• How do I manage my privacy settings?

  In your Account section on the Privacy Settings page, there are two privacy levels you may choose from:

  • Visible: Only PatientsLikeMe Members can see My Profile and user name, and can contact you through PatientsLikeMe.
    
    
  • Public: Non-members and Members can see My Profile and user name, but only PatientsLikeMe Members can contact you through PatientsLikeMe.

  
  We urge you to read both our Privacy Policy to learn how your information is used and our Openness Philosophy to find out how you help both yourself and other patients by making your profile public.
  
  If you choose to make your profile public, it can be viewed by anyone with Internet access, including non-PatientsLikeMe members, and will be indexed and stored by search engines such as Google. The username you select (anonymous or otherwise) will be displayed along with what's shared through your data charts, journal and annotations.
  
  For more information, you can also check out our Read This! section.

• What information is visible on public profiles?

  You’re welcome to share as much or as little information as you’re comfortable with on PatientsLikeMe. If you decide to share any of the following information, here’s what would be visible on your public profile:

  • Your username and profile photo.  If you’d like to remain anonymous, we suggest using a unique username and profile picture—one different than anywhere else on the Internet. 
    
    
  • Charts featuring information you share about your condition(s) such as outcome scores, lab values, treatments, treatment evaluations, symptoms and weight.

  

  • Demographic information including age, gender and location
    
    
  • Biographical information including any text and images added to your About Me section

  

  • Your Journal, which includes a feed of all of your recent site activity (except forum posts) as well as any annotations, notes or photos you add to those entries.  

  

• Can my doctor access or update my PatientsLikeMe information?

  We hope that someday doctors will be able to directly access or update your PatientsLikeMe information (with your permission). If your doctor is interested in using PatientsLikeMe to access your information, please contact us and let us know.

   

• How do I change my username?

  You cannot do this yourself, but you can ask the PatientsLikeMe support staff to change your username by using the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of any page. We recommend that you pick a username which is not the same as your real name.

   

• How do I change my password?

  To change your password, click on ‘Account’ on the top right of the page. You can then select ‘Change password’ from the menu bar on the left-hand side of the page. Only you can change and see your password. PatientsLikeMe will never ask for your password, and you should never share your password with anyone.

   

• I forgot my password. What should I do?

  No problem!  Just go to the password reset page, enter your e-mail address, and we will send a message to your e-mail address with instructions for resetting your password.

• How do I change my email address?

  To change your email address, click on ‘Account’ on the top right of the page. You can then select ‘Email address’ from the menu bar on the left-hand side of the page.

  

   

• How do I close my account?

  You can cancel your account at any time. Please contact us to make this request. Feel free to include any comments about why you’re leaving. To keep improving, we always welcome feedback about how the site is working (or not) for our members.

  If you decide to re-open your account, please send a message to support@patientslikeme.com and we can re-activate your original account.

• Can I permanently delete all of my information from the site?

  If you choose to deactivate your account, we will not display or sell the data in that account as of the date of deactivation.  Your profile will no longer be visible to other members, and your information will no longer be included as part of any of our services going forward. However, your data will remain in the system for auditing purposes, and research conducted prior to the deactivation of your account may still include your data. This is noted in our privacy policy, which you can review here: http://www.patientslikeme.com/about/privacy
  
  If you'd prefer to clear your profile of any information you've shared, you are free to do so. You can review your forum posts and profile data and choose to edit or delete these as you see fit.

  (Please note: once you've deleted data from your profile or removed forum posts that you've written, we cannot recover them to associate with your profile in the future, even if you reactivate your account or want them for reference)
  
  

• What does it mean to have a Doctor or Researcher account at PatientsLikeMe?

  In keeping with our philosophy of openness, transparency and trust we require credentials for those who wish to be identified as doctors and researchers on PatientsLikeMe. 
  
  The criteria to be registered as a doctor is an active license to practice. Those registered as a Researcher members will need to have academic affiliations or an academic email address and hold a PhD.

Need more help? Email support@patientslikeme.com