Medical research

[northwind]

No thread can't be improved with a Simpsons quote: "Pleasing taste. Some monsterism"

If we're talking about an existing on the market drug rather than a pre-market drug trial then in my opinion they're all pretty safe (depends on dosage obviously).

Standard physical side effects (which will probably last the full week, tend to dissapear after that) usually include mild nausia and dry mouth/metallic taste.

Might be worth just getting the name of the drug and the heading to wikipedia. In my opinion any of the "new" SSRI type anti-depressants at normal dosages should be fine, I'd be wary of older zombification type drugs though (lithium, diazapam etc) - I'm sure they have their uses but think the side effects are a little too severe for a casual study.

Should point out that I'm not a doctor.

Sorry, I posted the thread and then went on holiday for a week hehe. The drug it turns out is Citalopram at 20 mg per dose. One a day, with a scan at the start and end. It is simple research to see what antidepressants do on "normal" people. I haven't gone looking for medical research, it's just a new friend of mine that happens to be doing it. As Dr. Rich says, it will advance medical knowledge of drugs, and so being paid is a bonus really. As an old ethics lecturer of mine said: "Ethically speaking, if you want to have access to the latest drugs and medicine you HAVE to be made to be part of the research".

I think I will do it, I shall let you know how I get on.

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

These things are genrally quite safe though, a drug has to perform extremly well in the previous trials for it to even be considered beign tested on humans, let alone actualy letting it be administered.

Hmm, sure the guys doing tests at Northwick Park felt the same. Right before they suffered massive organ failure...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4807042.stm

BE CAREFUL!!!

Originally Posted by Pigbunk

Hmm, sure the guys doing tests at Northwick Park felt the same. Right before they suffered massive organ failure...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4807042.stm

BE CAREFUL!!!

PhD projects are studies not clinical trials... The people at northwick were on a clinical trial... A study is different. Warthog's study is based around a licensed medication which you can get on prescription...

And Dr Rich is right, PhD projects won't do you much harm We enter into them thinking we're gonna change the world.. hmmm how naive we are Plus we don't get enough funds to compensate you if things go horribly wrong, so they can't be life threatening

***UPDATE***

The study started today and I just took my first pill. I was actually very nervous; it's incredible to see the placebo effect, as I had a rush of blood to my head and I was shaking (only a little bit ) about 2 seconds after swallowing, it can't have even reached my stomach yet! Plus it might be an actual placebo, who knows. I'll keep you posted, I feel fine so far

Maybe too late. but take the money, do the tests, just dont take the pill

only kidding !

Ecitalopram info here if you want to induce subject bias to the experiment - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escitalopram

20mg is a mid-high(ish) dosage, certainly well within norms. It's a very commonly prescribed drug and has a wealth information already on it. So whilst standard advice would be to never take a drug you don't need, I'd say you're safe from worries.

Originally Posted by Warthog

As you know I am short of money and I need to fix my SV. I have come accross a PhD student friend that needs people to volunteer for her research.

Short and skinny of it: I would have to take antidepressants for 7 days and have an MRI scan at the end whilst doing various emotional tests. I would get £100.

I am a very happy mentally sound person, so does anyone know if this would screw me up or would I just feel extremely happy for a few days? Sounds like easy money to me, and I need new forks!

£100 for 7 days work. Not worth it!

Can't take anti D's, they make me too happy.