Get the best from medicines
How to use the site
The website is aimed at helping you make a decision about a treatment, mainly medication. Nearly all the information you want and need is on the site.
A. Quick start
The website has two main strands:
Medicines at least 20 questions and answers on over 110 medicines used in mental health
Conditions at least 14 questions and answers on 18 or so conditions
To find what you want, there are two ways of looking for things:
Use the shortcuts
Conditions and click on the condition you want to look at
Medications and click on the medicine you want to look at
If you can't find what you're looking for, use the search box.
Searching
Use the search box (where it says "Enter keywords") and type in:
a medicine name e.g. fluoxetine, Prozac, diazepam etc or
a condition or symptom e.g. depression, anxiety, sleep etc or
a "key word" e.g. driving, side effects etc
Then click the search button and choose from the list.
Browsing
Use the "Frequently asked questions" links on the left
You can click on any of these:
Common questions
Mental health conditions
Medicines listed by name (including Trade names)
Comparing medicines (the Handy Charts)
Medicines listed by class or category (e.g. antipsychotics)
Side effects
B. More information
The website is structured into two main strands:
1. Medicines
We have included over 110 medicines used in mental health, each with at least 20 questions and answers
You might need to click again for the answers as some of the answers depend on what you're taking a medicine for e.g. how long an SSRI takes to work may be different in e.g. depression and PTSD.
Each of the medicines has links to the conditions it can be used for
The medicines are all listed as their "Approved name" i.e. the name of the actual medicine itself. The approved name is the same all over the world. You may know the medicine by one of its trade names. Trade names may be different in different countries e.g. sertraline is an approved name of an SSRI, and its trade name in UK is Lustral®. The Americans find the word "lust" in a drug name a bit much for them so in USA it's called "Zoloft".
2. Conditions
There are 18 or so conditions, each with at least 14 questions and answers.
Each of the conditions has links to the medicines mentioned
Most of the links will open in a "New window", which means that you shouldn't get too lost.
How much to see
When you open or load a condition or medicine, the list of questions will appear.
To see a question and answer, just click on that question.
To see all the questions and answers, click "Expand" just above the medicine or condition
How big it looks
You can change the text size on the screen. Usually, the screen will show a standard size print. If this is too small for you to read easily then use the links right at the top of the website page to change the print size:
1. Click the size print you would like
Standard text
Large text
Extra Large Text
2. Reload the page
If the print size doesn't change (as usually happens with Explorer®), then you need to do a "Hard refresh":
Explorer - Hold down the Ctrl button and press F5. Or go to View, Refresh (but hold down the Ctrl key at the same time).
Safari Hold down the Cmd button and press R
Other web browsers probably the same as Explorer
Talking pages
If you have poor eyesight, or are helping someone with poor eyesight, you can use the "Screenreader" link at the top of the page. Click on this and it will take you through to www.screenreader.net. Here you can download a free version of "Thunder" (you can also make a £10 donation for it as well, which is a good idea if you can). This will then read each page to you as you go on to it.
Printing
You can do several things to have a printable version:
1. Print a whole document
Click the print button link under the "Useful tools" section or
Click your Browser's print button
2. Print a handy summary
Under most medicines there is a link to "download a handy PILL". Click on this and then print the document that appears. You will need Adobe Reader for these which, if you haven't got it, can be safely and quickly downloaded from http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/.