Clinical Studies

Does anyone like to participate in clinical studies seeking healthy patients? I have taken advantage of many of them. Some are quite invasive. As an added bonus some of them pay quite well!

I would love to hear your stories about the invasive exams you experienced as part of a clinical study. Do they tell you about all of the procedures that they will be performing on you? I think it would be more kinky to walk in unknowingly and be told to strip down completely for a thorough physical exam.

Sensei1980

More information needed 😉

I've helped out with a few research projects at uni, but nothing really that invasive - nude weighing and rectal temperature probe monitoring while I exercised 😃 Hopefully helping with some more soon though, so who knows...

Back in the 1960's college entrants and freshmen were exposed to a famous clinical study known as nude posture photos. Students were literally lined up and asked to remove their clothes and be nude for picture taking. Thing is the poor co-eds thought it was mandatory so dozens if not hundreds of photographic negatives were made and not all were destroyed.

It was theorized that a person's posture could be related to their natural intelligence. Further, promising and more gullible among them returned for formalized testing which they thought was quite normal at the time. The female examiners put on a front that exploited nudity (again) with a clinical twist. Sitting in a chair or standing, the examinees were screened for room temperature responses upon their erogenous zones, i.e. nipple tumescence and skin reactions to the application of hot and cold air. The thought was that exposure of the skin to these temp changes would raise her own body temperature to compensate and show elevation beyond the normal accepted human tempertaure.

Sure enough after three minutes of exposure to cold drafty ventilation a woman's nipples would rise and harden in response, but what of her body temperature? Rectal thermometers were used to record the examinees core temperatures while the young women were reclined on a hospital bed or examination table. The test procedure was photographed so that other sites could conduct the experiment in an identical way. That's a visual I would love to see the original negatives of.

I've always thought about volunteering for a clinical study, but never have. The ones that I've seen always seem to target some specific condition or disease, which I don't have. Are there particular types of studies that you look for? Is there a good way to find studies in your area?

Oh, and by the way, nude weighing and rectal temperature probes during exercise sounds just fine to me.

I did one med study at NYU, a whole day with hair gelled for brain scans and hourly blood draws. Another at Mt Sinai, metabolism while bicycling. For this one I was weighed under water.

My wife is involved in a five year clinical study of a hormone that she has to apply to her arm every morning. At the beginning and for each year she has to go to a clinic and have a breast exam, EKG and blood work. Also in the beginning and years 1,3 and 5 she has to have a pelvic exam. I missed the first one because we did not expect them to perform one at the initial interview for the study so I did not go with her. But this is year one and I made sure to go and observe. I am not sure if this qualifies as invasive but I am sure my wife considers it to be.

If you don't have a specific medical issue, there are "healthy volunteer" trials. But be careful - sometimes it is a phase 2 trial and they are testing meds to determine their toxicity. In Europe they've tested MRI Colonography with healthy volunteers. It takes the place of a colonoscopy and they do the MRI while you're holding a large enough enema to reach the end of the large intestine in order to expand it (2.5-3 liters). Maybe they'll start testing it here - I'm sure there would be plenty of volunteers from this site.

I was recently offered the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial. I read the information carefully and saw that only 2/3 of the trial participants would be in the group that was actually receiving the therapy, the other 33%, not so much.

I decided not to risk the chance that I might not be receiving treatment for five years for what is a relatively serious vision problem. I thought it was better to risk losing out on a new treatment than going blind altogether.

When participating or considering a clinical trial, you have to read every scintilla of fine print.

Seems like a risky way to get a thrill.

I'd be happy to participate in a study of the sexual health of people with Diabets.

I will second that ronjen, but I think I have more chance of getting Pregnant than anything like this ever happening in the UK.

I've participated in a couple clinical research studies for healthy patients. Both were just to see how long an amount of a certain potential drug would stay in the bloodstream. Not very exciting, but they paid well. I would have liked something more physical or possibly invasive. For these studies, there was a couple brief physical exams involving basic head/throat stuff, posture, abdomen, and glands (which the doc did pull down my shorts about 6 inches to get to my inguinal area but nothing too revealing)...other than that just several blood draws a day, a bunch of urinalyses and several ECGs every day, so a lot of bare chest I guess.

I think it would be fun to participate in a study regarding some kind of sexual or urinary health though. Haven't found anything like that yet.

I would like to one day

Before I developed arthritis in my chest wall and ribcage I did countless asthma studies all the time. I only did studies that were phase 4 or beyond. I learned a great deal about asthma in general. I learned a lot about my own asthma in countless ways. I also made some cash from it. In addition to the studies, the study coordinator gave me the rescue inhaler for free that I currently used. During that time I didn't have to fill my regular Rx, though I did choose to as it provided me an extra one to have on hand in another area. I carry one in my purse, one in my pocket, I have one in the car etc etc etc. Its a common thing for asthmatics to have backup rescue inhalers in places they spend a lot of time in just in case they need it and they for some reason don't have one on them. I now do not qualify to do asthma studies anymore. The personal knowledge gained from doing those studies I could not have learned as well from taking a class or studying it.

