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Placebo Effect Caught In the Act In Spinal Nerves

Posted by kdawson on from the time-to-shut-down dept.

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.'"

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Not diminishing. by Jaysyn · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

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    There is a war going on for your mind.
  2. this is not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have chronic headache and have been a subject in studies. It is well-known that anticipation is an observable component to pain notification and response. To an almost hilarious extent, pain is like gravity in cartoons: if you don't believe it exists, you're less likely to experience it.

    captcha: scratchy (they fight...)

  3. No need to worry when the doctor says... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bend over... this won't hurt a bit... I've got some special cream to rub in...

  4. Three cheers for kdawson by AdmiralXyz · · Score: 5, Informative

    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!

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  5. From someone that has constant pain.. by skgrey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a degenerative disease, have had a laminectomy, bone spur removals, and have some messed up disks and nerve damage. I've been in some amount pain for about six years and have run the medicine gauntlet.

    From experience, I've been prescribed medicine where the doctor's told me "this is much better than what you are on, it will manage your pain much more effectively". I got all excited, and started taking it. On the first day I was miserable. The second and third days were even worse. After a week I switched back.

    I really think that the placebo effect only works for small amounts of pain, or for certain kinds of pain (there are a lot of different types). In my case, I ended up with a spinal implant (kind of like an internal tens unit) and take a small amount of medicine to manage the pain. It still hurts every day, but I get by much better and work a 40 to 50 hour week and raise kids.