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My Life as a Lab Rat: Getting to the Maze

About a year ago, I mentioned my interest in clinical trials. There are a lot of good reasons to get involved — access to cutting edge treatments, potential to help a lot of people around the world.

One challenge I didn’t expect was how hard it would be to get involved in a study. Since I made that post, I’ve applied to be in a variety of studies — including one to look at the effect of magnets on repetitive strain injuries to the wrist and another to study the dosages of birth control pills on overweight women.

There are a lot of trials going on at any given time, and there are many that I’m just not eligible for. (Of course, if you want to look at that in a positive light, I’m not diseased enough to participate!) But I figured I’d have a good chance of getting selected for the ones I did meet the criteria for.

No such luck… at least not yet.

A friend of mine who has participated in several trials pointed me to ClinicalTrials.gov. This website covers trials going on in the United States and abroad — both federally funded and privately funded. It’s pretty thorough! An initial search of studies in my area came back with close to three thousand in various stages (recruiting, not recruiting, in progress, completed). You can search for a specific condition, browse the studies going on in your area, or refine your search by age, sex, and more. Want to only search federally funded studies? You can.

I’m kind of excited to have been introduced to this site… it makes me feel like my chances of getting selected for a study just went WAY up. I do want to be a lab rat! It’s exciting to think that the studies being done today could be the life-saving treatments of tomorrow.

Have you participated in a clinical trial? What was your experience like?