Comments on: Placebo Power

By: tim

tim — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:30:57 +0000

if placebo effect works, and its just your state of mind, Isn’t there a way to get in that state of mind other than fooling yourself? I guess it comes down to belief.
If you believe in placebo effect = you believe the mind can heal you = don’t need to waste time popin sugar pills = wheres the nearest enlightened guru?

By: DocsGirl

DocsGirl — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:02:46 +0000

This was my moment of zen today, by the way.

By: EEJ

EEJ — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:14:44 +0000

Kitty,

I’m pretty sure NurseK knows what POF stands for, but may have been prescribing a bit of the “other” placebo, laughter.

By: kitty

kitty — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:33:36 +0000

Nurse K - POF is Premature Ovarian Failure.

By: Placebo Effect and Pain Control « The ACUTE CARE Blog: Non-Urban Emergency Medicine

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:21:43 +0000

[...] Placebo Effect and Pain Control Posted on January 29, 2008 by coptermedic From White Coat Rants: [...]

By: Nurse K

Nurse K — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:48:17 +0000

I have POF

In our department, “POF” stands for “Pillow Over Face”, a treatment for frequent call light usage, whininess, and refractory chronic “pain”. It cures all of the above. No one complains of anything after POF. It’s more effective than Vikies, Perkies, anti-emetics, or even Placibinex.

Some people get a anxiety reaction to POF, similar to that of Reglan, characterized by kicking, flailing about and gasping for air. Don’t worry, though, it will subside after about 4 minutes of POF treatment.

I have found that POF is very effective against toothaches too.

By: kitty

kitty — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:03:28 +0000

For some reason, I never seem to experience placebo effect. Be it herbal supplements for menopausal symptoms (I have POF), or antibiotics for viral bronchitis (before I’d learned this is useless) - it never worked on me.
In terms of pain relief, neither tylenol 3 nor vicodyn helped me during first day after periodontal surgery. On the second day, plain tylenol worked fine. But the first day - I was still in a lot of pain. The first I had it, doctor prescribed tylenol 3; a couple of weeks ago - vycodin. In either case, I still felt plenty of pain. I was afraid to take more than one pill, but maybe I shouldn’t have. I did believe the pills would work, kind of, - why can’t I ever experience relief from just believing?

The effect doesn’t work for everyone. The “kind of” statement in there makes me think that you weren’t that confident in the medication.

A question in a likely case (given my gums) I need another surgery in some future: is it OK to take more than one vicodyn tablet after surgery or bad things would happen to me?

That’s something you’ll have to keep in contact with your doctor about. Depending on the strength, Vicodins can be either one per dose or two per dose.

By: jeremy

jeremy — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:09:52 +0000

“The chemical name is norMAL SAHline.”

That stuff is hard to find on the streets.

By: Ten out of Ten

Ten out of Ten — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:25:06 +0000

This post was so fantastic I can hardly stand it.

“I like to rhyme,
I like my beats funky,
I’m spunky. I like my oatmeal lumpy.
I’m sick wit dis”

–Humpty Hump

By: On the Intractability of the Mind-Body Problem « The Necromancer

On the Intractability of the Mind-Body Problem « The Necromancer — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:37:09 +0000

[...] who has also edited a cross-disciplinary text on the placebo effect, focuses in contrast on the medical interest in the effect of mind, what she calls the “power [...]