Previous topic here: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/651714-mars-one/

To pass to round 3 you need to have have a medical exam they provided signed by a doctor who performed all the checks to ensure your good health.
The results of a drug test came back so soon I only had time to take the eye exam (passed with greater than 20/20 (American system for 100% vision)) before the doctor pulled me into the room to explain he was not willing to sign the document, asking if I was on any medication or drugs.

I denied and he pushed a failed drug test in front of me and asked me to explain why there was benzodiazepine (BZO) in my system. With no idea what that meant I said I had taken a laxative that day and he replied that would not cause this. “So what would?”
It is a muscle-relaxant. I had taken a sleeping pill the previous week. Seems they stay in your system for up to 6 weeks, and even though it wouldn’t be a problem for me to just not use them for 5 more weeks, by then the deadline would be over.

He also asked how I got them. Naturally, you can only get them by being diagnosed with insomnia, which classifies as a psychiatric disorder. The Mars-One exam also forbids any psychiatric disorders so he considered that to be strike 2.


I explained that that was years ago and I only keep the pills around for rare cases in which I need to change my schedule, due to jet lag, weird acting schedules, etc., and that I could easily get undiagnosed by the same doctor if I simply took the time to do it.

He still refused to sign off because that counts as a “history” of a psychiatric disorder. He said they spend millions on these projects and he wanted to stick to the letter on their exam. I pointed out that the word “history” is not on the exam at all, so there is no reason getting undiagnosed would leave me anything but to-the-letter.

He still refused and said that perhaps another doctor would be willing to sign off but he would not.


I have never failed a test before, and I was not willing to accept this under any circumstances; not when it was such a stupid reason. If I understood the concept of “giving up” I’d not be making games in Japan.
I thought carefully on the train home and even watched a movie to give myself 2 more hours to come up with the best wording for an e-mail to Mars-One on this issue.

I explained the whole situation to Mars-One, that I only had insomnia shortly after moving to Japan (which is a reasonable time to have insomnia), and that I had no dependency on the pills, and I also explained failing the BZO test.

They replied rather quickly and reasonably. Not only does their doctor use pills for the same reason (long plane rides, jet-lag, etc.), he said the main point of the test was a lack of dependency. As long I have none, I would not have a problem going to round 3, and I did not need to retake the test.



The doctor then agreed to continue the remaining tests.
The rest I passed with colors that fly, the doctor signed the exam which I then submitted to Mars-One.
I also requested to be in the Japanese or Asian region for round 3, with America as a backup.

In his (the Mars-One doctor’s) reply, he didn’t mention what region I would enter but he did leave no doubt as to my validity for round 3, to some degree implying that the interview for round 3 will just be a formality. As long as I don’t go there and my head spins while I yell satanic worship I should be fine.

It seems as though out of the 1,058 round-2 members, only a few hundred passed the exam, some being eliminated simply for having had eye laser surgery within the last year, others for one disease or another.


In short, let’s get ready for round 3! Passing round 3 is the last step; once you pass that you are officially scheduled to go to Mars.


L. Spiro

I had taken a sleeping pill the previous week. Seems they stay in your system for up to 6 weeks, and even though it wouldn’t be a problem for me to just not use them for 5 more weeks, by then the deadline would be over.
He also asked how I got them. Naturally, you can only get them by being diagnosed with insomnia, which classifies as a psychiatric disorder. The Mars-One exam also forbids any psychiatric disorders so he considered that to be strike 2.
I explained that that was years ago and I only keep the pills around for rare cases in which I need to change my schedule, due to jet lag, weird acting schedules, etc., and that I could easily get undiagnosed by the same doctor if I simply took the time to do it.

Well, that's not a story to be proud of, really.

Either you have either been spiked last evening, or you lied to the examiner. Plus, you have give the textbook quote of a drug addict (which makes it more likely that you lied). And still, they let you pass. Scary.

You know, no addict needs the drug, and they all only keep it around for rare occasions. And certainly they could stop any time and pass a test, if need be. Every addict's story is that it was years ago they last used, but then it turnd out they used yesterday.

Benzodiazepines come in a wide variety, and while most (especially the sleep-inducing ones) are below test threshold after 10-12 hours, some may leave measurable traces quite a bit longer (4-5 days). Those are however not commonly prescribed for insomnia, nor do they work against it in any significant way.

Benzodiazepines are detectable for weeks only after you took them regularly for a longer time.

It's most unlikely (and on a quantitative test there is absolutely no way) that "took a pill last week" could make you fail the examination -- unless you lied and really took 5-8 pills, or you took them regularly, or you tried to be super smart ass, going to an examination on Monday morning and said "last week" when you meant to say "yesterday evening".

Personally, I wouldn't have worried much about the positive screening. it is very easy to verify whether you took one pill last week or whether you lied, and it is trivial to test whether you are addicted. But the mere fact that you tried to talk yourself out of it would already have closed the case for me.

It is even more surprising (scary) that the Mars One guys would waive that merely because you wrote them a nice e-mail. Well, they're Dutch, probably been smoking weed this morning... lucky for you.

Mars is an exciting place. In fact there the three Rovers (Curiosity, Opportunity and Spirit) all are powered by batteries that I helped build and design.

It would be very cool to go to Mars. It would be even cooler to come back to talk about it. I wouldn't want to be part of the first group to attempt to colonize Mars. Not to mention spending the 8 years prior earth-bound in isolation eating only freeze-dried food. To FINALLY get the opportunity to travel through space only to spend the rest of your life doing uncomfortable labor, again in isolation and again eating only freeze-dried food. In cramped quarters with other isolationists.

