Looking for terminology about testing on human subjects to help others ...

[Ben Robberecht]

Greetings:

I am looking for the correct terminology which describes the testing on living human beings, with the idea, that the information gained, others can be helped.
It has for among others:
Immunology testing.
DNA testing.
...

I have, for instance, an extreme tolerance to chemicals, caffeine, ... , as well as a very high pain tolerance and stress tolerance.
I use battery acid to clean my hands from grease without getting burns, I drink 2 to 4 litres very strong coffee a day with no side effects, but I also need 4 times the normal prescribed medication, or it will not be effective.
It's not al sunshine, of course.
Same for the high pain tolerance: I often do not notice a deep cut, for instance.
Until I find blood, or someone tells me.

I like to be examined in this, with the hope that the data can help others.

Now, this research has a specific terminology, but I can't find it.

If anyone could help me, I'd be grateful.

Thank you.
Ben

[Bufofrog]

2 hours ago, Ben Robberecht said:

I drink 2 to 4 litres very strong coffee a day with no side effects

You drink between 1/2 to a full gallon of coffee a day?!  I think your post may be a side effect of that much caffeine.

[exchemist]

2 hours ago, Ben Robberecht said:

Greetings:

I am looking for the correct terminology which describes the testing on living human beings, with the idea, that the information gained, others can be helped.
It has for among others:
Immunology testing.
DNA testing.
...

I have, for instance, an extreme tolerance to chemicals, caffeine, ... , as well as a very high pain tolerance and stress tolerance.
I use battery acid to clean my hands from grease without getting burns, I drink 2 to 4 litres very strong coffee a day with no side effects, but I also need 4 times the normal prescribed medication, or it will not be effective.
It's not al sunshine, of course.
Same for the high pain tolerance: I often do not notice a deep cut, for instance.
Until I find blood, or someone tells me.

I like to be examined in this, with the hope that the data can help others.

Now, this research has a specific terminology, but I can't find it.

If anyone could help me, I'd be grateful.

Thank you.
Ben

Gosh, I bet you eat rusty nails in your porridge as well, like Desperate Dan in the Dandy.

Edited October 1, 2021 by exchemist

[TheVat]

I think, until some things are clarified,  there will be a natural tendency to poke some fun here.   My first question:  how does someone discover that battery acid is a solvent suitable for washing greasy hands?   I mean,  at what point do you say,  hmm,  no soap around,  gosh maybe I can pour off that old car battery over yonder,  little sulfuric acid never hurt anyone!   

Second question:  if you aren't getting pain signals from a deep cut or strong acids,  have you considered seeing a neurologist?  That kind of insensitivity could pose some real danger to you.   They could determine possibly where nociceptor fibres may be damaged or if there is some other issue with interpretation of pain in the brain.   And suggest ways to protect yourself from tissue damage and infection.  

[CharonY]

31 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Second question:  if you aren't getting pain signals from a deep cut or strong acids,  have you considered seeing a neurologist?  That kind of insensitivity could pose some real danger to you. 

There are a couple of known conditions that result in abnormal pain perception. It is indeed something that one should consult with a physician, especially if serious cuts are not being noticed. Caffeine tolerance on the other hand is not terribly unusual. During my postdoc times I had easily two litres of coffee a day quite frequently and there was no noticeable effect. However, I tried being on decaff for 1-2 years and after that I found that coffee actually had some effects such as on heart rate. Though that vanished quickly again. Similarly, there are different conditions and issues that can cause tolerance to certain drugs, including anesthasia. Alcohol, amphetamines, opiates as well as high levels of caffeine can alter how those drugs work, for example.

 

3 hours ago, Ben Robberecht said:

I use battery acid to clean my hands from grease without getting burns

Why would acid help with grease? Diluted sulphuric acid often does not immediately result in noticeable damages (especially if skin is protected by a layer of grease a bit).  Also, if the skin is also already in rough shape, it may become less sensitive and minor burns may not be immediately noticeable. Folks who routinely work with damaging agents (e.g. aggressive cleaning solutions) with insufficient protection often have badly cracked and damaged skin with little sensation left.  However, concentrated suphuric acid will rather quickly lead to burns, and there is no way that healthy tissue would not get damaged. 

 

[Ben Robberecht]

Thank you all for replying.

Insensitivity to pain: this has been checked into, and apparently, this is due to my Aspergers.
I also can stand quite deep temperatures, but in summertime when temperature rises over 22 degrees, I start to suffer.

My skin on my hands is fairly rough, but when I use battery acid to get the machine grease of my hands (which does not come off with soap), I notice no red skin, nothing.
Hands are in normal shape, even after using the acid few times a day (if the machine had a rough day, and stopped a lot).

