First of all, I have not posted here with any regularity in a long time. Second of all, I was not taking finals then, my husband was, thirdly, of course I didn't comment on many drugs posts and such, there really aren't that many here.
You just find it impossible to believe that someone else could be an expert in something that you consider your territory. I did not post anything relating to drugs then, as I did not know enough to do so and was still learning. You do not have to go to school for 20 years for every career out there.
Yes, there is a lot more to ID pills than just looking them up, I always use several resources to verify, that way I make sure to give someone the correct answer. I did not say the only resource my doc had was a PDR, a patient brought in pills that they did not remember the name of, and she could not find them in any of her available databases, neither could several pharmacies she called, the problem was (an she did not hire me to do this, I volunteered to help if I could) it was a Canadian drug and most of the databases list only US manufactured or sold pharmaceuticals.
I do not own or moderate the sites, I work for the site owners by answering the questions and researching med info and pill IDs for people who ask, because they can't find them on their own.
I do not pretend to be, nor have I claimed to be an expert on everything having to do with medicine. No, I do not work under the Federal Rules of Evidence, I am not a pharmacist, doctor, nurse, LPN, Aide or anything of the sort.
I am a researcher, I have been a researcher on various things for many, many years. You seem to think I am way too young to have any experience or to have learned as much as I have, but I am 35.
I also do not received disability benefits, if you want to refer to my old posts, you will see my husband does, I don't. SSI has turned me down repeatedly, even after a Judicial Hearing last fall.
As to IDing drugs, it is not as hard as you seem to think. The FDA requires all prescription drugs legally manufactured and/or sold in the United States to have unique imprints for ID purposes. One you learn how to look them up, and I double check all my information before providing an answer to someone, so I make sure I am accurate, it is not hard to find most them. The hardest ones to ID are OTC meds, because they do not fall under the FDA regulations and they can have the same imprint on 50 different products or no imprint. But pharmaceutical meds can't. If a company makes 3 different pills of varying dosages that contain Acetaminophen and Hydrocodone, each pill must have a difference in its imprint for ID purposes. Many companies use the same logo on the products they manufacture, so for instance, if you see a pill marked with a 93, followed by a space or a score line and more numbers, or in some cases the additional numbers are on the obverse, it is manufactured by Teva Pharmaceuticals, pills that have an M in a box, then other numbers on them seperately are made by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, the however have others that they purchased from other companies but retained the prior logo on, so some of theirs also have a z on them instead of an M, they also have several that just have an M with no square around it.
If you see a pill that has an imprint that starts with a 44 and then a space or score line followed by numbers on the same side or obverse, or an L, followed by numbers that can be either on the same side or the obverse, they are manufactured by LNK International, and some of them are hard to ID, because they only make OTC products. They make inexpensive forms of OTC meds like Tylenol, Aleve, Tums, Advil and etc. These are then sold by many stores, such as Eckerd, Kroger, Giant Eagle and etc. as their store brands or generics. When I cannot find a pill ID, I don't pretend I can, I freely admit to people that I cannot find it, but if I know it is an OTC because it has one of these logos, I will make sure to tell them that. If I am unsure, I will tell them that also.
I know you are aware that pharmaceuticals are complicated, and I do not pretend to be an expert regarding who should use them for what, I can simply provide IDs on most of them when someone needs it, and if they are looking for it, I will help them with information on a drugs general usage and side effects.
I do not charge individuals to look up pills for them, I just have various site owners that pay me for answering the people who ask questions on their sites. I even post a public email, and many people will send me a note requesting an ID or information, because they want to keep a family issue private, not spread out on public sites for all to see, and I will provide them an ID and information if I can, and I do these at no charge.
You have made a lot of assumptions about me, the work I do, who I charge and about my education. I am very highly educated, just because I came on here before and asked questions about some things I was not familiar with and didn't know much about, it doesn't mean I am uneducated in all areas. You have a bad habit of assuming that about many people. It is possible for a person to be an expert in some areas and not others.