I'd like to just orbit the moon or even just enter the atmosphere. I'm into space travel for the views not the labor or escape from humanity.

@L. Spiro Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't you the one who posted about having a heart disease or something serious like this. How can you pass the medical exam for this space expedition?

If I am wrong then I apologize for my statement above, but I am pretty sure I also posted on your heart-disease post...

So why am I talking about this?
I was diagnosed over 6 months ago with a liver disease. Due to my liver’s poor functionality my blood gained a problem of its own which lead to heart problems. I actually mentioned that phil67rpg was a cause to a heart attack I had, but he was only part of it. This was the other part.
Since being originally diagnosed with the liver problem I have changed my diet, run daily, and done work-outs frequently to try to correct the problem. Lightness1024 can attest, as he sits next to me at the office. In fact we count how many daily push-ups we do in his own notebook. I am the leader!

None of that has helped, and my problems have been getting worse.
Lightness1024 would also attest that I’ve missed half of this and the last month due to health problems, mostly related to my heart. Last month an ambulance came for me from the office.

Really?

Edit: I'm not hating on you here. It's just that your narrative is a little lacking in self-consistency.

It's most unlikely (and on a quantitative test there is absolutely no way) that "took a pill last week" could make you fail the examination -- unless you lied and really took 5-8 pills, or you took them regularly, or you tried to be super smart ass, going to an examination on Monday morning and said "last week" when you meant to say "yesterday evening".

Personally, I wouldn't have worried much about the positive screening. it is very easy to verify whether you took one pill last week or whether you lied, and it is trivial to test whether you are addicted. But the mere fact that you tried to talk yourself out of it would already have closed the case for me.

Then you don’t know about what you are talking. It was 7.5 (or so) days prior to the test that I had taken one, and it was due to a broken tooth that happened too late to see a dentist and have it fixed. In this particular case I used the pill to escape pain.
You should do proper research (again for fuck’s sake—I am sick of doing it for you every single fucking time) and check how long urine tests show traces in your system. I am talking about controlled substances that you can’t get over the counter.

It was already over a week since my last pill and it was only for a specific reason. Clearly an addict. Sigh.

@L. Spiro Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't you the one who posted about having a heart disease or something serious like this. How can you pass the medical exam for this space expedition?

See below.

Really?

Edit: I'm not hating on you here. It's just that your narrative is a little lacking in self-consistency.

#1: I was diagnosed with a liver disease, but a curable one. I doubled-down on my work-out and eating right and got rid of it.
#2: The heart attack was suggested by the ER doctor. Since he is not a specialist he could not make an official diagnosis but strongly urged me to seek one. I refused for a long while.
I eventually did see one and he looked at the test results they took in the ER earlier and finally said it was not a heart attack.
Imagine my embarrassment after having called it a heart attack (not only here but at work) by the original doctor’s suggestion (not diagnosis). Still, whatever it was was major enough that the next day (coming from the ER) when I reported it to the CEO I haden’t even said a word and he said, “You look blue.” He wasn’t talking emotionally.



I should have reversed the order of #1 and #2, because it was after the specialist that I doubled down on getting into better health.

Fatty liver disease (my past diagnosis) is cured by eating right and working out, and perhaps no more weekends of drinking.
I already got rid of that some time ago and that also put a full stop to the heart problems I was having.

Now I run 7 kilometers daily at a very fast pace (not a slight jog) including up and down several flights of stairs.
I lost 9 kilograms total.

All health problems are a thing of the past.
And I am not stopping there. In passing to round 3 I intend to hire a dietitian and go back to the gym with a friend at least twice a week. Just healthy is not enough. I need to be more than that.


L. Spiro

Personally, I think you're screwed if they ever find this thread: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/649387-sleepwalking/

Randomly doing things in your sleep sounds pretty much like the worst characteristic an astronaut could have.

Personally, I think you're screwed if they ever find this thread: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/649387-sleepwalking/

Randomly doing things in your sleep sounds pretty much like the worst characteristic an astronaut could have.

I think it'd be useful to have an astronaut who can do a spacewalk while still in long-term hibernation, incase of emergencies.

Wait, does anyone actually still believe that this whole Mars One thing is ever going to actually make it to Mars? You know, given the fact they don't have nearly enough money or technology to actually get it done without killing everyone involved, with "quick" or "slow" being the only question left to answer. I doubt any of the above issues in this thread are going to actually be issues for L. Spiro, considering it's probably going to end up as a season or two of reality TV set at a simulated space training camp, with all the ensuing relationship drama and interpersonal conflicts.

In fact, the issues will probably work out in their favor, since reality TV lives and dies by having issues to create tension among the participants. If everyone were as well-adjusted as would be necessary for an actual Mars mission (though whether any human being is well-adjusted enough to spend months in the kind of tight confinement they would be talking about, without suffering from MAJOR breakdowns, is another question) then those well-adjusted people would make for the most awful, boring reality TV EVER, something completely counter to the whole idea of reality TV.

Failure can serve as an example to others of what not to do. So even if the project fails, it has value. On the other hand, doing nothing will accomplish nothing and teach nothing. So why not give it a shot?

Personally, my bets for failure are on either being due to some form of political intervention that cancels the mission before it's off the ground or due to one or more of the colonists experiencing psychological disorders caused by isolation after having spending some time on Mars (maybe 2 or 3 months after landing depending on intensity level of work required at the time).

That being said, my hopes are for success.

Congratulations L. Spiro on passing the medical. If it turns out you're on TV as a result, I'll probably check it out if for no other reason than to say, "Hey, I know about that guy!"