Has anyone ever participated in a clinical trial for new drugs? I am hoping to get into one for asthma. I have been bothered for almost 5 years and I feel like a test subject anyhow as for all the different drugs they have tried to control it. All have bad side effects and nothing has worked. I was just wondering if anyone had ever participated.

I haven't been in a clinical trial, but I also have asthma. Do you know all your triggers? Allergies are one of mine (somewhat indirectly - they led to sinus infections which led to flare-ups). Since being treated for allergies (shots and now weaned off daily allergy medicine except in certain situations) and taking environmental steps to limit exposure (primarily encasing all bedding/pillows in allergy covers), that portion of my asthma is well controlled. I still get the exercise induced asthma real bad though. :-(. Good luck.

My mother and her friends went and did that...they had no problem...and even got paid for their time and gas money to do it...good luck!!

My sister did one for arthritis. She felt she received much better care, as soon as she felt a neg. effect they allerted her meds.,the best it was ever controlled.

Yes, I participated in a trial for fibroid tumors. they were testing a drug vs placebo to see if the drug would reduce the size of the tumors. I felt very good about my experience. I always said that the paper work involved with adverse reactions keeps the researchers/doctors and staff on their toes so they don't have to do adverse reaction reports.

I worked at NIH for a few years so I'm familiar with clinical trials.

A few things to keep in mind:

Who is offering the trial?

What stage is the trial in?

Is the drug already on the market for something else? Or is a completely brand new drug?

What type of medical support will they offer? (just in case you do have serious side effects)

Some phases are testing a placebo vs the test drug, so you may not actually get the drug they are testing.

These are links about NIH clinical trials, but the basic info is good:

http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/partic...qaboutcs.shtml
http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/partic...f/partners.pdf

I work in an office that also has a research clinic. Talk with the girls all the time about what they are testing and how they do it. Talk about following guidelines! Everything that they do they have to do in a certain way and they have people that come in and check over their paperwork. I have been there for almost 2 years and have yet to hear any negative type results except for people that are excluded from the studies. For every study that they need 10 people for they have to screen between 50-60. The screening process includes all the tests that are associated with that disease. It is a better work up than the docs can do and it's free to you. The only thing to look for is the clinics reputation and what drug company is sponsoring the test. Good luck with this. I know how asthma can really put a person down and how frustrating it is to get it controlled. qbquilts is correct on the allergies, you need to find your triggers and get them controlled.

No but I have asthma so can understand! I have been in prednisone for 30+ yrs. Nothing else helped back then along with high doses of the oldtheophylline. I have to be careful whose house I visit, glad no smoking in public places since I couldn't go out before. Have to watch pollen counts and I'm allergic to a lot of meds so have to be very careful!!!
Good luck!! Let us know how it goes!!

Oh, yeah, I forgot they paid me too. I had so many tests that my insurance would never had approved-I'm in an HMO. And then when it came time to do the hysterectomy I had a private room and stayed for 5 days after surgery. They even took pictures of my uterous and all the fibroids and let me have a copy.

You really need to pay attention to the details. Mine was fun becuase I worked there and it was not a problem to go in several times a month for various tests and blood draws for a year.

I have, and I agree with everyone. I tested a glaucoma drug, and my eyes have never been so thoroughly examined! Everything was very controlled, and well documented. I even had a physical before I could be considered for the trial.

I appreciate everyone's comments. I go tomorrow morning for my physical. If the thing that they are looking for is in my blood, I am in. I have been praying for God to help me with this. I have had sinus surgery (and I still have sinus disease!), my hiatal hernia fixed (to stop the GERD that they thought was causing the problems), and endured allergy shots that only made me much worse (even though I tested hardly allergic to anything). I cough 24/7 and sometimes wheeze so bad that I can't get to sleep. This has been going on for almost 5 years. I am tired of telling everyone I meet that expresses concern that I am not contagious!