Alone with thoughts

[lauradi7dw]

I volunteered for a study at MGH of nerve damage, as a control. The ultimate goal of this study is to find quick and easy ways to do some of the testing that currently takes a long(ish) time. So participants have to do both types of testing. One of the tests uses a tilt table. One has to lie still for five minutes, then the table quickly stands you up for ten minutes, and then five more minutes of lying down. All of the tests were done in one little room full of equipment. The person administering the test and I were alone for a couple of hours. He would give me instructions and answer specific questions, but there was no chatting otherwise. No background music, no electronic devices (except for all the monitors and testing equipment, of course), no reading material. So for long periods of time, it was silent. The assumption in many places is that people need constant entertainment. Not there. I was a little surprised. And bored, really, but I was kind of pleased that they gave me credit for having an inner life. Or for being able to zone out. I can't actually do that, but there is no end of things to think about.
A surprising test was the one that times how fast the pupils react to changes in light. (that is one of the new hoped-for tests). I was wearing a headpiece with two tiny cameras, one aimed at each pupil. Really the opposite of tech level from the basic background testing of hitting tendons with a little hammer and poking me with a pin. I was impressed with the sweat calculating machine - how does one even think of inventing something like that? If you stimulate the skin nerves in certain ways, the skin should sweat. For the first few minutes, my forearms were the most prolific, but then the lateral calf areas evened the score.

Comments

[negothick]

What a good and brave person you are to do this in the name of science. Not that I think this will happen to you, but I cannot help sharing this strange coincidence. Just two weeks ago, I met someone who had similarly volunteered for a sleep study. First night, they tested her, hooked her up, and put her to bed. She woke, was disoriented, didn't remember where she was, started to sit up--and fell out of bed, breaking her wrist.

I wish you much better luck--may boredom be the worst thing that happens!

[lauradi7dw]

There are some pretty scary ones out there. I am interested in nerve damage, as my father has peripheral neuropathy, but I don't expect him to personally benefit from this. A number of Gulf War veterans have nerve damage, so the DOD is funding this study. One of the many options to back out one has when signing release forms is to quit because of the funding source. I'd think anyone who was opposed to that war (I was, and even went to DC to march around) might want to help some of the people who were harmed by it.
Even lower risk, I was a controlish person for a study on lymphedema. I went in once a month for a year to get my arm measured. I presume that somewhere out there is someone matched up with me whose arm puffed up a lot.