Funny the things we do for money. I've always been curious about these medical trials. Never done one myself, but I did donate plasma back in college. It was a good way to earn some extra cash.
Fascinating--glad nobody killed each other! Maybe if the testosterone would've been with the first group.
I mentioned getting drunk in a lab and having to answer questions about attractive women, and possibly that I refused one where you breathe diesel fumes. I also did some boring fasting study, a racism brain monitor where names like "Waleed" and "Jaquan" would flash on a screen and they tested my reaction, and a few experimental flu shots (dead arm for 3 days was no fun!).
However my friend takes the cake, he did one of these astronaut studies where you have to lie down for months. I mean they're allowed to sit up every once in a while, but no standing. All his muscles went to nothing. He got a huge payout (for a mid-2000s college student), like $20k, but I literally wouldn't do that for any amount of money. I mean, I don't think I could survive it. Well, maybe a few billion dollars...
Yeah, the testosterone with the first group, who knows how that might've turned out. I think I dodged a bullet with that (pun intended).
I still think that drunk study is hilarious, I wish that'd been an option when I was in college. And holy cow, that racism study, they really do shit like that? I can only imagine what other studies are out there that we have no idea about. I remember local Cambridge (Massachusetts) newspaper would advertise for sleep studies and cocaine-related trials, and I volunteered for those but I guess didn't meet the criteria.
I'd be sorely tempted to do that astronaut study. I spend most of my day sitting and totally inactive at my computer anyway, my muscles are slowly on the way to nothing, might as well get paid for it.
how funny. And imagine that many people live all their lives in Lviv, or worse = one of those Ukrainian villages in the Carpathians, which did not change much since 1900s - and survive without cash from clinical trials ;)
Great read! I came very close to doing medical trials when I first moved to London in 2004. My money had also run out and I was thinking of “easy” ways to top it up. Lots of Aussies and travellers were doing the trials (probably no worse than the other shit we were putting in our bodies at the time) so I was keen, but then I ended up getting a job and never did it. A few years later there was a really bad case where things went wrong. I was kinda glad I never ended up doing it! Glad yours was uneventful and lucrative!
Thank you! This is funny, it reminds me of when I was backpacking across Europe in 2002, two years before I did my first trial. I met loads of Aussies who were funding their travels through these trials, and many of them were breaking the rules by registering in different clinics. There’s supposed to be a 6-month washout period in between trials, but they would do a few in a row and get away with it (I think these days they’d probably check more rigorously).
Wow, I have so many questions. First of all and most importantly, did you get any good gossip on the inside? Surely there must have been some great stories.
Secondly, I just bought your book! I’ve been intrigued but trying to limit my book spending budget (my #1 vice). However, the last blurb made me lol and I just had to order it. “I demand more!” From a blogger, influencer, AND neurologist?! How could I not?
(Seriously- I’m super excited to get it. Hoping my daughters will be bilingual and there’s lots to learn).
Sadly, I didn't get too much gossip, either on the drugs themselves or medical trials in general, or from those paramilitaries. They were actually both really nice guys and we all got on fine. But I was afraid to ask too many probing questions just in case.
Wow, Lindsey, thank you so much for getting the book! That's so kind of you, and I'm very grateful. I'm glad those blurbs are actually somewhat effective! That blogger/influencer/neurologist has quite a big following on Instagram, I need to ask her if she can do more promotions for me 😆
I was waiting to find out what the trials were actually for. Wow that sounds like good money 💰 I don’t think I would volunteer, although I put enough crap in my body, Botox, booze 😆 but what really put me off was the elephant man trials that went really very wrong in 2006 !!! Did you hear about that ?
At the time I did these, I don't recall being afraid at all. My ex from high school worked in clinical trails at the time (and might still do) and I checked with her, she assured me they were safe (I hope I was right to trust her!). When the elephant man trials hit the news - this was about a year after my last study - so many people emailed me to say 'you see?!' But I compare it to air travel with its safety record. There are thousands, probably millions of clinical trial participants and they are generally fine...I think. I haven't heard about any major disasters anyway. Maybe one day I'll discover some unexpected side effect!
A very interesting read. My experience comes from the tail end of the story ! I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and have been in a few trials to evaluate the biologic therapy I have been prescribed. It only involved providing a blood sample at regular intervals for a few months. There is no financial incentive, of course, I am so grateful that these drugs are available to help my condition. The goal is to help existing and future patients, but I always feel that it is also my way of thanking those involved in research, the clinical staff, and the healthy participants in the early trials. I am also grateful that I am an NHS patient and never have to worry about cost/insurance. These drugs also helped me to stay longer in my NHS clinical career.
