As many of you know, I am a graduate student. Luckily, I am a graduate student in the biological sciences, which means that while I am going to school, I get a monthly stipend. Also luckily, I go to school in a place like Oklahoma, a state with a relatively low cost of living.
Its also lucky that I grew up relatively poor, with a mom who was REALLY GOOD at being poor. Thus I am REALLY GOOD at being poor too. I clip coupons, I shop sale flyers for groceries, I send in rebates, I get pretty much all of my toiletries and make-up at CVS for free/nearly free using their monopoly money store system and coupons and rebates (pro-tip-- I dont shop at Walmart. Not for political reasons, but because when you work at it, Walmart isnt a good deal compared to traditional grocery stores and drug stores).
For real, that $2 you saved buying toothpaste is $2 to put in your savings for an emergency, or $2 you can put towards a luxury item you couldnt otherwise afford.
I also always send in for free samples. Ive got a billion free samples of detergent and toothpaste and lotions and creams and energy shots and makeup and dog treats/food etc. Well a few weeks ago I got a free sample of some K-PAX ENERGY vitamins.
Basically, I got four free multi-vitamins.
*shrug* Ill take it!
Imagine my surprise when I got this email in my spam trap:
Fatigue - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Update
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Update:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating condition that produces daily fatigue lasting for six months or more. There is no known cause or treatment at the present time.
K-PAX Pharmaceuticals has a robust research program that is attempting to identify the first safe and effective treatment for CFS. We are currently working on two versions of a treatment for CFS - a by-prescription version and an over the counter version.
Nutritional Supplements
Based on our experience to date, we have identified just the right combination of our ENERGY and IMMUNE products that can provide people struggling with chronic fatigue an excellent improvement in their energy level and sense of well-being.
These two products are based on our patented IMMUNE support formula that provides all the cells of the body high octane fuel in order to generate increased energy. Our ENERGY product has additional ingredients added that stimulate the brain to be more active, focused, and alert.
Dosing Choices
We have found that taking the proper combination of these two products twice daily, with breakfast and lunch, can provide a clearly noticeable increase in energy level and well-being. This positive effect often occurs within days to weeks, even in people who have been struggling with chronic fatigue.
The ideal way to utilize this program is to start by taking 2 K-PAX IMMUNE tablets and 1 K-PAX ENERGY tablet 2X per day. About one week later, add one additional tablet of either ENERGY or IMMUNE to achieve the ideal dosage of 4 tablets 2X per day.
If you are already experiencing a good increase in your energy level, then add an additional tablet of IMMUNE to further fuel your recovery. If you still need an additional boost to your energy level, add an additional tablet of ENERGY.
Remember to take the second dose of this combination not later than 2PM, so the effect wears off in the early evening and does not interfere with sleep. We are confident that you will not feel any jitters or crash with these supplements. In fact, due to the increased energy and activity you can experience, the quality of your sleep can actually improve while utilizing this program.
This information describes the most common experiences our customers are having with this program however individual results may vary.
A One Week Trial
If you are interested in giving this program a one week trial, we recommend purchasing the following sizes of both products:
K-PAX ENERGY 30-tablets $24.95 Click HERE to order
K-PAX IMMUNE 28-tablets $22.95 Click HERE to order
We at K-PAX remain committed to fulfilling our mission of helping our customers improve their health in the most natural and effective way possible!
Aaaaand into the garbage those four free multivitamins go!
Though someone should pass K-PAXs info on to Judy Mikovits. She can go there when the Pharmanex XMRV Bio-Energetic Test gravy train runs dry.
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I was a grad student once as well... I got very good at finding free food on campus. Colloquia and such, department tea times. Fun times.
'Though someone should pass K-PAXs info on to Judy Mikovits. She can go there when the Pharmanex XMRV Bio-Energetic Test gravy train runs dry.'
Yes. Well. Must be short of a few bob I guess. You know I think I read that everyone in the 'audience' at that event 'tested' deficient in 'whatever' with that 'gismo'.
Came as no surprise. Peddle. Peddle. Peddle. Sophocles is deemed to have said: 'Hopes may be false; but nothing deceives like Despair' Ne'er a truer word spoken of the chronically sick. Sends us right into the hands of the 'well intentioned'.
Headline from Belfast the other day: 'Hawaii ME expert 'is last hope for our boy' Made me so dammed angry. Probably because I've been there myself (not to Hawaii) but you know what I mean... Bloody hell.
