UKC

Am a bit short of cash lately and a mate suggested becoming a Medeval volunteer - basically they pay you to be a guineapig for new drugs, skincare products etc.

Any of you guys done it?
What did you have to do?
Did you get decent money for it?
Was it worth it?

In reply to haze01:

I had to read this twice...thought you had to walk around in chain mail and waving a halberd and they would pay you for it...

In reply to haze01:

there was one advertised in the northern version of the Metro free paper, for women on mechanical (coil or diaghphram) or hormonal (pill or injection) contraception, in Leeds I think. They were paying £100 per day.

I haven't done that sort of thing (I did a bit of a clinical trial with a morning after pill once, but that only involved eating 60 pills instead of two equating to the same dose, and I didn't get paid for it).

It was the only thing my mum said we weren't allowed to do at University. That, and studying in Birmingham.

In reply to haze01:

The lot in Leeds are called Covance.

You can register with them and they'll send you out details of all the studies they're recruiting for. You can just pick the one you want.

I registered as a student but never got on any because I didn't meet the inclusion criteria - I didn't weigh enough!

In reply to haze01:
A quick look at your profile suggests you are young and fertile, which tends to be a drawback for medical testing, as they prefer females to be either sterilised or past the menopause.

I did a clinical study over 20 years ago, for an anti-arrythmic, and got paid about £800 for two one-week stays in a medical unit, which was pretty good money at the time. There were people there who did a trial every couple of months, plus quite a few skint students.

There's always the chance of long term effects though, which is something to bear in mind.

In reply to haze01: I did it, got paid £250 for a few afternoons, had drugs injected to speed up my heart, and slow it down etc, and just saline drips etc, watched TV and videos surrounded by nurses, goo laugh.

In reply to haze01:

I got paid £250 (as a student in 1999) to test how much/little anaesthetic it took to make me drowsy but not actually conk out. So I spent 5 afternoons with my head all wired up, relaxing on a bed with an oxygen mask that occasionally smelled 'funny', drifting in and out of consciousness.

I'd add the caveat of being rather careful about what you test.

In reply to brothersoulshine:

hmmm, that might be a problem - i'm kinda little.


I'm not sure whether the dodginess of being a human guineapig is worth the cash, but then I guess it depends just how much cash they're offering.

In reply to haze01:

you could look at it that this way you're selling your body, but if you went to work at (e.g) tesco, stacking shelves, you'd be selling your soul, and which is more important?

In reply to haze01:

When I was really really poor. I did loads of these studies and I was so good at getting new fit young lads from the climbing club to take drugs they even started to pay me for the bodies.

This is what I got. Free drugs (not always very nice ones), free board, free videos and get this "it´s unethical to profit from selling your body for medical research". So they don´t pay you, instead they give you a Gratuitous amount, that means if you don´t tell um it´s tax free. Yipppeeee!!!

I had to be free from other drugs (and they can tell you know) and have an aids test every study. Some of my friends are still doing them, and their mostly fine.

Rich

In reply to Sam M:
>, and their mostly fine.

Mostly?!

In reply to grynneman:
Well lets face it, if they´re my friends they probably weren´t "completely fine" to start with.
Rich

In reply to CJD:
very true!
Its sad reflection of modern society, but you get paid less for selling your soul than selling a kidney!

In reply to haze01:

Mate of mine spent three days in ICU at Leicester Royal following a trail for a heart arrythmia drug.



G

In reply to haze01: i'm about to start one tomorrow evening. it's a test for a new form of artificial insulin. i go in tomorrow evening, come out thursday morning, repeat 3 further times- with a gap of two weeks between each- go in for a medical a fortnight after the last and recieve £1750. nice work if you can get it. i've done may and it's never anything less than relaxing, sometimes boring, but always well 'paid'.
cheers!

In reply to haze01:

i met a guy who was working over here from south africa. he was regularly doing trials for antidepressants. he was well minted from doing it, and seemed to be compus mentus, but i dont think i'd be happy having that kind of stuff trialled on me, whatever the financial reward! (which was about £2000 for a week's residential - kicking back playing pool, watching tv, etc.)

best o luck

n

In reply to haze01:

i'VE JUST REGISTERED!

Im hopin to a 12 day one and get paid £900, should pay for a trip to the ALPS!

Im thinking that I'm helping out medical science, not whoring out my body!

In reply to 2pints: "not whoring out my body!" there is no way you would get £900 for whoring out your body!

In reply to Blinder:

I'm sure you would in London, no?

In reply to haze01: how do you register for this kind of thing and where?

In reply to haze01:
Done about 10 of them in my lifetime.

Altzeimers drugs, anti-rejection drugs, painkillers, anti-collagulants, asthma, anti-depressents, can't remember the others.

About £100 per day initially although they seem to pay more now.

Worth it? Definately! When you are on £4 an hour, £2000 for a couple of weeks laying around in hospital is brilliant.

Worst aspects are the high number of thick, racist, Afrikaans South African adolescents who take part, and of course blocked canulas embedded in your forearm.

In reply to all:

Just as a little note, I do know of a few people who've had long term effects from these things, and from my knowledge and experience I would not choose NOT do them. And i have been vey skint.

But the drugs need to be tested, so go ahead if you like, but try to find out some more info first so you know the risks.

Dr Helen.

In reply to Helen R:
Never ever known anyone to have long-term side effects, not even short-term side-effects (usually headaches from caffeine withdrawl).

At the same time there is a roughly 20-25% chance you are on placebo anyway. Also you get one of the most thorough medical checkups you will ever get, including urinalysis, blood analysis, HIV, DOA, ECG, EEG, (even MRI and PET on one occaison), constant blood and heart monitoring for the duration, etc etc etc. To top it all off you are cleansed of all caffeine containing, alcohol and illegal drug products for the duration.

Can't say I come out of these things feeling refreshed as they can take up to a litre of blood (typical blood donation), but I do get peace-of-mind from the fact that if anything was slightly unusual about my body chemistry then it would have shown up in the trial.

Lastly, the trials are usually testing minimal amounts of the drug being administers - it's not like they're dosing you up to the eyeballs.

But, each to their own.