Research Subject

I visited my endocrinologist yesterday. I’m not used to regular endo appointments, but I am used to being in medical facilities. I’ve had a bunch of appointments this winter to stay on top of my health.

My visit was interesting, first I spent about 20 minutes with a Eastern European medical student answering a ton of questions (more or less trying to figure out if I have any indications of complications). I so far appear to be complication-free. The medical student seemed to be very apologetic about asking a lot of “personal” which I found amusing because they really aren’t that personal. Any tingling or numbness in your feet? Have you felt dizzy? How often do you have low blood sugar? Have you had heart palpitations?

After that, I spent some time with both the med student and my endo and established that my OmniPod and I are doing pretty well.

When I was scheduling my next appointment, a research interviewer asked for a moment of my time before I left. She wanted to know if I might be interested in participating in a database study. I heard her out.

I have already turned down the opportunity to participate in a torturous-sounding clinical trial that had produced some scary results previously, so I was prepared to say no. Here’s where it gets interesting, the night before I was talking with Brad about clinical trials and medical research. We were discussing the first study I mentioned and that I don’t want to participate in anything that could screw up my health, I’m at a point where I feel healthy and want to stay that way. “If there were a study where I could give them permission to look at my test results without extra medical stuff, I’d do it,” I told him.

As I listened to the interviewer and read through the informed consent information, I realize. This is it. They look at my test results for the next few years and I take surveys about my lifestyle and day-to-day with diabetes. I asked my questions, carefully read and re-read the form and then signed. If sharing my numbers, thoughts, opinions and challenges can help them improve medical treatment for diabetics, I’m happy to help.

(Disclaimer: I am participating in a research study. I was not asked to blog about the study, however in return for speaking with the research interviewer, my $4 parking was paid for.)