Of all the questions I'm asked, this is perhaps the most common. There are a wide variety of ways to find drug information on the Internet. Here are some of my own personal favorites:
The Depression at About Drug Index
Dr. Bob's Psychopharmacology Tips
Here is where you will find a compilation of the best information I have relevant to medications. You can search my alphabetical list of the most commonly used psychotropic medications (100's of listings by generic and brand names), find antidepressants by class, or read up on side-effects here. This is the best place to begin your search. If you don't find what you are seeking there's also a listing of other searchable drug databases.
The contents of this site are tips exchanged by members of the Interpsych psychopharmacology discussion list. Although it is primarily for members of this list, it is available to all and I highly recommend you look through it's contents. There's a wealth of information here that has been gleaned by physicians through actual experience in prescribing these medications and it's information that you're not likely to learn elsewhere. Maintained by Dr. Robert Hsiung.
Search Engines
Although resources like About are definitely the way to go in finding information about a particular topic, the traditional search engines (I've linked here to my favorite, Dogpile) are useful in some ways. I've found that when I do searches about medications I can often turn up quite a bit of information about people's personal experiences with them. This information is very useful because there is so much about medications that we don't learn in the clinical trials. This information shows up gradually as people actually use the medications and begin to report back to their doctors. Try doing a search on "Effexor side effects" and you'll see just what I mean. At the time I searched this phrase, numerous message board posts about this topic turned up.
Other Depression Sufferers
Anywhere that people congregate on the Internet to talk about depression is a good place to go to compare notes about drug treatment experiences. Next time you're wondering "Am I the only one who's had this problem with my medication?", try checking the chatrooms and message boards.