If you are going to participate in a study, make sure you understand the study. Ask questions about anything you do not fully understand. Have your personal physician look it over. There are different phases of study levels. Understand what the phase of the study is that you are considering. Remember you can quit the study at any time. Also remember the study coordinator or study physician can discharge you from the study at any time. Let the people in your life know you are on a study, who the study coordinator is, what to do if you have an emergency or if you become ill. The study coordinator and study physician will need to be notified as it may affect the study or the study medication may be connected somehow to your emergency or illness.

I would love too but need to find right one

I have before - I wrote some posts on them. I did one on sexual arousal - experimentor was out of the room and I had to insert a lovely device in my vagina and watch soft porn. Needless to say I was not turned on too much by vanilla sex - it was just fine. lol.

I also participated in an HPV vaccine study and had to have 3 pap smears done over the vaccine schedule - and ironically they lost my results of one so I had to go back.

I also do a flu study every year - blood work 5 times a year and a free flu vaccine.

I work in health care - these never bug me. I like contributing to research

I wish there was a study for enemas or rectal dilation, I would be all in, often times I have dreamed about being an enema subject for nursing students, doesn't matter what enema they were practicing, I am up for any of them.....

I've tried for various drug studies thru my doctors. For one reason or another, I never qualified.

At one point in an unhappy marriage, I was suffering from ED. I volunteered for a study for some unknown oral medication. The process was a physical exam focused on the genitals followed by erectile evaluation. For the evaluation, I was taken to a small room with a recliner and a TV. I was instructed to pick a porn video from a catalog keeping in mind whatever was most erotic to me. I was then to strip from the waist down and sit in the recliner with a towel over my groin. A technician came in and attached a Ridgiscan device to my penis. This is two small cable loops that gently squeeze the penis, one at the base, the other just behind the glans. The technician went to a room behind a two way mirror while I watched the video and he monitored my erection.

Unfortunately, due to the observation, bad porn and stress, nothing happened. Because I got no erection, I didn't qualify for the study. It was still a day to remember.

Has anyone every been a part of a medical research study? Would you care to share your experiences and thoughts. How old were you? What were they studying? How did you feel participating in the study? Did you have a choice to participate?

I've not long finished taking part in something called the ANTIC study . It lasted 18 months .

It was urology based . It was studying whether people that do intermittent self catheterisation on a daily basis were less likely to get infection if they took a prophylactic antibiotic every day .

I unfortunately at the start got randomly selected to just be treated by antibiotics as and when infection was present . During this time I was scheduled to see my urology Consultant and nurse each month. They asked about infections , pain on catheterisation etc .

Every 3 months I got a questionnaire to fill out and had to send a urine sample and uretheral swab to the University running the trial. Every 6 months they did a blood draw as well.

Around 8 months into the trial I was getting infections every two weeks . So they decided rather than take me off the trial they switched me to the side that took a prophylactic antibiotic each day . All the clinic visits were the same .

Every time I got an infection I had to fill out a questionnaire , send a uretheral swab , urine sample and notify my Consultant and the University .

The questionnaires were based on symptoms , how it affected my daily living , if I needed a hospital stay and what antibiotics I was prescribed to treat the infection .

Overall I found it interesting . I was given the choice as to whether I participated or not . I was also paid in the way of a gift card for taking part. I really don't mind taking part , especially if it may help me in the future somehow .

Nik

A number of years ago I participated in a few clinical trials which I was compensated for. There was one that I definitely remember, because on the day I entered the study, once assigned to my room, I had to give the nurse who came to my room some information. Then she told me she'd be doing my vitals. I did not expect it, but on realizing how my temperature was to be taken, I was compliant, rolled over, had my bottom bared and spent the next three to four minutes with a glass mercury thermometer, the first of a number that I'd receive, well placed in my rectum. Laying there with the thermometer sticking out from between my cheeks, she said she wished all her patients were as cooperative as I was.

What was the trial for? How old were you at the time?

Inquiring minds want to know...

I was in one as a kid that was about growth/development that went on for several years. Almost signed up for one more recently about allergies but too many conflicts with work.

I have looked into them but never signed up for one yet

I did one years ago when I was in college. It was fairly mundane...just a lot of blood draws and little more - even though they mentioned a physical would be conducted at the outset.

I just started my first one . It isn't very exciting. I take three pills a day for the next four years. One of them is a Cocoa supplement and the others are a multivitamin and they are to determine if these pills can help prevent heart disease, stroke and cancer. I answered an online survey, then a much more in depth written questionnaire and I didn't know for several months if I made the trial until a box with six months worth of pills arrived in the mail along with detailed instructions. It didn't require any physical or blood tests but I gave them permission to take a blood sample in the future if they want. I also gave them permission to receive my autopsy report if I die within the next four years to see what the cause of death was. Of course it is possible that some or all of the pills are just a placebo, but I will never know. One of the few test I have seen where you have to be older to qualify.

Some time ago when my wife was a student nurse she volunterd for a clinical studie which involved a vaginal swab taken every week for 3 months. This was to examine the bacterial changes in her vaginal flora , she had the swabs taken and the culture grown to see if there was any changes. She complaned of the scrapping feeling some times. I think it was for a thrush treatment. Also she volunterd for pelvic exams and pap taken by her fellow nurse's. ?

How did you guys find these clinical study?