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?"

No.

[shamowfski]

Last time I checked, my computer could not innoculate me.

Re:If nobody voulnteers no cures will be found

[Anonymous Coward]

Once we leave the earth we goto a better place above anyway

Goto? Is that a word? Oh you mean like:

aBetterPlace:
goto aBetterPlace;

Re:Finger joints

[Anonymous Coward]

I find that C2H5OH helpsh the mosht.

Experimental drugs...

[TripMaster Monkey]

I've tried plenty in my time...didn't know you could get paid for doing so...

^_^

Re:If nobody voulnteers no cures will be found

[PopeAlien]

Its a good thing to test experimental drugs..

Some of them are particularly good, I can taste the color green and I'm growing a fine pelt of electro-luminescent body hair!

Re:Be careful

[Rude Turnip]

"As you can tell, it worked."

That, or you're a zombie.

Well, all I can tell you is that....

[gatkinso]

....(while exceedingly rare) if your erection lasts for longer than four hours, call your doctor.

Re:Be careful

[SoTuA]

As you can tell, it worked.

Oh really? You expect us to believe that you are alive *just* because you posted on slashdot? Ha!

I'm afraid we'll need further proof...

Re:Its your life

[InfiniteWisdom]

Don't worry. I've got mod points. I've got you covered.

Re:All medications are experimental forever

[Anonymous Coward]

Clinic research is not statistically adequate: testing a medication on 10,000 people will not catch adverse side effects that kill 1-in-20,000 (e.g., kill 1,500 per year when 30 million peapl take the drug).

Right. Given a large enough test sample, the probability of statistical probability being probable is improbable.

Re:New Test subjects?

[stratjakt]

I know a WWII & Korean War veteran who claims he was subjected to radiation to "test it's effects".

I know a Vietnam vet who thinks that the government implanted him with a device that allows aliens to read his thoughts!

Here's the scary part, he claims that a tinfoil hat does nothing to prevent this, and the myth of the tinfoil hat is spread by government agents to misdirect the people who are affected!

Re:If nobody voulnteers no cures will be found

[shish]

Given the temperature of my CPU, I'd think those would be the directions to quite the opposite place...

Wow...Time to inject some humor here.

[KipCas]

I have been subjecting myself to drug experementaion on and off for years with a certain weed indigenous to just about any place with dirt. And can report only one bad side effect. I don't remember her name, but she keyed my car and took a bunch of my CD's. Other than that I'd say I do quite well and my IQ has always tested well above average. I mean, come on, I used the word "Indigenous". That means I'm smart. And if I do something that makes me seem stupid I can always just say, "Oh sorry, I'm pretty high right now." It's a win/win situ...it's um...what were we talking about again?

Re:Be careful

[Alzheimers]

This conversation held not long after:

Paramedic #1: You have no pulse, your blood pressure's zero-over-zero, you have no pupillary response, no reflexes and your temperature is 70 degrees.
Thewiz: Well, what does that mean?
Paramedic #1: Well, it's a puzzle because, technically, you're not alive. Except you're conscious, so we don't know what it means.
Thewiz: Are you saying we're dead?
Paramedic #2: Well, let's not jump to conclusions.
Thewiz: Are you saying we're dead?
Paramedic #2: No conclusions.
Paramedic #1: Obviously I didn't mean you were really dead. Dead people don't move around and talk.

Re:Be careful

[DrStrange66]

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.

By any chance was this medicine from a company called the Umbrella Corporation?

Re:If nobody voulnteers no cures will be found

[nmb3000]

You must be new here. Around Slashdot it would be more like this:

goto aBetterPlace;
Can't find label aBetterPlace at life line 4726421.

Re:Day Job: Lab Rat

[TomSawyer]

The rest of the story (including the lab's phone number, if you're interested) can be found at Slaid Cleaves' web site.

Wait, those weren't alt.country song lyrics? I was coming up with a little tune in my head to go along with it while reading.

Re:Its your life

[Qzukk]

angle dust

I tried snorting that angle dust once. You have to be careful, the good stuff is nothing but right angles. If you get the cheap shit, you end up with nothing but obtuse angles that don't even fit in your nose, or worse, acute angles that scratch and sting like hell.

Re:Its your life

[Dread_ed]

"Cocaine was once used as a local anesthetic

I can vouch for the use of cocaine as a local anesthetic by doctors. My niece was bitten by a dog on the mouth a few years ago and they uesd it to numb her face while they did the initial repairs. Not sure about what was used by the plastic surgeon in the later operations.

As for PCP it did have a recent resurgence of use experimentally for treatment of stroke patients. Most stroke patients have the majority of their brain destruction caused by the production of glutamic acid. It is produced in large quantities when oxygen is REINTRODUCED into the brain after the stroke happens. PCP prevents this glutamic acid production, but it was considered unsuitable for use in the general population for obvius reasons. Other drugs have now been created that will eliminate the symptoms without making the patient see angry purple midgets.