Thank you! And I appreciate you sharing your own experience. I've often wondered how they go about recruiting people for trials in phase 2 and 3, whether they put out a call for volunteers or doctors (GPs or specialists) recommend them. I've also wondered how risky and experimental they are, I imagine for life-threatening conditions that's one hell of a risk putting your faith into something unproven. I remember when I did the trial (I was a lot less mature 20 years ago!) and they thanked us for our contribution and said how important it was for medical science, we all thought 'yeah sure, where's our money?' but over the years I've really developed an appreciation for these trials and those who volunteer for them. I'm so glad you've been able to benefit from these drugs.
It’s via the Consultant led clinics and the patients are carefully chosen and monitored very closely. Such patients would usually have a history of not/no longer responding to older, well established drug therapies for their condition, so, if they agree to try the new drug, it does open up the possibility of better control of their illness. Having certain comorbidities will exempt them and screening for some possible undiagnosed conditions will be carried out beforehand. Participation in a trial will also sometimes be offered to patients as a first line of treatment in conjunction with established therapy in the case of illnesses with a less favourable prognosis ie some cancers.
Wow, how fascinating. My mind went immediately to side effects, and then to how lucrative it can be. Which in imagine was probably something close to your own thought process. I think there is a seventh book in here for sure! Especially that testosterone one... you the clear-minded placebo-taking narrator observing the others get ripped to the tits on their masculinity! Please write that one!
Haha, I'm not sure I can milk an entire book with that storyline. Maybe a chapter or a short story. In my novel there is some overlap though, there's a character who does clinical trials and donates plasma (and one or two other things) but I think there's some untapped potential here (poor pun, yes intended).
You are a brave, courageous soul 😅 As someone who has experienced the funkiest side effects from flu shots to aspirin, I'd never have the balls to partake in clinical trials! Respect 😌
Funny the things we do for money. I've always been curious about these medical trials. Never done one myself, but I did donate plasma back in college. It was a good way to earn some extra cash.
Fascinating--glad nobody killed each other! Maybe if the testosterone would've been with the first group.
I mentioned getting drunk in a lab and having to answer questions about attractive women, and possibly that I refused one where you breathe diesel fumes. I also did some boring fasting study, a racism brain monitor where names like "Waleed" and "Jaquan" would flash on a screen and they tested my reaction, and a few experimental flu shots (dead arm for 3 days was no fun!).
However my friend takes the cake, he did one of these astronaut studies where you have to lie down for months. I mean they're allowed to sit up every once in a while, but no standing. All his muscles went to nothing. He got a huge payout (for a mid-2000s college student), like $20k, but I literally wouldn't do that for any amount of money. I mean, I don't think I could survive it. Well, maybe a few billion dollars...
Yeah, the testosterone with the first group, who knows how that might've turned out. I think I dodged a bullet with that (pun intended).
I still think that drunk study is hilarious, I wish that'd been an option when I was in college. And holy cow, that racism study, they really do shit like that? I can only imagine what other studies are out there that we have no idea about. I remember local Cambridge (Massachusetts) newspaper would advertise for sleep studies and cocaine-related trials, and I volunteered for those but I guess didn't meet the criteria.
I'd be sorely tempted to do that astronaut study. I spend most of my day sitting and totally inactive at my computer anyway, my muscles are slowly on the way to nothing, might as well get paid for it.
how funny. And imagine that many people live all their lives in Lviv, or worse = one of those Ukrainian villages in the Carpathians, which did not change much since 1900s - and survive without cash from clinical trials ;)
But they don't have to pay back college loans to the US government! 😂
Great read! I came very close to doing medical trials when I first moved to London in 2004. My money had also run out and I was thinking of “easy” ways to top it up. Lots of Aussies and travellers were doing the trials (probably no worse than the other shit we were putting in our bodies at the time) so I was keen, but then I ended up getting a job and never did it. A few years later there was a really bad case where things went wrong. I was kinda glad I never ended up doing it! Glad yours was uneventful and lucrative!
Thank you! This is funny, it reminds me of when I was backpacking across Europe in 2002, two years before I did my first trial. I met loads of Aussies who were funding their travels through these trials, and many of them were breaking the rules by registering in different clinics. There’s supposed to be a 6-month washout period in between trials, but they would do a few in a row and get away with it (I think these days they’d probably check more rigorously).
I came within days of selling my plasma in graduate school
Wow, I have so many questions. First of all and most importantly, did you get any good gossip on the inside? Surely there must have been some great stories.