But what can you do except learn I guess. Hard lesson. Hardest. Fuck it.
Abbie,
{off-topic}I've been reading your blog for a couple of years now (can't remember exactly) and you've always been a graduate student. Just curious, as I have no idea how long such things take, when do you become Dr. Smith? Must cost a butt-load of money to be in school for that long, no?
I guess you'll get it back, plus some, with the Nobel for curing AIDS and/or cancer (plus I hear there's BIG money in this multi-vitamin thing - perhaps you could come up with one of those in your (surely abundant) free time. ;)
Clearly Rob you haven't been reading it all that well then ;)
Not sure about how well (it's a tough read for a layman like me) but I am sure I've missed a post or 42 over the years... what'd I miss?
You make being poor sound all romantical. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I HAVE TO WORK TO BE THIS POOR?! DO YOU?!
Rob R., being a grad student is a mixed bag in terms of money. Some programs have hefty tuition discounts and/or stipends. Some do not. Some require research, some do not. Some have teaching duties (often associated with the tuition discount), some do not. Saying someone is a grad student is a lot like saying someone is Christian - could mean Bible thumping living in a van whack-job street preacher who's trying to scare anyone who'll listen into a church, or it could mean that nebulous type of the Anglican style where it's all kind of just 'meh, okay'. You just don't know.
It's why it's important for undergraduates to very quickly figure out what they want to do, and to start evaluating grad programs very, very early. As Abbie says, she's in the biological sciences. There's more money floating around for those studies than, say, mathematics. Think about it: you're a grant decision maker allocating monies to various grant funding agencies: where would you put the priorities? Curing cancer, or braid groups/theory?
Braid theory (knot theory more generally, and even more generally topology) is more than just a mathematically interesting and available area to study: it is useful in modern physics and engineering. But as much as I love topology, I'd divert every research dollar I could to cure cancer or HIV.
Braid theory: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_theory
Braid group: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_group
At my school, biomedical grad students get ~ $28,000 a year plus free tuition. We also get Health insurance, including a rather weak dental plan. However, since we're in LA, about $10,000-12,000/yr will go to rent, parking, and utilities. I live relatively comfortably and actually manage to save money, but I certainly don't have enough to support a family or buy a house or anything like that. I do know a grad student at the University of Texas, Galveston who was able to buy a house because they're dirt cheap there.
I grew up somewhat poor, so my tastes are not very extravagant. Some students from rich families are constantly out of money and need help from daddy and mommy occasionally. I laugh at them, because they'll probably always be in the same situation no matter how much their income increases.
I liked KPAX, it was a good movie...
You clip coupons* to get by honestly, and Dr. Mikovits sells stuff** to get by (with a tad bit less honesty, me thinks) â hey, everybody has to make a living. And not everybody is pulling in the grands in virology like an Robert Gallo or an Francis Ruscetti do. You work for 30 years in virology without much to show for and we'll see what you are forced to do to etch a living (and maybe steal a little bit of fame). I wish you all the best to stay honest and successful (and I think you have the stuff to achieve it), but the chance to become someone like Luc Montagnier*** or Françoise Barré-Sinoussi through hard work by finding something like HIV doesn't present itself too often.
* "Couponschneider" (lit. "Coupon Cutting Person") used to have a totally different (and less honest) meaning like 150 years ago in the context of Rentier Capitalism⦠but I digress.
** High score on my QDC
*** A pity what happened of him in his later years.
Yes ERV, you are incorrect. Dr Mikovits has not been selling anything. Good job you always had that sentenced crossed out.
Boy, there are some nice photos in that Big Planet PDF. And one surely becomes New Executive for not selling Pharmanex.
January 22, 2009, Santa Barbara XMRV-Test Sales-Seminar by Whittemore Peterson Research Director Dr. Judy Mikovits
Dr. Mikovits:
â¦
So you can be infected with retroviruses and be carriers and not be sick. And thatâs one reason to be tested. If there is a genetic susceptibility, which weâre looking to, maybe a reason, an immune defect that was unknown as to why some people get sick and others donât. You certainly want to know where the virus is, so if youâre a carrier you can protect your family.
Question:
Do you know how many have tested with VIP-Dx, and how many are positive?
