PPD Saga: IRB

[drakingson]

Hi:

I screened last October for that $8,500 study.  They fond microscopic blood in my urine and told me I couldn't screen ever again until I saw a Urologist and got cleared that there wasn't anything seriously wrong with me.  It took months to get all the necessary paper work. I had to get a referral first from my regular doctor then see a urologist and have him perform a procedure where he put a tube up my penis.  My pee pee hurt for a day because of this. Then I had to have a friend escort me home because you can't drive yourself.  I mailed all of the doctor's papers to PPD, Tricia or Trish handles this as she is the volunteer coordinator.  Their doctor has to review all of the papers. He wasn't satisfied with I had sent so I had to call the Urologist and get more papers sent. he still wasn't satisfied and I had to call and send more papers. Finally after five long months I got cleared.  That patch study came up in July and I got a screening.  I came all the way down from NJ to screen.  I passed screening and checked in.  I thought PPD was ok with me having microscopic blood in my urine. I had gotten into at least four studies before this with the blood and no issues.  A friend told me to drink cranberry juice because he said it would temporarily flush out the blood. I did this before my PPD screening and it must have worked. Even though they knew about my blood I did not want anything to hurt my chances of getting in. Now fast forward to the first day of check in around 3pm.  I think I am ok and everything will be gravy.  The study director told me they have to retest my urine because they found blood. I tell him that PPD and I already went through this and they know about the blood.  But he says I have to do a re-test. I know I am going to fail because I don't have any cranberry juice this time.  I am just shocked because I took the cranberry juice like I always do right before I entered PPD. I took it everyday before I entered. Why did the cranberry juice not work??? To get to the point, I failed the urine a second time and I am asked to leave.  I am pissed because I spent over $600 flying down there and with expenses like the hostel fees and food for the week.  When I get home I call the IRB and file an official complaint. That was over a month ago. I get an email from the IRB and they say my case will have a hearing on Friday.  I have never had to call the IRB before or file a complaint with them.  What should I expect. They said they were going to try to get my money back for flying down there and such. I hope so. Travel can be horrible and add up. I'm still curious as to why the cranberry juice did not work.

[mike]

Based on my experience with PPD, I would say flying there with no backup plan is ill-advised; maybe make sure there is another study that you can screen for in San Antonio or soing. I know that they often put out enticing, high-paying studies, but beware.

I've said it before here, PPD is a pain in the ***; I almost never have any issues with my labs when I screen, but the few times I screened at PPD there usually seemed to be some weird issue that was never a problem anywhere else. Even when I was living a few miles away from there in Austin, I put a low priority on screening there because they were so unreliable and fussy. I think PPD stands for Picky Prissy Dunderheads.

That said, I did a quick google on blood in the urine, and it sounds like soing I would be concerned about if it keeps on getting detected in repeated tests; there are a lot of possible causes, many of which don't sound pleasant.

[travelingrat]

hi drakinson! i have been dealing with the microscopic blood in urine for years. i have spent hours on the internet on various forums on urine-related issues (isn't the internet amazing??!!)

what i would suggest, based on my own lengthy experience, is to drink a small glass of cranberry juice in the morning, one at midday, one in the evening, EVERY day. this works as a preventative.

VERY IMPORTANT: you must the 100% pure cranberry juice. it does not have to be organic, but it MUST be 100% juice (NOT 26-28%). if you read the labels for most of the supermarket juices, they say "All Juice," but what they don't say is that that means a MIXTURE of grape juice, apple juice, and cranberry juice.

the pure stuff is vile tasting (imo of course!). i have mixed it with sparkling water. also sometimes i go with 4 ounces of pure, plus 4 ounces of the mixed Ocean Spray "Cranberry Juice." the pure stuff is outrageously expensive so if it is too expensive for you to and drink every day, at least drink it for several weeks EVERY day before a screening and then right up to the trial.

the forums are quite interesting on this issue. many doctors say it is all a bunch of hogwash. all i (and many, many others) can tell you is that since i started drinking the pure stuff 4 or 5 years ago, i have had very few issues. in my case, i can tell when i am getting worse since i will have a small amount of pain when i pee. at that time, i step up the pure juice to as much as i can stand (i HATE the damn stuff, although logically i should love it). i do this whether i am trying to get in a study or not.

Dr. Oz (the TV doc) said that he is convinced of the effectiveness of cranberry juice in many persons. however, he also said that the common juices with only 26 -28 % pure juice are fine. in my and others' experience, this has NOT been the case.

i often hear that lab rats use cranberry juice as a washout for drugs. i am skeptical of that practice but i remain -minded. i do not use rec drugs so i can't test the reliability of that particular claim!

it sounds as if your urologist would have investigated if he or she thought there was soing serious going on with you, so at least you have that info.

let us know if the IRB does get your money back for you, and best wishes to you.

[drakingson]

travelingrat:

Thank you for your reply.I take 100% cranberry juice several days before I screen and days before check in. I have used this technique countless times and have never had an issue. It is funny that it didn't work after check in. I also consume lots of water to help flush out the microscopic blood in the urine too. People have suggest I swallow the cranberry pills too but I did once while inpatient at one study and it made my urine come back with having bacteria. So I quit taking the pills. Luckily I was already in the study so they didn't throw me out. I am just so mad because the study at PPD paid $8,500 and the only thing keeping me from getting in was a microscopic trace of blood. They were trying to push people throw that study because they needed over 100 subjects and they were re-testing a dozen people with bad labels just to get them to qualify. They even had subjects repeat their blood pressure with a paramedic who had a hand held device which made their blood pressure "suddenly" go down. Out of 65 people in my cohort me and another lady who threw up after getting the study drug were the only two to be kicked out. Bye bye $8,500. There were no other studies to screen for in the area at anyplace like Worldwide.

[drakingson]

(duplicate post edited)

[drakingson]

Does anyone know if cranberry juice will get rid of blood in your stoll as well. I have a take home stool test as part of screening for another study. Also, if you have blood in your urine does that mean you will have blood in your stool?