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Beware the Nocebo Effect
An article at the NY Times looks at research into the "nocebo" effect. Named after the placebo effect, it's the term for when patient expectations do harm, rather than good. "When a patient anticipates a pill’s possible side effects, he can suffer them even if the pill is fake." The article describes several instances of patients getting the placebo in a drug trial, but reporting the expected side effects of the drug, rather than the benefits or nothing at all. Quoting:
"Consider the number of people in medical trials who, though receiving placebos, stop participating because of side effects. We found that 11 percent of people in fibromyalgia drug trials who were taking fake medication dropped out of the studies because of side effects like dizziness or nausea. Other researchers reported that the discontinuation rates because of side effects in placebo groups in migraine or tension drug trials were as much as 5 percent. Discontinuation rates in trials for statins ranged from 4 percent to 26 percent. ... In one remarkable case, a participant in an antidepressant drug trial was given placebo tablets — and then swallowed 26 of them in a suicide attempt. Even though the tablets were harmless, the participant's blood pressure dropped perilously low."
No surprise here, the mind controls the body. Why wouldn't the placebo effect work both ways?
And even if I did, I wouldn't get my info about them from the freaking commercials that list off what it's for, the horrendous side effects, as it shows a happy family playing outside, and then says "ask your doctor..." WTF?
The US is the only nation that allows pharma ads, and they're really harming our society because people go to the doc and demand certain meds as a result of these commercials. Enjoy your diharrea, heart palpitations, mild depression and thoughts of suicide.
This all relates back to the article, as these nocebo effects are a result of stupid people taking advice from even more idiotic marketing people about what drugs they need, for fake diseases like restless leg syndrome, and miracle cures that don't work and just cause you to die like the numerous discontinued drugs caught up in class action lawsuits for wrongful death.
I wonder if it's actually possible to commit suicide by swallowing placebos? Or is there some limit to the nocebo effect's severity that'd prevent that?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
And yet, supposedly, the effectiveness of placebos is rising. What does this tell us? Human beings are becoming more pliable / suggestive, which is not a good thing.
For one, that level of pliability is probably a prelude to something really horrible, the least of which is a Justice / Legal system that will operate in "sideways mode." Not a problem until you're convicted of something you didn't do. But if you make sure you are always wealthy / powerful enough, it shouldn't ever be a problem.
I am John Hurt.
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Actually, most folks I know who said they have fibromyalgia have been misdiagnosed because they had non-standard symptoms for some other condition. Fibromyalgia just seems to be a catch-all for when they have some symptoms in one area and they can't figure out what else it could be.
If one believes that advanced human evolution will include the ability to control bodily processes with one's mind, including healing and maximization of performance, then it's also quite likely possible for it to work the other way.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
They are so gullible that they will believe anything, even that they have upset stomachs (even when they don't). Or that Lush Rimbaugh is right. Or that celltowers are the cause of their headaches even if the tower is turned-off & the headaches are caused by other issues (like staying-up til midnight).
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
The US is the only nation that allows pharma ads
You should travel more.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
For my wife it was at first wondering why, with her lower back and legs in pain and numbness due to blown disk, her hands were also numb. After a few weeks on constant painkillers for her back, when those came down she found she was constantly fatigued, and with skin that felt like she had a 2nd degree sunburn over her whole body. And numb hands.
Are you proposing that, while her back was in excruciating pain, she chose to imagine that her hands were numb? Why would she go to the bother? It seems perfectly reasonable to me that nerve cells can misfire or nerve receptors can respond to the wrong or nonexistent signals, in the same way that brain cells can misfire in epileptic patients. They're all the same basic cells.
Having the treatment be a mood stabilizing drug makes sense as well, then in that they mess with the brain's ability to process nerve signals. While my wife was on it she would tell me that she felt "stupid" because she just couldn't think as quickly or as well as before. We got her off of that as soon as possible.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Inert means inert, yes.
On the other hand, "inert ingredients" means ingredients that show up in a list in a standard as being supposed to be inert when used in a specific way. Thus, YMMV.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Anecdotal, and first/second person from me is third person to you, but, ...
Not sure if your 1/10 gram matches the actual amount in a placebo, but the amount of sugar in a non-placebo pill can indeed have bad effects on someone with sugar reactions, including liver and kidney function.
We know that it can have a significant effect on a diabetic person, as well, so there's no need to fuss about the amount.
When someone in the family is sick and claims sugar intolerance, does it do any good to argue whether sugar intolerance is real?
Seriously. Let the person cut back a bit on sugar, even if it means having, for instance, to make one's own biscuits because you can't get sugar free bread in the store. It's not a whole lot of trouble to go to, and home made biscuits are not particularly evil, either. Might even taste good after a bit of practice making them, adjusting the recipe, etc.
Which is on-topic here, because we too often get too involved in arguing about science when the best thing we can do for someone who is sick is just listen, express sympathy and support, and if they think of something sensible to do, encourage them to do it. (Again, for most people, cutting back on sugar is quite sensible.)
Shoot, sympathy and support are often better medicine than anything the doctor can prescribe. Can promote communication, too.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
For the patient to get better, they have to want to change;
"Patient has to want to change" is a shorthand/metaphor for "a patient has to accept the existence of a problem, and in order to find the cause of it so it can be treated, he or she must openly discuss the problem and the underlying issues with a trained professional".
But when I take a antibiotic, it either works or it doesn't.
Weeeell...
Elevated stress can cause an increase in production of stomach acid, which can inhibit certain antibiotics, when taken orally.
More like "thinking positive" than "believing", and weakening the effect than "not working" but you get the picture.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
The funniest part is that they often say "If you have been injured or killed by" such and such drug.
So if there is placebo side effects, there can now be lawsuits over taking almost nothing. Litigation paradise!
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
...where they cite a placebo lowering the subject's blood pressure. And blood pressure is OBjective, not SUBjective.
And yes, in this case, you are scientifically inaccurate.
Even more interesting (to me) is the fact that placebos tend to work even if the patient is aware that they have ingested a placebo. The placebo effect and activities of mirror neurons are still very poorly understood. I think a lot of the comments here suggesting that "the increasing effectiveness of placebo suggests that our culture is becoming more gullible/suggestible" are premature and show the bias of the people making those comments. Whether or not their conclusions are accurate, correlation does not equal causation and it could simply be that humans are developing more mirror neurons (or whatever else), giving us more--and not less--control over the power our minds have over our lives.