Slashdot Mirror
Subjecting Yourself to Experimental Meds
ghostlibrary writes "Even while NIH is getting new ethics regs,
patientINFORM is being evangelized
as a way for ordinary citizens to look up experimental treatment online, in essence circumventing their doctor, and the FDA long ago tacitly approved this. /. debated Wikis in hospital. RSI fans track risky or untested procedures from the Typing Injury FAQ and Health-Hack
covers IT-related self-help medicine. Laser-eye stuff is now mainstream and doesn't need a check beyond google. Any other sites out there for those willing to dictate their own medical course? Does this mean Internet users will become test subjects more than the usual college students and elderly?"
Its pretty obvious... If nobody vols for these medications, then the results will never be determined. Once we leave the earth we goto a better place above anyway, or so a lot of people tell me. Its a good thing to test experimental drugs...
Just not on me.
My life was saved by an experiemntal drug. The doctors couldn't get my heart restarted after my third open-heart surgery via defibrillation or other methods. The anaesthesist was one of the doctors evaluating a new medication that showed promise for restarting hearts and used it on me. As you can tell, it worked.
I've also been on the bad side of experimental drugs and have suffered thru some major side-effects. It's not a great feeling when the medication you are taking to eliminate pre-ventricular contractions makes you feel like you're living underwater.
As for people volutarily subjecting themselves to experimental medications and treatment: TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR FIRST! He knows your particular case better than any other doctor and can help you evaluate if you are a good candidate for the experimental treatment. It's a good thing that it's becoming easier to find out about available experimental treatments, but don't think it's going to be the "magic-bullet" cure until you find out more and talk with your doctor.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
I'm as cynical as the next guy, but how the fuck can someone challenge the publishing of information as violating the Freedom of Information Act?
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
One of my favorite unknown alt.country singers, Slaid Cleaves, tells the story of his day job: lab rat for experimental medicines at a center in Austin, Texas.The rest of the story (including the lab's phone number, if you're interested) can be found at Slaid Cleaves' web site.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Why would Internet users subject themselves this type of thing more than others? If we have the ability to find out about the experimental meds online, we'd know better what we were dealing with, and know enough not to subject ourselves unnecessarily.
After typing all day every day for, hmm, decades now my finger joints get painful. I've found that glucosamine and chondroitin supplements work wonders. They take a couple of days to kick in but no pain. IIRC they act by improving the cushioning the joint better and allowing it to heal.
Deleted
I volunteered as a test subject a couple of years ago, several times. Partly because of the money (though you didn't get that much), but also, I guess, for the thrill of it (I wouldn't do it today).
Most of the experiments were totally harmless, but I have a couple of good horror stories. One experiment was a medicine for lowering blood pressure. It worked let me tell you, I almost passed out when running up some stairs the second day, and I'm normally fairly fit. It also contained beta-blockers, which turned out to give me horrible nightmares. Serveral nights I dreamt of being paralyzed, drowning while being tied up, buried alive etc. When waking up from the nightmares I was panicking, but I had problems moving. My body felt sluggish, and my heart was punding very hard but slow, though it *felt* like it should be racing.
A lasting positive effects of the experiments was that I lost my phobia of needles and blood after giving blood samples once every hour for 24 hours.
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
I suppose if there's an experimental drug out there that needs testing and it's aimed at my particular affliction/malady, I'm game for it if the docs can't do much for it with exhisting medicine or techniques. [And the side effects aren't worst than the disease--such as 'anal leakage'].
But, then again, there ain't no cure for the summertime blues.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
How exactly are "crack, PCP, etc" automatically liabilities to others?
In exactly the same way drinking and driving is a liability to others.
You're not going to run down some schoolkids every time you drive after a sixpack, and you're not going to kill random strangers every time you get juiced on PCP, but you're statistically an unacceptable liability.
Next time your in a doctor's office, ask to see their drug indications guide.
r aud/
You should be given a thick manual with pages of fine print on all the available drugs and the interactions/warnings of each.
The scary part is that it will be choked full of advertising.
For example; notice the thick tabbed glossy insert for "Viagra".
This may not be as fraudulent as this:
http://www.whistleblowerfirm.com/pharmaceutical-f
However, it does beg the question, "What is a doctor?"
If they are being swayed by advertising and free samples, than they are nothing more than a sales agent.
That be said, there are no doubt a class of doctors who see beyond this garbage and choose to educate themselves to offer an unbiased and professional service for their clients.
Good on ya, if you have found the later, otherwise you might as well just subject yourself to experimental meds.
No medicinal value? Cocaine was once used as a local anesthetic. What do you think helped spur the creation of synthetic drugs such as novacaine or lidocaine?
Ditto for PCP. It was originally procuded as an anesthetic for humans later used by veterinarians. Now, neither uses them because of their potential for abuse. Ever heard of Ketamine? Another popular anesthetic used by vets. It is in the same family of drugs as PCP.
Are you referring to your own subject?
I pity the foo that isn't metasyntactic
Misinformation on the internet can be very dangerous. Things like the Typing Injury FAQ are probably more harmful than good. RSI tends to be more of a psychosomatic issue. Sites like the Typing Injury FAQ reinforce the false idea that it is physical problem.