Dr. Mikovits:
I donât work with the company. They only take samples two days a week because it takes three days to do that, so theyâve done hundreds of samples in the last couple of months, and at least half of them are positive. Or 40 percent. And again, their doctors are looking at, the doctors who are well versed with CFS, so theyâre immediately sending off. Dr. Cheney, Dr. Klimas, a doctor in Canada, Ellie Stein, maybe even Susan Levine in New York. Iâm not sure, because itâs illegal for me to know those data because thereâs confidentiality between the patient and the physician. But quite a number and, yes, itâs there.
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Annette Whittemore: Earlier you said that 40% were positive [by VIP Dx]. So describe the fact that if youâre positive, youâre positive. But if youâre negative, youâre not necessarily so?
Dr. Mikovits: Yes, thatâs correct. I answered that question based on the samples that came through there. Everyone who is positive is definitely positive for having the virus. But we donât know what the people are, what the doctor is sending in, so the people might not have that disease. So it could be a clearly, distinguishing delineating marker â biomarker â or diagnostic at that point for various diseases. So a doctor might see a spectrum and say âI donât know, maybe Iâd better check.â Because the earlier you catch it, just like cancer. Early detection. Make sure the reservoir is (inaudible), make sure you donât have that virus multiplying, and you can live a normal life. Donât let it get (inaudible). You know the commercial out right now is âHIV doesnât have to equal AIDSâ; well XMRV doesnât have to equal disease. If we keep it down, we keep the immune system strong.
Question: So what youâre saying is you may test negative but not be negative?
Dr. Mikovits: Thatâs correct. If you do it by the PCR. If you do it by VIP-Dx, at least right now, itâs running along the lines of (inaudible). Weâve got the antibody, and weâve got three of the four tests. Weâll license it to anyone. Weâre a non-profit institute, so everybody pays the same royalty, so any diagnostic company could do the gold standard. But right now, if you test negative, youâre not necessarily negative, even at VIP-Dx. Because we want to go do that serology test. Maybe we canât find evidence of the virus. But youâve been exposed, which would be a good thing because your levels are theoretically low, and youâve just now made the antibodies, so you can prevent disease, as we did with Magic Johnson. But we donât know anything about the immune response to the virus.
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And here is another nice sales-pitch from Saint Judy:
Email from Dr. Judy Mikovits on XMRV and ME
Posted by Birgitte on 14/03/2010
Dr. Judy Mikovits writes:
Regarding the ramifications of being XMRV negative. First of all the current diagnostic testing will define with essentially 100% accuracy XMRV infected patients. The negatives are more difficult as there are additional tests that can only be done in the research lab at this time and not in a clinical setting such as VIPDx. The most important test is to check your blood for an antibody to the virus. If you are positive in the serology test and have an antibody to the virus, you have evidence of infection but at the time your blood was drawn the amount of virus in your blood was below the limit that could be detected by the most sensitive test currently available clinically, which is the the one done at VIPDx. that means while you tested XMRV negative..it could be a false negative. â¦
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But by definition if you have ME you must have XMRV. [????]
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We will test everyone that tested negative to see if we can find antibodies in your blood and look for that variant that we describe..that is evidence of XMRV infection. â¦
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Yet, maybe I'm too harsh. Maybe she likes selling stuff (like this guy likes driving a shuttle bus).
Mr. Mach your infatuation with St. Judy is noted but her extreme worshipers V99 are now convinced that prexmrv-1 is VP-62.
VP62 was meant to be a full synthetic virus. PreXMRV-1 has a truncated gag and cannot replicate. PreXMRV-1 could not be the Mikovits/Ruscetti viruses at all.
22Rv1 also has no env gene in the Genbank. How can that have created VP42 or VP35?
22Rv1 has also gained 4% diversity in the genbank sequences.
The question arises has Gerwyn metamorphised into V99. I miss his annealing temperatures thing and magnesium theories. Will V99 ever learn virology and be able to interpret GenBank entries.
http://peoplewithme.com/thread-1061.html
They also seem to be having some sort of a love fest for Lipkin
http://peoplewithme.com/thread-1127.html
So did you report them to the FDA?
Abbie what do you make of this article on Mikovits published yesterday - apparently she's fessing up to contamination via a sample of XMRV being put *next to* the blood samples... First time she's accepted contamination, isn't it?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/23/how-research-into-chro…
Lisa, I wonder who the disciples of Saint Judy have received this message. After all, they have been sockpuppeteering and lying everywhere in the name of the holy trinity Judy, "HGRV" and CFS. I'd say they now have some explaining to do – I'd reckon they will be claiming that government sponsored aliens have gotten to Dr. Judy and forced her to recant, or something like that.
replace "who" with "how"…