Medical Research?

southernscouser

I did one once. It was to test pills that enlarged the penis!

The side effects were more like wide effects. 14 inches wider infact but not a millimetre longer! :rolleyes:

DrFluffy

I used to work for a big pharma in drug development. I wouldn't.

That aside, as med students, we are not allowed to take part in any drug trial without the express permission of the medical school...

PoundsLookAfterThemselves

Are you mad. Have you all forgotten about the man in the paper?

Smashing

red_ratty_rat wrote:

Are you mad.

No, we're in debt.

Ebany

I have a friend who does these regularly and has never had any bad effects, he recently had to stop though as they found out about the 'additional' drugs he had been taking on the side. I did by chance see an ad actively after people in this situation though, so I passed it on and I think he is going for it.

As for myself, I have looked into it, but I also have the 'childbearaing age woman' problem. They have to be so careful about the possibilty of messing with an unnoticed baby that they prefer to stick to men. I do see ads for girls occasionally, but have never got round to responding ever since I stopped being a student.

As for the one test which went wrong recently, think of it like a train crash - very occasionally, bad things happen, is that a reason never to get on a train again? They do everything they can to try and make sure there will be no major reactions, but the whle point of the testing is to check in a controlled environment if their new drug will do anything nasty - they have you under close observation and know exactly what to do to get appropriate medical treatment should anything go wrong. If no-one did it then it would be a whole lot harder to check if new drugs are actually safe enough to put out into the general population.

Josie_Jump_3

If you're looking for extra work have a look at this site: https://www.findextrawork.co.uk , it may be the safer option that volunteering for medical research.

tomstickland

There's no way I'd do it. Exchange long term health risks for a bit of cash now?

melancholly

it's slightly different to drug taking, but lots of psychology and medical departments look for participants to act as a control group against a group of patients. often it involves doing some tests (like IQ tests, memory tests etc) and perhaps an MRI brain scan. you can get 'reimbursed' for your time rather than be 'paid' (makes no difference to you, but does for universities!) and as it doesn't involve taking any medication, it's safe! and the age range they look for is wider than in many drugs trials. it doesn't pay as much as a private pharmaceutical company, but might help (at a much lower risk!)

spud30

southernscouser wrote:

I did one once. It was to test pills that enlarged the penis!

The side effects were more like wide effects. 14 inches wider infact but not a millimetre longer! :rolleyes:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I'm also of child bearing age, or else I would seriously think about it.

gingercordial

As a young woman I would not do any of the ones that involve drug trials, because they could have unknown later effects on any babies I might wish to have. If I were male, I might consider it a bit more seriously, but it's still a big risk. Good on those who do it though, otherwise how would any of us ever benefit from new medicines?

When I was at uni I used to do a lot of paid-for psychology tests which were quite fun, although the pay was quite random: sometimes a set amount, one time I was allowed to keep my (unfortunately small) winnings from the gambling game we had to play to test attitudes to risk! The only time I ever agreed to take anything was a test of the effect of omega-3 fish oils on cholesterol, and I agreed to do that because omega-3 supplements are common and safe enough.

If you're near a uni with a medical, psychology or nutritional science department, and can get in to have a look at the notice boards, most of the trials just have requests for volunteers up so you can call/e-mail if you are interested and you don't have to be a student.