That said, don't worry, I will not pop into your medical posts here any longer and step on your precious little toes, you may keep your territory. However, you will find yourself better served, in real life, as well as online, to stop making so many assumptions about people. Like what you assumed from my posts, you assumed I was getting disability, you assumed the finals I was talking about were mine, when I was just helping my husband study for his degree, you only read the words you chose to read and not all of them. You seem to have also assumed I claimed to be an expert in all medical fields and I did not, I said I am a medical researcher, this does not actually require me to have advanced degrees in medicine, it is something totally different. It requires that I know how to find the information someone wants, as the medical world can often be quite complicated and technical for the layman to understand, and put it together so they can make sense of it, without having to look up every third word.
For instance, many places, when they list drug monographs list side effects such as erythema, folliculitis, acneiform eruptions and many other technical terms. The normal consumer that might have just been prescribed something new from their doctor, has no idea what these words mean, someone has to break it down for them in easier to understand terms.
There are many sites online that let you look up a pill imprint, however, many people don't understand how to do that, so they don't get the answer they are seeking. They may see the Abbott Pharmaceutical logo, it looks similar to @ but more squared off, they don't know if they should look under A, G, or perhaps even Q to find an ID for the pill the have. The company that makes Allegra and Ambien even uses ~ on their drugs, the layman doesn't know what company that is, or how to look it up. So for these people, I provide an important service.
I was not banned from ShopMD, there simply were not many posts there needing my services, so I do not frequent that site anymore. I know you would love to hear I was banned from somewhere, it would just make your day, but no, I haven't been, sorry. I have simply moved on to other places that needed my experience and expertise and yes, some of my posts were incorrect, I was still learning. Sorry if you have always been perfect and never made mistakes.
I do not understand why you have to attack everyone, make them out to be liars, and act like you are the only one who could possible have any education or expertise. It is just silly of you to act that way. You are not the only expert on anything in this world. There are others who know just as much as you, and who can get an education. The world does not revolve around you.
It is not illegal for me to be earning a living, if you would bother to check my other posts, you would also know I DO NOT receive disability, I have been turned down repeatedly because they claimed I was young enough to learn something new as a career and could do sedentary work.
I don't prescribe anything to anybody, I provide some advice, and help them learn about drugs or what a certain pill is, see once again you are assuming I am claiming to be a medical professional and I am not. I said I am an expert researcher, and there is big difference.
Maybe, just maybe, once in awhile on these boards you should stop trying to tear people down all the time. That is all you do, you assume the worst about everyone, what in your life has made you so miserable, that you cannot believe anything good about anyone else? You must lead a sad existince.
Oh well, as I said above, I will stay out of your territory, lead your life and attack people as you wish. It is just such a shame that you do so, you do have a lot of expertise that could help a lot of people, but you would have to present it in a nicer manner if you want to get anyone to listen to it and learn from it.
First off I will say that I have been disabled 5 1/2 years from 6 seperate spinal fusions and 2 pulmonary embolisms with recurrent DVT. The reason I mention this is because I get Medicare and was able to get on the new prescription drug plan this year. My doctors told me I must be a genious because I was able to figure out the formularies and pick a provider? They were in part joking but very serious also because they told me that most of their pateints were having a very difficult time trying to figure the whole thing out? My point here is, that just because I was able to read and figure out which plan would best suit my needs doesn't mean everyone else could do the same. Those other people needed assitance from others who understood. The same is true with medications. Just because there are websites, PDR's and package inserts doesn't mean everyone understands what's being said? I have known many people who are new to needing prescription medications that have found the information people like zippysgoddess provide to be of huge value and real benefit. Many times just being pointed in the right direction can make all the difference which is what I see zippysgoddess doing. With some understanding and direction a person can then present their findings to their doctor or pharmacist to help choose a regimen or course of action. I would not accept the advise of a doctor on the internet without consulting one in person afterward. I'm glad there are people like zippysgoddess who take time to learn and help others. Isn't that the purpose of these sites? Why not ask a question to get help understanding instead of trying to discredit?