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[inthelab]

t_f's idea about medical studies might be a good one. My mom is a recruiter for medical research-most of the studies are not at all scary and quite low-risk. If I lived closer to her, there are actually a few I would sign up for. Well worth the $$.

Medical studies are almost never a good idea. They involve taking something unproven into your body, and the hospital has no liability if it harms you. The $200 you'll make -- not in time to eat this week, btw -- might get you through the first doctor visit in many years' worth of visits for a chronic condition sparked or aggravated by Mystery Substance or Novel Surgical Technique.

I've been very, very poor, but always steered clear of med studies.

OP, talk to the landlord. Most landlords would much rather suck up a late rent or two than lose an otherwise good tenant, and no landlord wants to evict.

Medical studies undergo rigorous review for approval.  It's not at all the way you paint it.  The OP has a 50% chance of being a placebo (sugar pill) if the OP is accepted into a drug trial, for example.
Without such studies, AIDS would still be a death sentence (as opposed to a chronic manageable disease), asthma would claim many more victims, contrast dyes for MRI and PET scans would be dreams and not standard-of-care.

If the OP is not having surgery, the OP surely will not qualify for Novel Surgical Technique.

Not every trial is for every person. Criteria for inclusion and exclusion are rigorous.  

[tolerantly]

t_f's idea about medical studies might be a good one. My mom is a recruiter for medical research-most of the studies are not at all scary and quite low-risk. If I lived closer to her, there are actually a few I would sign up for. Well worth the $$.

Medical studies are almost never a good idea. They involve taking something unproven into your body, and the hospital has no liability if it harms you. The $200 you'll make -- not in time to eat this week, btw -- might get you through the first doctor visit in many years' worth of visits for a chronic condition sparked or aggravated by Mystery Substance or Novel Surgical Technique.

I've been very, very poor, but always steered clear of med studies.

OP, talk to the landlord. Most landlords would much rather suck up a late rent or two than lose an otherwise good tenant, and no landlord wants to evict.

Medical studies undergo rigorous review for approval.  It's not at all the way you paint it.  The OP has a 50% chance of being a placebo (sugar pill) if the OP is accepted into a drug trial, for example.
Without such studies, AIDS would still be a death sentence (as opposed to a chronic manageable disease), asthma would claim many more victims, contrast dyes for MRI and PET scans would be dreams and not standard-of-care.

If the OP is not having surgery, the OP surely will not qualify for Novel Surgical Technique.

Not every trial is for every person. Criteria for inclusion and exclusion are rigorous.  

Doesn't matter. I've often been a candidate for asthma-related trials. However, I already have a lung disease. Do you seriously think I'm going to inhale something untried in large numbers of humans?  If it turns out not to be a good idea, do I want to be stuck with the lingering effects?  You must be out of your mind.

People with AIDS signed up because they had so little to lose.  Once you're in that position, sure, why not. But if you're healthy?  No, don't take drugs that haven't been established as safe in large populations of humans over many years.  You have no idea how serious the side effects might be, or how long it might take to develop them. Ask the women who've been taking bisphosphonates for a while, or those fen-phen dieters.  The risk isn't worth a couple hundred bucks when a talk with the landlord will do the trick instead.

[ingirumimus]

So many replies since I was last able to check in; I've read them all, and so have a few comments.

1.  I interviewed today for a position to help students prepare for SAT, but though it looks like I may have been accepted, it will be some time before I get a paycheck.

2.  I can't sell plasma because of a medical condition which disqualifies me, but I have participated in medical trials before.  I've made an appointment for next Monday to see if I qualify for another.

3.  I can't get a refund on the bill I paid--it was a mistake only from my point of view, since I hadn't meant to pay the entire thing (over $500), but I pushed the wrong button--or rather, I interpreted the button labelled "make a payment" as meaning that I would be taken to a page where I would be able to indicate the amount I wanted to pay, whereas it meant only "pay the amount indicated at the top of the page."   

4.  I have books I can sell, though these days one doesn't get much for them; most of my things are in storage, so finding ones to sell will take some doing, and I wanted to save that for the end of the week, when I'm not preparing for class, grading papers, and trying to do as much as I can on the internet.

