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IOW, the Doctor says "This (placebo) is a wonderful new painkiller, but you may get a rash", how many people would manifest a rash afterwards?
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A few, but nearly not as many who'd actually develop a rash as a real side effect. Placebo effects
can work both ways; like psychosomatic illnesses, it's sort of an 'expectancy' thing. For example, somebody could say "I think I'm REALLY going to feel drowsy after taking this Nyquil", and then falling asleep 5 minutes after you take it (5 minutes is
not enough time for the medication to fully kick in).
More often than not, whatever is causing the side effect is a real disease / illness. Your joint problems are most likely caused by Lyme disease, unless you worried yourself to death for hours a day THINKING you're going to have joint problems.
EDIT: They even have a term for what you're referring to, WanderingOak -
the "Nocebo effect". How cool! I didn't know that until I did some research on placebos just now.