Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

[bunnyman]

WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.09

It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger.

I am going to find a way to invest in these new improved placebos!

[cylon]

Originally Posted by bunnyman

I am going to find a way to invest in these new improved placebos!

Finally, a breakthrough in placebo technology!

This is actually pretty funny.

[MacFly]

Originally Posted by cylon

Finally, a breakthrough in placebo technology!

This is actually pretty funny.

the problem is, I can't fool myself with placebos. If a doctor gives me a pill it's okay, but I can't use it on myself.

[cylon]

You can, you just choose not to develop that ability.

[Silenced140]

Use mental healing, screw the placebo, you don't even need placebo pills. Vitamins are the only pills you really need.

If i have a stomach ache, i just understand and review that im fully in control of my body. Every single part.

So then i choose to be feeling good, and my subconscious will take over.

Really, learn about the subconscious mind, if you know how to harness it, it basically puts the Law of Attraction on steroids.

[themaster]

I think lately.. crystals = little better then the placebo effect.. here you have a metaphysical/new age idea that has merit and types etc. and you boost by instead of taking a pill.. using a crystal

You can also check out a movie.. my teacher recommended recently called "Water: The Great Mystery" which documents effects of mind over matter *cough* water..

[moonrambler]

Excellent article -- thanks for posting that. I'm fascinated by the placebo effect/response.

Like this: Allergan's Botox reduces migraine headache days | Reuters

"In one 679-patient trial, patients injected with Botox had headaches on 7.8 fewer days each month, compared with a drop of 6.4 days in the placebo group. In a second trial involving 705 migraine sufferers, Botox-treated patients had nine fewer headache days compared with a drop of 6.7 days for the placebo group."

So doctors are prescribing Botox because patients have a significant drop in headache frequency, but the FDA won't approve the treatment and most insurance companies won't cover it because it isn't much better than the placebo effect.

This is fascinating, that people with migraines can get this much relief from either a placebo or Botox injections. That's a pretty hefty result they got there.

[torilink]

Thanks for the link.

[moonrambler]

Some of you are aware that we're collecting study results related to LoA or IM to put in the sticky up top, and good placebo results are in that category. I ran across one today:

Lycopene inhibits disease progression in patients ... [J Nutr. 2008]

This one looked at a nutritional treatment for benign prostate enlargement.

"Whereas progression of prostate enlargement occurred in the placebo group . . . the prostate did not enlarge in the lycopene group. Symptoms of the disease, as assessed via the International Prostate Symptom Score questionnaire, were improved in both groups with a significantly greater effect in men taking lycopene supplements."

Why did symptoms improve in the placebo group, even while the physical disorder was getting worse?

[rei]

Maybe LoA is basically the same thing as confirmation bias... and the placebo group expected it to work.

[cacheborn]

Thanks for the link.
Usually I try to keep up with Wired, don't know how I missed this one.

[aggie]

fascinating article.

as someone in health care and ironically anti big drug company....it was encouraging.

mental control, crystals, loa, placebos...whatever you choose...i have always thought our minds could do more for our bodies.

many years ago when i was a teen and there was not all this new fangled migraine medication, i suffered horribly....but i was able to lessen the pain to tolerable with my own form of bio feedback and concentrating on the pain until i could "control" it.

by the way, cylon, love the new avatar.

[nicbrahms]

There was a trial done a while back, whereby they took 100 people with knee probs and gave 50 of them actual knee ops, and the other 50 they just put them under, cut an incision in the knee and bandaged it up.

Remarkably all 100 patients underwent excellent healing, the ones that weren't actually operated on were better in comparison to the ones that were.

Also, no matter how much people kid themselves, scientific studies shows that Viagra doesn't do anything to the body, it is in effect a placebo, however it has millions of men worldwide convinced that it is helping them.

Thats the great viagra hoax.

Well we all know the power of the mind, we are consciously employing ours to change our reality all the time. No different with healing the body, just mind and belief.

[moonrambler]

Here's another one:

Effects of dietary hyaluronic acid supplementation on arthritis

Injections of hyaluronic acid help relieve symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. The study authors examined the effect of dietary supplementation with hyaluronic acid on pain and quality of life in subjects with osteoarthritis of the knee. Twenty subjects with knee osteoarthritis participated in a randomized double-blind controlled trial. Ten subjects received the HA supplement and 10 placebo for 8 weeks. Both groups had statistically significant improvement, although the group taking HA did better.

(I imagine it drives manufacturers nuts when their product actually seems to work, but the placebo works nearly as well.)

[moonrambler]

Specially-coated peppermint oil capsules are very effective at decreasing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. The coating delays the capsules from being digested until they reach the intestines. Although this study shows that the capsules typically achieved results in twice as many people as the placebos, the placebos did pretty well too.

Figures for the placebo group were: 21 patients (43%) with reduced pain (4 were pain-free), 14 (29%) with reduced distension, 16 (32%) with reduced stool frequency, 15 (31%) with fewer borborygmi, and 11 (22%) with less flatulence.

The pain-free figure was a lot different with the peppermint -- 29 people rather than 4 were pain-free with peppermint. Interesting though that nearly half experienced reduced pain from taking a placebo.

Peppermint oil capsules in the treatment of IBS

[Angela]

I LOVE placebos -- they're my very favorite recreational drug!

[moonrambler]

Y'know I've disputed the concept that All You Have To Do Is Beleeeeeeeeve," but there seems a strong element of truth to that in the placebo effect. It's a certain type of belief -- the type involved when an authority figure says "Take this, you'll feel better." I think it's something that we learn before we can even remember it, that mom or dad or another trusted person tells us "Take this, you'll feel better," and then -- we do! Usually it's 'real' medicine, like a pain reliever or cough syrup or antibiotics or whatever, but that experience stays with us and is strong enough to bring about the placebo effect later. Just a theory.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

It's a certain type of belief -- the type involved when an authority figure says...

Yes, and imagine the power of placebos if you could be your OWN authority figure! (which, of course, you can be. )

[moonrambler]

This one's interesting -- a study of children with autism and/or pervasive developmental disorder receiving either a supplement called DMG or a placebo. Both groups improved on all behavioral measurements, and the improvements were not statistically different.

The extra attention maybe?

Placebo effect in autistic children

[themaster]

Originally Posted by Angela

Yes, and imagine the power of placebos if you could be your OWN authority figure! (which, of course, you can be. )

Nice

[Andrew Brunelle]

I wonder why placebos work so well. I guess placebos don't work if you know they are placebos. That's the rub right there. If people believe that what they are taking is the drug they are told they are taking.

The problem with selling placebos and saying that they are something else is that it is illegal. If you tell someone that what they are taking is an anxiety medication and it is really just a sugar pill, the odds that these people find out is low, but it would certainly be a healthier alternative. But then you can never really trust your doctor or pharmacist, can you?

[moonrambler]

Topical aloe vera vs. placebo in psoriasis patients: symptoms decreased in 72.5% of the Aloe vera-treated sites compared with 82.5% of the placebo-treated areas, which was statistically significant in favour of the placebo treatment (Probability = 0.0197).

Ooops!

The authors speculate that the aloe 72.5% figure might actually be a placebo effect too, since the placebo performed so well.

Psoriasis study