5.  I will definitely put up notices offering help to students.

6.  I have lived in this place for over a year and have seen three people evicted with only a day's notice.  I'm not sure that the laws governing rooming houses are the same for apartments; in any event, I will definitely speak to the manager, even though it seems that I will be able to make the rent at least for this week.

7.  There are many charities in the area--getting through to them has been difficult; I will keep trying. 

8.  I'd forgotten all about food at universities.  I'm reluctant to speak to my chairman about a food card--in my department, adjuncts are seen and not heard, and I'd rather not create any other impression than that I'm diligent and conscientious. 

Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement!

[alleyoxenfree]

If you continue to adjunct, another thought is to look for a living situation that also comes with money.  For instance, managing an apartment building or working as a live-in tutor to a student.

[obprof]

To add to alleyoxenfree's suggestion: can you be a Residence Don (or whatever they are called at your school?).

Here, we have one "adult" living in each residence -- they get free rent and they are expected to keep an eye on things. Usually they hire graduate students, but I bet they would be delighted to have a professor.

[bluesocks]

My university has a food bank.  While it is designed for students, I am sure that a staff or faculty member would not be turned away.  Does your university have anything like this?  It would prevent you from having to go through your department anyway.

[inthelab]

t_f's idea about medical studies might be a good one. My mom is a recruiter for medical research-most of the studies are not at all scary and quite low-risk. If I lived closer to her, there are actually a few I would sign up for. Well worth the $$.

Medical studies are almost never a good idea. They involve taking something unproven into your body, and the hospital has no liability if it harms you. The $200 you'll make -- not in time to eat this week, btw -- might get you through the first doctor visit in many years' worth of visits for a chronic condition sparked or aggravated by Mystery Substance or Novel Surgical Technique.

I've been very, very poor, but always steered clear of med studies.

OP, talk to the landlord. Most landlords would much rather suck up a late rent or two than lose an otherwise good tenant, and no landlord wants to evict.

Medical studies undergo rigorous review for approval.  It's not at all the way you paint it.  The OP has a 50% chance of being a placebo (sugar pill) if the OP is accepted into a drug trial, for example.
Without such studies, AIDS would still be a death sentence (as opposed to a chronic manageable disease), asthma would claim many more victims, contrast dyes for MRI and PET scans would be dreams and not standard-of-care.

If the OP is not having surgery, the OP surely will not qualify for Novel Surgical Technique.

Not every trial is for every person. Criteria for inclusion and exclusion are rigorous.  

Doesn't matter. I've often been a candidate for asthma-related trials. However, I already have a lung disease. Do you seriously think I'm going to inhale something untried in large numbers of humans? 

I seriously think you'd be excluded from those trials.

[tolerantly]

Doesn't matter. I've often been a candidate for asthma-related trials. However, I already have a lung disease. Do you seriously think I'm going to inhale something untried in large numbers of humans? 

I seriously think you'd be excluded from those trials.

Alas, you'd be seriously wrong. For all the trials I was recruited for, through the doc's office, they specifically needed asthmatics, some with well-controlled symptoms, some without. The trials generally involved stopping whatever you were on for the duration of the trial.  Remember, they have to show efficacy.

[john_proctor]

I guess part-time job at a hardware store, grocery, restaurants, bar, etc. on the weekends/evenings is just right out for some reason?

[conjugate]

I guess part-time job at a hardware store, grocery, restaurants, bar, etc. on the weekends/evenings is just right out for some reason?

That might be tough.  Consider that OP is competing with loads of college students during the regular semester.  Lots of businesses in college towns already have weekends and evenings covered and need help at times when students are busy (which is times when faculty are busy as well).

Graveyard shift might work, but it means a rough sleep schedule.

[inthelab]

Doesn't matter. I've often been a candidate for asthma-related trials. However, I already have a lung disease. Do you seriously think I'm going to inhale something untried in large numbers of humans? 

I seriously think you'd be excluded from those trials.

Alas, you'd be seriously wrong. For all the trials I was recruited for, through the doc's office, they specifically needed asthmatics, some with well-controlled symptoms, some without. The trials generally involved stopping whatever you were on for the duration of the trial.  Remember, they have to show efficacy.