I say this both from experiencing it for myself and years of research into "RSI" (while I had the symptoms of). The only thing that ever made sense and was able to cure me was John E. Sarno's book "Mindbody Prescription." Do a Google search for "sarno tms" for more info (though the link above on the Harvard site is the best starting point to understand what he is talking about).
Take random health information on the internet with a grain of salt, especially since it can cause you to exhibit psychosomatic problems if you are prone to it (which more people are than you would think).
I know this is a controversial idea, but please at least read all of the document I linked to and give it a chance.
Every day laypeople put drugs in their bodies, some of which have been later determined to be harmful, often not by research performed by doctors, but simply by observations over time. Note also I specifically stated "mentally fit", by which it is implied the person has some understanding of what they are doing, and the risks involved. This really isn't that radical, there have been many cases whereby rational individuals simply cannot afford to wait for the FDA.
Most people that need experimental drugs are in no shape to be driving a truck.
Heck, even if one was on such a drug and physically capable, they wouldn't pass the medical requirements. You need a certain level of health to be allowed to drive a truck.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
The reason people's freedoms in this regard are limited, is because their actions, over time, inflict a financial burden upon society that the individual does not pay for.
I disagree with your claim for a number of reasons.
First off, if you look around at a historical account of the formation on the war on drugs, you'll see that it stems largely from the general racism towards the Chinese, the African Americans, and the Mexicans during the early to mid 20th century.
Secondly, many activities that we partake in daily, over time, inflict a far, far more disastrous financial burden upon society that the individual does not pay for. Examples? Alcohol, tobacco, excessive unhealthy / fast food consumption, lack of exercise, etc.
Am I free to refuse to contribute my tax / insurance dollars towards your health care because I disapprove of your lifestyle? If I don't think your exercise regime is sufficient, or I feel that your diet doesn't meet my standards of healthiness, am I free to request that you pay your own hospital bills?
I daily engage in a good 40 minutes of cardiovascular exercise. I eat naturally - opting to completely avoid unhealthy fats and artificial ingredients - and organically, when feasible. I also choose to use certain drugs, usually illegally, because I've spent man-months researching psychopharmacology, neuropharmacology, ethnobotany, etc. and feel that the substances that I do use offer far more benefits than risks. My doctor is well aware of my drug consumption and condones it, feeling that it is probably far more beneficial in terms of relaxation, spiritual growth, etc. than it is detrimental.
There seems to be a whole branch of the pharmaceutical industry that is interested in deriving new medications to substitute for older tried-and-true medications, because the older meds often demonstrate "positive side effects" that we somehow view as undesirable.
What we're ignoring is that while the newer medications may eliminate the positive side effects (which may be addictive, or encourage abuse of medications, etc), these are not just vanishing; they're often being replaced by negative and potentially dangerous side effects.
From my own dealings with the medical industry, I present several examples:
The list can go on: Ultram invented for pain in lieu of the opioids (despite the fact that it's still very addictive), Ambien invented for inducing sleep instead of barbiturates and benzodiazepines (because it was, and still is assumed to be safer - ignoring the fact that it can and often does cause dramatic hallucinations at standard prescribed doses).
Personally, when I have severe pain, I want codeine or morphine. When I need to be sedated, give me some Valium. Don't try to haul this new, safer, poorly researched crap on me. Opiates, for example, have been in use for hundreds or thousands of years, and are well understood. I'd be much more likely to put my faith and comfort in them than some experimental drug that's but a couple years old.
Whoever described doctors as "techs" was right on. Anyone who isn't actively involved in their own treatment is being absoutely careless. I decided this years ago, but it came crashing home when I got misdiagnosed by 3 doctors who said I had asthma based on very sketchy evidence. I was promptly put on a steroid inhaler for daily treatment and an albuterol inhaler for emergencies.
Now, the reason I went to 3 other doctors (the 4th being the one who correctly diagnosed my problem), is that the albuterol (a stimulant that opens the airways) was making my attacks WORSE, not better. But the second and third doctor said it was all in my head and to stick with it.
It turns out I was actually having panic attacks. So the last thing I really needed was to be sending a stimulant directly into my lungs which is just shy of injecting one right into your veins. I actually stopped taking the albuterol shortly after the second idiot doctor and just kept going back saying the same thing until I finally got a doctor who was willing to actually check if I really had asthma.
Now this is just a single example, but it's also not the first misdiagnosis I've had. I've been prescribed antibiotics for flu. I've been told I had food poisoning when I didn't.
There are some good doctors out there. There are a number of really, really, bad doctors out there. And most doctors, good or bad, are rarely willing to take the time to really investigate their patients' problems these days. You simply can't count on doctors to do the homework on your condition. Someone should be doing the homework. The doctor can run tests, but what if they're not running the right tests? You need to do at least some homework and be willing to make suggestions to your doctor. And if that bugs your doctor, find a new one.
I know we can't all get medical degrees and it should be the doctors' job to figure all this crap out, but the fact is with HMOs and the like, doctors aren't doing their jobs. They're working on a factory line and getting through as many patients as they can as quickly as they can.