User Reviews and Ratings

4 min read

User Reviews and Ratings are a great way to share personal experiences with medications that you, your family, or loved ones are taking. At this help center, you’ll find information about the service and answers to your top questions. Your contributions will help us build the Web’s most valuable drug and treatments information resource.


What are User Reviews and Ratings?
WebMD's Drugs & Treatments database contains overviews on thousands of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. And users can provide their personal ratings, reviews, and recommendations for medications they’ve tried, which makes this database even more valuable for people who are facing a medication choice.


Who can review their experiences with medications?
You should review drugs that you have a first-hand experience with. In some cases, you might also rate a drug that is for a loved one. An example of this would be rating a medication that your elderly parent is using for Alzheimer’s, or giving a review for a pediatric decongestant for your young child.


How do I review my medications?
We ask three questions around the treatment – Did the medication work for you? Was it easy for you to use? Were you overall satisfied? One star means that you weren’t happy with the results. Five stars means that you were very satisfied.
 

Why do you ask what particular condition I'm using the drug for?
Some drugs treat multiple conditions. For example, Wellbutrin is a popular antidepressant but is also sometimes used for ADD and for smoking cessation. By telling us the specific reason you’ve taken a medication, that information will be much more helpful for users who are looking for information about a prescribed medication for their specific condition.


How is the optional background information used?
The more other users know about the users rating the drugs, the more valuable those ratings become. An 18-year-old college student might have a different experience with a particular medication than a post-menopausal woman of 60 on the same drug. Once we have a good sampling of this data, we’ll begin letting you search the effectiveness of a drug in individuals similar to you.


You ask for a description of my experience with the treatment. What would you like me to write there?
Whatever you think would be useful to others. For example, maybe it’s not easy to rate your particular medication just using a star system. There could have been complications with using the medication at first that later disappeared. Or, there could have been other circumstances when you were taking the drug (for example, perhaps you were treating two conditions at one time) that you’d like to explain in more detail. Anything that you think would be helpful to other readers; we would love to know about it.


Are real names or email addresses required?
You won't need to log in or enter your real name or email address before reviewing. You’re welcome to use your regular WebMD community name if you have one or you can create a user name just for this one rating. What we do ask is that you not use a real name or any other personally identifying information features about yourself. We request this for your own privacy. Read our Privacy Policy to understand how we treat your information.


After I review a medication, how soon will it show up?
Immediately.


What should I do when I see posts that are not appropriate?
Report them right away. Every review has a "report this post" button right below the content. If you see a post that you don't think is appropriate for our site (it might be spam, or a user bothering another user), then click that button and the system will send us an automatic email. If we find it violates our Terms and Conditions, then we’ll remove it permanently.


My review was edited or deleted. What comments are OK?
When you comment to rate your drugs and treatments, you must still abide by WebMD Terms and Conditions to which you agreed when you joined our site. Some reasons a comment may be deleted are use of profanity, using personally identifying information (such as your real name or email address or phone number or someone else’s real information), violating copyright, spam, or personal attacks.


What if I rethink my rating on a particular drug and want to change it?
Once you've reviewed your experience with a particular medication, that review goes live (so be careful before you click the submit button) within a few minutes. There may be cases, however, where your experience with a particular medication changes over time. In those cases, you’re free to submit a new review that better reflects your current situation.


What should I do if I or someone I know has experienced an adverse event from taking a drug or medication?
If you think you or someone in your family has experienced a serious reaction to a medical product, let the Food and Drug Administration know. You can report this yourself with the Online Reporting Form or take the reporting form to your doctor. You can find more information at FDA's MedWatch.


I have additional questions about a medication. Where can I ask them?
Right here at WebMD. We have online support groups with thousands of users talking about their treatment options, along with experts available for questions. Go to the WebMD Community to find the right group for you.

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