6 replies to this topic

[EmbraceUnity]

I wanted to get a blood test earlier, but I didnt want to fork over a few hundred bucks for it. I found a clinical trial for lycopene using healthy males and will require blood tests. It looks promising. I am assuming they will let me see the results. Sounds like a win-win situation.

I got the idea of becoming a "human guinea pig" from a recent Wired article, and also found a good article from Seed Magazine on the subject.

http://seedmagazine....guinea_pigs.php

What are everyone's experiences with clinical trials?

[david ellis]

My high school buddy signed up for a pharmaceutical trial. He ended up with a damaged heart. I think you are safe with a lycopene trial.

[curious_sle]

hi,

i participate in a trial for a very cool allergy treatment and get my tests that way (one left). If it is a low risk trial where you potentially end up on placebo anyway it could be an idea. For me it is just a nice side effect...

[Brainbox]

If I could be sure to end up in the placebo group, no problem. I would even use very dark sunglasses and a walking stick to pretend blindness [lol]

Edit:
More seriously, would it be able to qualify for a study in the case you admit taking various amounts of supplements?

Edited by brainbox, 16 June 2007 - 07:29 PM.

[maxwatt]

I took part in a double blind crossover study for a cold medicine with and without vitamin C as an ingredient. It was a liquid, and I could tell by the taste that one had vitamin C in it, the other did not. I told them I felt better when I got the medicine withthe vitamin C in it.

[shifter]

I just go to my bulk billing doctor to get them for free.

Do they look at the complete bloodwork for absolutely everything in these clinical trials? Or just related to what they are trying to promise (eg check cholesterol only if looking at treating high cholesterol)

[EmbraceUnity]

It looked like they wanted to do complete bloodwork, and urine tests.

As for supplements, it did say no vitamin, mineral, or herbal supplements. So I am following that... I look at it as kind of an experiment to see how i do without them.

Of course I am following the letter of the rules, not the spirit. I am still taking fish oil, pomegranate, blueberry, lactoferrin, and any other supplement I have that isn't a vitamin, mineral, or herb. The way I see it is they are basically food in a pill anyways.