion with the PatientsLikeMe Executives

Share and Compare: From the mouths of patients

As we round out our “Share and Compare” week, here are a few quotes that some of our members have shared regarding the impact of being able to see where you fit in. You’ll read in the quotes how patients like you can find solace in the fact that there are others out there experiencing… Continue reading Share and Compare: From the mouths of patients

Share and Compare Your Health Experience

“I want to know if what I’m going through is normal for a patient like me.” This is a sentiment we’ve heard from so many of you throughout our communities.  This week, we’re focusing our blog on some of the ways we’re trying to help you put your experiences in context.  It’s a concept we… Continue reading Share and Compare Your Health Experience

Share and Compare: How are you feeling? Find out with InstantMe!

Here at PatientsLikeMe we strive to give you the tools and functionalities you want and need to gain insights into your conditions, including putting your experiences in context.  Today, we’re introducing a new tool in all of our communities called “InstantMe.”  Want to chart how you’re feeling day in and day out?  Now you can.… Continue reading Share and Compare: How are you feeling? Find out with InstantMe!

What Data Do We Sell? A Continued Discussion about “Data Scraping”

In response to the Wall Street Journal article published last week, we’ve had a lot of great discussions about the role of honesty and transparency. Transparency is about you – members of the PatientsLikeMe community – knowing how we make money and what we do with the data you’ve entrusted to each other and PatientsLikeMe.… Continue reading What Data Do We Sell? A Continued Discussion about “Data Scraping”

PatientsLikeMe in Wall Street Journal: Transparency, Openness and Privacy (cont’d)

Journalist Julia Angwin of the Wall Street Journal just published an article describing how a major media monitoring company, Nielsen BuzzMetrics,  scraped our forum last Spring.  (See my previous blog post on the incident – “Transparency, Openness and Privacy“) Julia’s piece includes details regarding how this incident happened, how we (and you) responded and more. … Continue reading PatientsLikeMe in Wall Street Journal: Transparency, Openness and Privacy (cont’d)

Series Premiere of “The Patient Voice” – Meet Pokie Too!

“This represents my family, we share everything together.”– PokieToo, PatientsLikeMe Parkinson’s Community “The Patient Voice” is here!  Are you ready to listen in?  Today is the official premiere of our new PatientsLikeMeOnCallTM podcast, “The Patient Voice.”  Our first guest is Parkinson’s community member, PokieToo. Pokie is the founder and creator of the PatientsLikeMe Parkinson’s quilt,… Continue reading Series Premiere of “The Patient Voice” – Meet Pokie Too!

Will Openness Bring About a Breakthrough?

Share your thoughts in an innovative online eventwith our partner Myelin Repair Foundation. Our Openness Philosophy is centered around the idea that patients sharing their real world health data allows for collaboration on a global scale; that it will accelerate new treatments; and that it can change our health care system.  In this same spirit… Continue reading Will Openness Bring About a Breakthrough?