Placebo Effect Caught In the Act In Spinal Nerves

SerpensV passes along the news that German scientists have found direct evidence that the spinal cord is involved in the placebo effect (whose diminishing over time we discussed a bit earlier). "The researchers who made the discovery scanned the spinal cords of volunteers while applying painful heat to one arm. Then they rubbed a cream onto the arm and told the volunteers that it contained a painkiller, but in fact it had no active ingredient. Even so, the cream made spinal-cord neural activity linked to pain vanish. 'This type of mechanism has been envisioned for over 40 years for placebo analgesia,' says Donald Price, a neuroscientist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who was not involved in the new study. 'This study provides the most direct test of this mechanism to date.'"

Comments

Not diminishing.

[Jaysyn]

The placebo effect isn't getting weaker, it's getting more effective. The /. article linked even states that. It the reason why if prozac was a new drug today it more than likely would have been rejected by the FDA.

Also see these Wired & TechDirt articles.

http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090827/0212446014.shtml

Ears and eyes also involved?

[noidentity]

Weren't the ears and eyes of the voluneers also involved? If they hadn't heard the claim, it wouldn't have had the same effect (and did they actually have a control where they rubbed a cream without saying it would diminish pain, perhaps saying it would prevent damage to the skin or perhaps even that it would make it hurt more?). I'd have RTFA except it's behind a paywall.

Re:What I want to know

[Jaysyn]

Never applied for one, but I think this is probably the result of the "get paid for medical testing" ads you see in the back of free circulars in & around college towns.

p.s. Why the hell is this marked Troll?

Three cheers for kdawson

[AdmiralXyz]

I gotta say, posting a link claiming the placebo effect is "diminishing over time" when that link is to a Slashdot article saying precisely the opposite is a new low.

Hell, you don't even have to click on the link: you can see what it actually says just by reading the URL!

Re:Acupuncture to be reanalysed

[blackest_k]

Pain is where you find it, its certainly not everywhere in the human body.
I had a stent put in my heart last week and the only anesthetic needed is a local in the groin where they feed the wire in.

I also have to inject myself in the stomach twice a day and there are some sites which will hurt and others which are completely painless. I just gently prod with the needle till i find a pain free spot and just let the needle sink in under its own weight.

I'd also rate dental pain as probably the worst pain in the male body , it's possible child birth might be more painful but we have no way of knowing. I believe cancer tops all other pain.

Getting my fingers and hands sliced up in an attempted mugging about the same as a wasp sting (a brief sharp pain). Heart attack is about the same as a tattoo but scary.

best pain killer has to be morphine not just for the pain relief but for the relaxed attitude , you just don't feel panic or fear. If I have a choice in how I die other than in my sleep it would be whilst under the influence of morphine.

Re:Acupuncture to be reanalysed

[gblackwo]

I believe cancer tops all other pain.

Had Leukemia, didn't hurt at all. Some of the stuff to treat it did though.