Re: Placebo

"Terry" <kilowatt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:bh3ij31d4vhfvud15h0plf1m8su3ik2o42@xxxxxxxxxx
I was just prescribed Nasonex.

http://www.spfiles.com/pinasonex.pdf

I was just looking over the instructions. The table on adverse
reactions show almost as many adverse reactions to a placebo as they
do to the meds.

This was surprising to me.


This is common. There are two reasons. Firstly a variety of symptoms are prevalent in the "healthy" community. In clinical studies all these get recorded and included in the published results. The only way of knowing whether any symptom is likely to be due to the drug rather than other causes is to determine if it is significantly more common in those taking the drug than those taking placebo.

The second reason is the nocebo reaction, the opposite of the placebo effect but also apparently the result of patient expectations and the power of suggestion. Thus, if patients think they are taking a powerful pharmaceutical they will be especially vigilant regarding possible side effects and possibly even think themselves into them.

Peter Moran




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