So you fit a specific cohort they were looking for, which isn't exactly as you posted.
Phase II and III trials show efficacy.  Phase I shows safety.  (I simplified the classifications)
And efficacy is often pretty certain if Phase II and III trials are approved by the FDA (trials for new drugs are approved by the FDA as part of the drug approval process). 

[tolerantly]

Doesn't matter. I've often been a candidate for asthma-related trials. However, I already have a lung disease. Do you seriously think I'm going to inhale something untried in large numbers of humans? 

I seriously think you'd be excluded from those trials.

Alas, you'd be seriously wrong. For all the trials I was recruited for, through the doc's office, they specifically needed asthmatics, some with well-controlled symptoms, some without. The trials generally involved stopping whatever you were on for the duration of the trial.  Remember, they have to show efficacy.

So you fit a specific cohort they were looking for, which isn't exactly as you posted.
Phase II and III trials show efficacy.  Phase I shows safety.  (I simplified the classifications)
And efficacy is often pretty certain if Phase II and III trials are approved by the FDA (trials for new drugs are approved by the FDA as part of the drug approval process). 

They all show safety. Testing a drug in a healthy population is not the same thing as testing in a compromised population. When it turns out that your compromised population has trouble handling the drug, FDA doesn't rate it the same way it rates ill effects in Phase I, but that hardly matters to the person who has more trouble breathing than she did before the trial.

Beyond that, whenever you take a drug that hasn't been used by large numbers of people for a good decade or so, you're a guinea pig. This is why you should always go for the oldest efficacious drugs first, even if there's something really nifty-sounding about the new ones.

Anyway, if you want to risk your health for a couple hundred bucks, I'm not one to stop you. I think it's dumb, but ultimately it helps me when other people volunteer to be guinea pigs.  Have you talked to the landlord yet?

[nikolite]

If there is a Labor Ready (day laborer) office somewhere nearby, definitely go there if you have to.  My father had to do that a number of times when things got tough.  You usually have to get there really early (by 6am) but its worth getting a small job that day and make a quick $50 bucks or so.  You usually might have to do some janitorial or construction work, but its not so bad--they pay you at the end of the shift guaranteed.  Look them up and see if there's a place near you.

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this.

[european]

Beyond that, whenever you take a drug that hasn't been used by large numbers of people for a good decade or so, you're a guinea pig. This is why you should always go for the oldest efficacious drugs first, even if there's something really nifty-sounding about the new ones.

Anyway, if you want to risk your health for a couple hundred bucks, I'm not one to stop you. I think it's dumb, but ultimately it helps me when other people volunteer to be guinea pigs.  Have you talked to the landlord yet?

1) Where would we be without guinea pigs?
2) A couple of hundred bucks? A friend of mine, who regularly participates in medical studies, has earned from a few hundred euros for some simpler tests, to two thousand euros for those that require long-term follow up. And these weren't the tests that established initial safety.

[tolerantly]

Beyond that, whenever you take a drug that hasn't been used by large numbers of people for a good decade or so, you're a guinea pig. This is why you should always go for the oldest efficacious drugs first, even if there's something really nifty-sounding about the new ones.

Anyway, if you want to risk your health for a couple hundred bucks, I'm not one to stop you. I think it's dumb, but ultimately it helps me when other people volunteer to be guinea pigs.  Have you talked to the landlord yet?

1) Where would we be without guinea pigs?
2) A couple of hundred bucks? A friend of mine, who regularly participates in medical studies, has earned from a few hundred euros for some simpler tests, to two thousand euros for those that require long-term follow up. And these weren't the tests that established initial safety.

Usually the pay is not that generous here, and you have to keep in mind that we have no state medical plan to take care of you if you don't react well to the drug, procedure, etc. You're on your own. Which is why it's an excellent idea to be conservative about your health if you're poor.

I understand your point about guinea pigs, but I think that's something best left to the medically desperate. My responsibility to my own health comes well ahead to any responsibility I have to society to participate in drug trials. If I damage my health, society ain't coming around to do my laundry, raise my kid, and pay my mortgage.