Have you participated in Clinical Trials?
- yes
- no
0 voters
What you liked or disliked about it?
When you actually read medical journal reports of diabetes research, it fills you with a profound reluctance ever to participate in a clinical trial, since research results are for the most part utterly wasted. Some promising insight you read in a journal article makes you think, here is the route that medical science has to exploit immediately, and then you check the date of the article, find that it is 1991, and realize that the result has been totally ignored, generally because Big Pharma saw no profits in it.
That said, at 14 I was in a clinical trial conducted by Dr. Donna Younger at the Joslin Clinic in Boston which showed that even in the first week after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes all the young patients tested displayed a slowing of nerve conduction velocities, demonstrating that diabetic neuropathy was already present despite a minimal number of hyperglycemia-hours in the patient population. When told of the results I felt doomed, as did the rest of the group, since it seemed to say that whatever we did, we were just going to get sicker over time. The psychological effect of exposing patients, especially young patients, to negative findings in research studies is something seldom considered.
The general motto of diabetes and of all incurable diseases, is that patient education is key, is wrong, since many patients don’t want to know the truth about their fate.
Yes, yes, and more yes! I have done simple easy meter studies to an all in with many surgeries for ViaCtye stem cell study.
After many years of thinking there was no hope, I figured I needed to try and help. So infusion set studies, drug studies, CGM studies, mental health studies. I wouldn’t change any of it. I really feel like I can help move us forward.
The criteria can sometimes be very tough but there are good reason for why some people can’t do them. The people I have worked with are very passionate and hopeful in their work. And I figure if they keep showing up, I need to do the same.
And I also keep up on current trials out there and what’s working and what is not.
And I also get free supplies!!! I just had to order sensors for the first time in 3 years!
If you can find one in your area, it could be eye opening!
2 Likes
Almost.
lol
Just tried to get in one. The trial was already filled. It was unfortunate on the one hand as we were both pretty excited to get into it. It was fortunate on the other hand that the people running the clinical trial did not have any problems finding enough people that fit all the criteria with no exclusions.
Definitely and totally agree.
Without the people running the trial, the people in the trial and the funding for the trial none of it would happen. The results that come of the the trials are incredibly important and we use the results that have come out of various trials every single day.
Yep, sure did.
I was one of the guinea pigs for Pfizer’s “Exubera,” the inhalable insulin. In exchange for free test strips and insulin, I went in every 3 months to take tests for lung function and how well the Exubera actually worked.
It wasn’t bad at all, just hard to dose, since the packets only came in 1 and 3 unit doses. You couldn’t cut it finer than that, and you were never quite sure how much you actually took in, since the chamber always had insulin dust in it after popping the packet.
I believe Pfizer tried to market it, but stopped when it didn’t prove popular.
I learned a lot. I got to use products that I would not have had opportunity to experience. I was paid for my participation. I tested Tandem, Dexcom, Medtronic 670G (which I was able to keep) and Freestyle Libre as well as several kinds of meters. I will continue to try new products.
1 Like
I’m doing a Medtronic 670G trial right now and Medtronic won’t let us keep the pump. You lucked out! But then again since it’s not my favorite pump, I’m not disappointed anymore.