Saturday, February 07, 2009

Things They Should Invent: computer program to find the right medication based on side-effects

Claritin and Reactin make me fall asleep if I use the drowsy version, and make me a tiny bit high and spaced out if I use the non-drowsy version. Allegra keeps my brain in the right place, but raises my eye pressure (and probably my blood pressure too, but eye pressure is most obvious to me.)

I want software or a website that will extrapolate from this information to tell me which allergy med is most likely to work for me. I know doctors and pharmacists might be able to do this, but it's not like I want to actually talk to another human being.

If it's a website, it could learn from the collective wisdom of its users. People input which meds worked for them and which gave them what side-effects, and the program could use that to predict what will happen for future users.

(Barring that, I wouldn't mind having another pill to take to cancel the allergy meds. High eye pressure is better than not being able to breathe because of the cat dander, but it's an annoyance when I'm no longer in the presence of the cats and don't need to be protected from them any more.)

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