Painopolis

Review: It’s an all-too-common scenario: You’ve seen a slew of doctors who’ve prescribed countless treatments to erase your pain. Nevertheless, it persists. So what now?

If the available treatments haven’t worked, maybe some unavailable ones might. And by unavailable, I mean treatments so new that they’re still working their way through the gauntlet of scientific testing that determines whether they’re safe and effective. That evaluation process can take a decade or more to complete. In the meantime, the only way you can gain access to one of these experimental treatments is by participating in a clinical trial. Yeah, a human guinea pig.

But there’s a catch: Experimental treatments pose potential health risks (including, in rare cases, death) as well as potential benefits. And because experimental treatments are so new, nobody really knows what those possible risks and benefits might be. What’s more, most experimental treatments never make it out of the lab because they simply don’t work; or in some instances, they do more harm than good.

But on the flip side, some newly invented treatments prove to be major breakthroughs. So by participating in a clinical trial, you can get access to an experimental treatment long before you otherwise would. If the word “experimental” gives you the creeps, you’re right to be cautious. On the other hand, keep in mind that every medication you currently take was once an experimental medication. And likewise, many experimental treatments now undergoing scientific scrutiny will one day earn a place in your physician’s quiver of treatment options.

At this very moment, hundreds of thousands of clinical trials are taking place around the globe. Hence, you can bet that scientists somewhere in the world are recruiting volunteers right now in hopes of coming up with a new and improved treatment for your particular type of pain. But how do you locate a clinical trial near you that’s focusing on your specific health problem? How do you find the eligibility requirements for acceptance into a clinical trial? What questions should you ask when deciding whether to be a test subject? And how do you actually sign up for a clinical trial?

In this episode, we tell you about an online tool named ClinicalTrials.gov that promises to give you those answers. Moreover, we let you know how well ClinicalTrials.gov works based on three criteria:

•  Is it effective?

•  Is it easy to use?

•  Is it inexpensive?

We also dig into the potential benefits and drawbacks of volunteering for a clinical trial. In addition, we’ll talk you through the different types of clinical trials and tell you which ones are more likely to involve experimental treatments that may actually pan out. We then wrap up the episode by revealing the Painopolis rating we give ClinicalTrials.gov based on its usefulness, user-friendliness and cost.

By the way, ClinicalTrials.gov is loaded with lots of technological bells and whistles that can easily confound first-time users. So after you’ve listened to our review, watch our free half-hour-long video tutorial on how to use ClinicalTrials.gov. You can find that tutorial in the show notes for this episode at https://painopolis.com/painopolis-reviews-clinicaltrialsgov/