Table 4.

verbatim excerpts from patient respondents and clinical pharmacologic observations

Example of a positive effect description(excerpted)	Drug	Clinical pharmacologic commentary
The Effexor seems to have an antihistamine effect and decreases my allergy symptoms. Decreases itchy eyes, sneezing, wheezing.	venlafaxine (Effexor; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Collegeville, PA, now Pfizer)	Anticholinergic and antihistaminic effects may occur with venlafaxine (Effexor) and that may account for the reduced itching described by this patient
I feel much more energetic when taking this medicine. I am not nearly as run down as when I don’t take it.	triamterene	This response could be a real response. However, it could also be that the patient had low potassium and felt somewhat fatigued as a result. In that case administration of a potassium-sparing drug would have corrected that potassium deficiency and made the patient feel better.
The panic attacks have almost disappeared completely. Anxiety is controllable.	loratadine	This response could be a real response. However, mast cell activation disorder is more common than formerly believed. In such individuals histamine contributes to the spells these individuals experience that are sometimes referred to as hyperventilation/panic attacks. Treatment with an antihistamine (loratidine) would possibly mitigate the stimulus for the hyperventilation, and its attendant sense of panic.