Secondly, I just bought your book! I’ve been intrigued but trying to limit my book spending budget (my #1 vice). However, the last blurb made me lol and I just had to order it. “I demand more!” From a blogger, influencer, AND neurologist?! How could I not?
(Seriously- I’m super excited to get it. Hoping my daughters will be bilingual and there’s lots to learn).
Sadly, I didn't get too much gossip, either on the drugs themselves or medical trials in general, or from those paramilitaries. They were actually both really nice guys and we all got on fine. But I was afraid to ask too many probing questions just in case.
Wow, Lindsey, thank you so much for getting the book! That's so kind of you, and I'm very grateful. I'm glad those blurbs are actually somewhat effective! That blogger/influencer/neurologist has quite a big following on Instagram, I need to ask her if she can do more promotions for me 😆
I do hope you enjoy the book, I did my best!
“Have you done anything else reckless with your body? Has desperation ever driven you to such lengths?”
I’m just gonna… (gathers coat, opens door quietly) slip out and let you all talk…
I was waiting to find out what the trials were actually for. Wow that sounds like good money 💰 I don’t think I would volunteer, although I put enough crap in my body, Botox, booze 😆 but what really put me off was the elephant man trials that went really very wrong in 2006 !!! Did you hear about that ?
At the time I did these, I don't recall being afraid at all. My ex from high school worked in clinical trails at the time (and might still do) and I checked with her, she assured me they were safe (I hope I was right to trust her!). When the elephant man trials hit the news - this was about a year after my last study - so many people emailed me to say 'you see?!' But I compare it to air travel with its safety record. There are thousands, probably millions of clinical trial participants and they are generally fine...I think. I haven't heard about any major disasters anyway. Maybe one day I'll discover some unexpected side effect!
Soooo true ! And a good way to think !! 😁
A very interesting read. My experience comes from the tail end of the story ! I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and have been in a few trials to evaluate the biologic therapy I have been prescribed. It only involved providing a blood sample at regular intervals for a few months. There is no financial incentive, of course, I am so grateful that these drugs are available to help my condition. The goal is to help existing and future patients, but I always feel that it is also my way of thanking those involved in research, the clinical staff, and the healthy participants in the early trials. I am also grateful that I am an NHS patient and never have to worry about cost/insurance. These drugs also helped me to stay longer in my NHS clinical career.
Thank you! And I appreciate you sharing your own experience. I've often wondered how they go about recruiting people for trials in phase 2 and 3, whether they put out a call for volunteers or doctors (GPs or specialists) recommend them. I've also wondered how risky and experimental they are, I imagine for life-threatening conditions that's one hell of a risk putting your faith into something unproven. I remember when I did the trial (I was a lot less mature 20 years ago!) and they thanked us for our contribution and said how important it was for medical science, we all thought 'yeah sure, where's our money?' but over the years I've really developed an appreciation for these trials and those who volunteer for them. I'm so glad you've been able to benefit from these drugs.
It’s via the Consultant led clinics and the patients are carefully chosen and monitored very closely. Such patients would usually have a history of not/no longer responding to older, well established drug therapies for their condition, so, if they agree to try the new drug, it does open up the possibility of better control of their illness. Having certain comorbidities will exempt them and screening for some possible undiagnosed conditions will be carried out beforehand. Participation in a trial will also sometimes be offered to patients as a first line of treatment in conjunction with established therapy in the case of illnesses with a less favourable prognosis ie some cancers.
I think those were rational choices. Especially when Lviv was on the cards.
I was in an experiment once in college but it was a psych thing for like 90 minutes. Good piece
Wow, how fascinating. My mind went immediately to side effects, and then to how lucrative it can be. Which in imagine was probably something close to your own thought process. I think there is a seventh book in here for sure! Especially that testosterone one... you the clear-minded placebo-taking narrator observing the others get ripped to the tits on their masculinity! Please write that one!
Haha, I'm not sure I can milk an entire book with that storyline. Maybe a chapter or a short story. In my novel there is some overlap though, there's a character who does clinical trials and donates plasma (and one or two other things) but I think there's some untapped potential here (poor pun, yes intended).
I look forward to reading that then! And maybe try and milk a short story too 🙏
You are a brave, courageous soul 😅 As someone who has experienced the funkiest side effects from flu shots to aspirin, I'd never have the balls to partake in clinical trials! Respect 😌
It was more desperation. And I am serious when I say I have googled 'clinical trials volunteer Vienna' on more than one occasion!
I'll keep my fingers crossed that other (less invasive) sources of income flow your way soon 🤞