Giving thanks for Jerod Poore

Jerod Poore is the walking, talking, tweeting, posting wikipedia of all meds psychiatric and neurological. His manifesto: At Crazymeds [his original website] we make psychiatric and neurological conditions (AKA brain cooties) our bitches with evidence-based medicine and a healthy dose of gallows humor.

When I caught brain cooties fourteen years ago, Jerod was the first person I found who gave me genuine information. When the docs turned my brain into a chemistry experiment, Jerod told me what was happening to it.


That's the sketch I drew of my brain on drugs. Not the drugs they warn you about, but the drugs they scold you for refusing to take. Prozac, Celexa, Remeron, Cymbalta, Effexor.



Now, these are fine medications and do help people, notwithstanding the fact that they did not help me. It took years to figure out that my diagnosis was wrong, so these were the wrong medications for me anyway. If they help you, TAKE THEM.

But my mind was mush. The docs gave me precious little information about them when they prescribed them. And the prescribing information sheets from the pharmacies were stuffed with euphemisms. My favorite: they called akathesia "inner restlessness."

Somehow I found Crazymeds. Type the name of the medication into the search bar and find everything you could want to know about it in one place (except whether it will work for you.) Jerod told me what the doctors didn't: the good, the bad, the ugly, the really weird shit my doctor wouldn't think to mention. Jerod told me to take my meds. Jerod told me to suck it up, side effects get better, and better to have side effects than to die of the condition for which the medication was prescribed.

Jerod probably saved my life when he described Effexor discontinuation syndrome. My doc wanted me to start it when I was about to leave for Costa Rica for six weeks. Thanks to Crazymeds, I knew I needed to have a protocol in place in case I had to quit it. And indeed, I did have to quit it [akathesia] once I started it. But that was after I was back in the states and had access to step down doses.

Crazymeds became my go-to reference before I put anything new into my mouth. That didn't mean I refused my meds. It meant I knew what I was in for. Pro-psychiatry, pro-science, continuously educating instead of pontificating, with a heavy dose of gallows humor, Jerod is a reliable source.

Then something weird happened. After a few years not visiting the site, I returned to find this extensive citing of the copyright law with annotations at the top of the page. Somebody had scrubbed crazymeds.us and copied it over to crazymeds.net.

NOTE: I have not discussed this with either party. I am simply reporting what is posted.

The rationale for the deed seems to be that Jerod was not maintaining this invaluable resource which would be lost unless the deed were done. Quoting the page:

[this is a unique resource for the mentally ill, and preservation of it can be argued to be incredibly important.] 

From what I understand, this was not a friendly takeover. But Jerod was not able to fight it, and withdrew from the field.

Well, I don't know what to make of that. The owner of the new site complains about multiple glitches in the original, but hasn't fixed them as far as I can tell. So that feels a little cheesy.

I do wonder if Jerod would have had more protection under the new copyright law that addresses internet property now making its way through Congress.

I also wonder if the owner of Crazymeds.net might have preserved the site by giving Jerod the financial assistance to do so, seeing as how the owner ended up spending the same money to swipe it.

And I wonder if an author doesn't have the right to dispose of the author's own property, regardless of how incredibly important somebody else might deem it.

As somebody who also produces intellectual property and posts it on the internet and sometimes is not able to keep it up and now finds glitches in my old posts, I feel like I have a stake in this argument.

So I wonder.

Be that as it may...

The original material is still there, most of it, and still valuable, though aging a bit as the new owner makes no attempt that I can see to keep current. Which Jerod might have, if he'd had the opportunity. We'll never know.

Meanwhile, after this sad saga, I have one more item to bring to your attention. Actually, many items to be found at Cafepress: t-shirts, coffee mugs, flasks, bumper stickers, magnets. Jerod made a font, not a true font, but a series of images of letters using his meds, his very own meds. Then he arranged them into a variety of sentiments: Medicated For Your Protection, The Seroquel Made Me Eat It, Team PTSD, Fuck Bipolar... Whatever your diagnosis, whatever your medication, you are likely to find the sentiment you wish to wear on your chest.

I bought myself the Batshit Crazy t-shirt, black of course, though many colors and styles are available. It's part of my brand: Batshit Crazy Support Group, Batshit Crazy Book Club, Batshitcrazypreacher... Did you know I am a preacher? How about that!

It's easy as pie to monetize a website. Actually making any money off it is beyond difficult. But the t-shirts and coffee mugs... No, he doesn't make a lot of money off them either. But I do keep hoping they will catch on. Check them out! Do your Christmas shopping! A reusable tote that says Mentally InterestingCafepress.

Nowadays Jerod tweets, continuing his mission to find the facts in the midst of the nonsense out there. For which I am thankful. @jerod23 and @BrandCrazyMeds

sketch by author
flair by Facebook
crazy meds merchandise from Cafepress.
Go shopping today.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for this. I've been wondering and hoping he was ok

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  2. i got seriously worried when i found the site gone and virtually nothing from him. i see by twitter he's still alive, and that was my biggest concern, so thank Chuck for that...

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  3. Thanks for the information. I was also worried. His website helped me so much. Glad to hear he's doing ok. I just gave him a follow on Twitter

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