TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE

Blog number 425 **** 29 September, 2010

I read the paper this morn. Saw an advertisement for a company seeking volunteers for an OAB study. You don't know what medical condition OAB is? Are you kidding me! It's an acronym for overactive bladder, silly. You should know that.

You HAVE heard of RLS, haven't you? Restless Leg Syndrome? I thought so.

It seems that some people, when they get a little older begin to notice that they have to urinate more frequently than they did when they were in their mid-twenties. Go figure.

The ad lists the qualifications you must have - age 65 or older, noticing frequent desires to urinate, pee the bed occasionally, and have health problems relating to aging. Health problems relating to aging? Are you kidding me again! But wait. You have to hear the goodies you get for accepting the position of an OAB study volunteer.

You "receive study-related care at no cost." That means you don't have to pay for any water you may drink, you don't have to pay for the chair you may have to sit on, you don't have to rent the floor you walk on, you don't have to pay for any drugs they may inject in you. Things like that.

You will "receive study medication or placebo (inactive substance) at no cost." Let's see. YOU want to study my reaction to a drug you put into my old body, and I don't have to pay for it. Generous to a fault, you be.

You "may be compensated for time and travel for the required 5 doctor visits over 14 weeks." Now, this doesn't say you WILL be compensated. It says you MAY be, which insinuates very strongly - at least to me, that you may not be. And if you DO get compensated, you'll come out even, moneywise. It's a "come out even - lose" situation.

14 weeks out of my time, 5 doctor visits on top of the visits I already make to a doctor due to my incontinence, and I may just have to pay for my own travel expenses. And that's all the benefits I will ever receive for this. With all those benefits, it's no wonder they can't give out any money for this study that may cause me to die a few years earlier from the untested drugs they want to give me.

I read a few weeks ago that this proliferation of medical studies that is now going on - where you see an ad seeking study volunteers in the paper almost every week, that the drugs they give you is not meant to help your particular disease in any way. No, what they are looking for is to see if it will harm you. THAT'S the study. "Will this kill you?" I sure hope not, but let's see, shall we?