As for tolerance to chemicals, my father has this as well, just like me, it's apparently with most family members of my fathers side.
Oddly, this affects only the males, from what I gathered from many accounts.
No doctor/specialist (Hematologist/Neurologist/...) has found out why.
And no, I do not do drugs.
Also, I had to drink water for a while (3 weeks), which was a horrible week for me (used to coffee), and besides a headache from lack of caffeine, I had no other effects of the lack of coffee.
Going back on my coffee, also did not result in any change, physically nor mentally.

Though I understand you making fun of me, might I tell you, Bufofrog and Exchemist:
1) You never met me.
2) You never heard of me.
Thus, it is quite darn impolite to both judge me, and insult me with your jokes and unbelief ...

"Why would acid help with grease?"
This I do not know, but where soap with sandgraines failed, the battery acid does remove that stuff.
Wished I could answer, but I cannot.

"there is no way that healthy tissue would not get damaged."
And yet, I have no known issues?
Besides the above-mentioned, then.

 

All that aside, does anyone please know the terminology, I am seeking for?

Thank you.
Ben

[CharonY]

    

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

I think, until some things are clarified,  there will be a natural tendency to poke some fun here. 

The relevant bit here is that most of the description in OP suggest that something does not work the way it should (or at least the way it works in most folks). While most researchers would think that perhaps there is something wrong (anesthesia resistance can be a big issue in some folks and in addition to drug abuse has been associated with certain neurological conditions). Now there is some interest in finding out why that is the case (IIRC one mutation in a gene coding for a channel protein was implicated in local anesthetic resistance). However, the fun bit is that OP seems to think that these are desirable things. In most cases you want to similar to most others simply because then treatments and medication are more likely to work on you.

That is in fact quite a bit of a problem as folks with rare conditions may be at higher risk as physicians may simply not be aware of these conditions and how they affect treatment. Somewhat related, a similar issue is there because many study cohorts have been historically white and male. Which is why there has been a push in having more diversity in study cohorts, if possible.  

There is no general term for these types of studies, it really depends on the specific question. For example, assuming that you have tolerance to a certain drug and this trait is found within your family, one might be interested in exome sequencing to see if there is a genetic component.

If you have a certain condition that might result in some physiological alterations, one might be interested if those traits are also found in folks suffering from similar conditions and so on. I.e. you design your study around a highly specific question.

 

5 minutes ago, Ben Robberecht said:

Also, I had to drink water for a while (3 weeks), which was a horrible week for me (used to coffee), and besides a headache from lack of caffeine, I had no other effects of the lack of coffee.

That is actually a typical effect of caffeine withdrawal, which in turn suggest that you are in fact reacting to caffeine. 

 

5 minutes ago, Ben Robberecht said:

"there is no way that healthy tissue would not get damaged."
And yet, I have no known issues?
Besides the above-mentioned, then.

My guess there is that the acid is not sufficiently concentrated to do immediate burn damage. However, please do not test that out. It is not worth it for an internet discussion.

[Ben Robberecht]

22 hours ago, CharonY said:

"However, the fun bit is that OP seems to think that these are desirable things."
Well, I am aware of people with far too low resistances.
My natural high immunities might help the medical world to help these people.
It is therefore not said, it will be equally strong in reaction for those people ...

"That is actually a typical effect of caffeine withdrawal, which in turn suggest that you are in fact reacting to caffeine."
Correct. 

"My guess there is that the acid is not sufficiently concentrated to do immediate burn damage. However, please do not test that out. It is not worth it for an internet discussion."
This is not impossible, though it comes out of mostly closed cans.
No one around my workplace is "watering it down", but yeah, who knows ...
Prices go up on EVERYTHING while quality drops like a brick.  

 

[John Cuthber]

Long ago, at school I really pissed off the metalwork teacher.

He had just finished explaining to the class about pickling copper after annealing it. You wash it in 10% sulphuric acid to remove the oxide film.
They also pointed out that you had to use the special brass tongs because the acid would damage the (usual) steel ones.

And, of course, he made a big song and dance about being careful with the acid.

It undermined his authority when i just took stuff out of the bath with my hands and rinsed it under the tap.

Dilute sulphuric acid does attack normal human skin, but slowly.

Washing your hands in it is stupid bravado (and yes, that applies to me doing it when I was a school kid) but it doesn't imply any superhero skills.

I doubt I ever got through a gallon of coffee in a day, but when I was a student I was getting through half a dozen caffeine tablets with my breakfast.

Lethal doses of caffeine  taken rapidly- are of the order of 5 grams.

A cup of coffee is of the order of 0.1 grams.

So, 50 cups of coffee at once would kill you .

But a gallon over the course of a day is just an expensive (and unhealthy) choice of drinks.

One obvious effect would be an extra gallon of piss every day.

That's rather a lot.

Enough, for example, to wash out a lot of any medical drugs you took before they had time to work.

So the idea that it takes 4 times as much medicine to have an effect isn't a miracle either.

There's nothing here to investigate.