• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Who Carries Out Tests Upon Themselves?

INT21

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 18, 2016
Messages
7,085
Basically, does anyone else carry out scientific experiments upon themselves ? In the best tradition of inquiry.

As most of you know, a few years back I had some medical 'problems'. And something happened today that gave me the opportunity to see how well I had recovered.

Being an old fart (A genuine card-carrying oldje), if I wish to go to town and my car is of the road I take my codger pass and use the bus. But my pass ran out three days ago, and as I had to go into town (Two miles away) to order some parts for the car prior testing, I had to walk.
So, I walked down, ordered the parts, had a coffee, and walked back home.
Now, Where I live is about three hundred foot above the town centre level. All down hill there and, of course, all uphill coming back. As I was on the last hundred yards or so I phoned my wife and asked her to dig out our heart pressure/pulse checker.

As soon as I arrived home I took my pressures and heart rate. The again at three further five minute intervals.

I was quite happy with the results. A very fast recovery from the walk.

So, anyone else done this or something similar.

Note, I will not believe any tales of people claiming to have carried out open heart surgery on themselves.

INT21.
 
I have done the blood pressure test before, noticing the difference between what the nurse gets and what i get when i get home
 
Well, I monitor my blood sugars and blood pressure, if that counts.
 
I've used my smartwatch and the sensors on my exercise bike to measure my pulse - neither are very accurate and I end up doing it the old fashioned way (if I'm not dead, my heart's still beating).
 
Yes, it all counts.

My wife says I am mad to do this. But one can only tell if you are able to do something by trying it.
 
This news story happened to emerge today, and it's relevant to the theme of testing oneself ...
A Doctor Tested a New Treatment on Himself. Now, It May Help Others with This Rare Disease.

A doctor's quest to understand his own rare disease led him to test an experimental treatment on himself, and it may have worked. The physician, Dr. David Fajgenbaum, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, has been in remission ever since he first used himself as a "test subject" five years ago.

Now, a new study suggests Fajgenbaum's treatment may help others with this rare inflammatory disorder known as Castleman disease.

The new research shows that patients with severe forms of the condition, who haven't responded to previous therapies, may benefit from a treatment that targets a specific signaling pathway inside cells called the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. ...

The work, published today (Aug. 13) in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, is one of the few occasions when the lead author of the report (Fajgenbaum) is also a patient in the study.

The doctor's quest began in 2010, when Fajgenbaum, who was then an athletic 25-year-old in medical school, suddenly fell ill. He developed swollen lymph nodes, abdominal pain, fatigue and an eruption of small red spots on his body, according to the report. Fajgenbaum's condition soon worsened and became life-threatening.

Fajgenbaum was eventually diagnosed with Castleman disease, which is actually a group of inflammatory disorders that affect the lymph nodes. About 5,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with some form of Castleman disease each year. Patients with Castleman disease may have a mild form of the disease with a single affected lymph node, while others have abnormal lymph nodes throughout their body and develop life-threatening symptoms, including organ failure.

Fajgenbaum has this more severe form, known as idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) ... About 35% of people with iMCD die within five years of the diagnosis. Although there is one approved treatment for Castleman disease, a drug called siltuximab, not all patients respond to the therapy.

Fajgenbaum fell into this group. No existing therapies helped him and his symptoms kept coming back — during the 3.5 years after his diagnosis, he was hospitalized eight times ... But by studying his own blood samples, Fajgenbaum identified a possible clue to his illness. Right before a flare-up, he saw a spike in the number of immune cells called activated T cells, as well as an increase in levels of a protein called VEGF-A. Both of these factors are regulated by the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.

Fajgenbaum hypothesized that a drug that inhibited this pathway may help with his condition. He turned to a drug called sirolimus, which inhibits this pathway and is already used to prevent organ rejection in kidney transplant patients. Fajgenbaum hasn't had a flare-up of symptoms since he started taking the drug in 2014. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/doctor-self-tests-castelman-disease-treatment.html
 
I have done the blood pressure test before, noticing the difference between what the nurse gets and what i get when i get home

That's what my doctor calls ''White Coat Syndrome''. The natural ability of one's blood pressure to rise when being tested by a medical professional. Test yourself at home and it (usually) will be lower.
 
When I was a teenager in Australia I was getting something done by an old sheet metal worker guy, who had lost most of his fingers, but he had figured out that he could just make a cast out of araldite around them, joining the finger and the stump together (no araldite between them of course), and the finger would just re-attach. He had these ring shaped scars on most of his fingers. I assume that he had the pain threshold of your average brick. Tough old coot.
 
After and during treatment for my heart attack over 3 years ago, my consultant mentioned a device called Kardia. It's and app you can get on your phone with a device that you put against the phone, press two fingers each on the device and within a minute you get an ECG of your heart and the device will tell you,if you're ok or get to the hospital quick. I use it if it prompts me or if I feel rough. It's a peace of mind and Itake it everywhere with me. By the way, the consultant said he was taking a few bob off the manufacture of the Kardia( to which me and the missus thought "yeah, ok").
Also, if I get the symptoms of a migraine, I close and open each eye to check the poxy"squiggle" floating in my vision and then the headache.
 
As a diabetic I have a blood sugar monitor stuck to my upper arm constantly, making me part cyborg.

Have a home blood pressure kit as well after a heart scare a few years back but don't really use that.

I also have a recurring weekly test to see how many pints/shots I can take on a work night and still make my alarm and function the next day
 
Apart from .... how many spliffs can I smoke before I am unable to play the piano and does my piano playing get better after spliff consumption and how many does it take before my piano playing gets worse ... same for the guitar as well ... I haven't really got anything that needs testing.
 
Some of my colleagues have the occasional requirement for blood (in a scientific sense as opposed to AlchoPwn's take), and some wag in the office will often say, "Oh, just use your own," but we're not actually allowed to do scientific experiments on our own blood for some reason - it's immunity-related, I think. You have to use somebody else's. Although apparently the people in the Physics department either don't know or don't care about this particular ruling...

I also have a vague recollection that the chap who discovered that Helicobacter pylori causes stomach ulcers actually tested that theory on himself by ingesting a quantity. Not necessarily the best idea when you remember that the wee beasties can go on to cause stomach cancer as well.
 
Before washing my hair, I like to pin open my eyes and test the shampoo. It's painful but it's saving a bunny wabbit! :fbunny:
 
Back
Top