Essay On The Placebo Effect

When people discover that I'm studying acupuncture a common question I get asked is "isn't acupuncture just placebo?" The short answer is yes and no. I have written this article in response to this question and to examine the placebo effect. I have tried to be as objective as possible but obviously my view is going to be biased as I am studying to become an acupuncturist so I obviously think it is more than placebo. To start with the definition of the placebo effect is "A substance containing no medication and prescribed or given to reinforce a patient's expectation to get well."

The researcher tried to decrease the dosage of the medicine (co-trimoxazole) that is being used to prove that the medication or the treatment of pneumonia to the children between 24 months old and 59 months old. There are different results that was gathered after giving the ill children the decreased dosage co-trimoxazole, the first and second result of the placebo trial was proven effective but reducing again the dosage of the medicine on the third attempt resulted to 22.9% failure. Despite of the failure, researchers continue to relapse the study and eventually the last few trials of the placebo effect was proven effective. In this case, out of 1200 respondent, 87 still suffers from fast breathing or “pneumonia”, 4 were suffering from chest drawing which is also called in medical as “severe pneumonia”, 4 had lethargy or “very severe pneumonia” and 7 are still taking the prescribed antibiotic treatment. (Lupisan et al.,

The same mind-body power that can heal you, can also harm you; this is where the Nocebo effect takes place. The basis behind these two events is called the “meaning response” and it alludes to the brain’s power to lead to effects in reaction to whatever it considers the truth or, positive or negative. If the substance is seen as beneficial it can heal, but if it’s considered as damaging, it is more likely to produce negative effects. For example, when patients in double-blinded clinical tests are warned about the side effects they may encounter if they’re given the real drug, approximately 25% experience sometimes severe reactions, even when they’re only taking a placebo, such as sugar pills. Some of these symptoms include weakness, puking, lack of muscular strength, colds, ringing in the ears, confusion with their taste recognition, memory loss or disorder, and other symptoms that should not result from these fake medications.

Chelation therapy may stimulate release of a hormone that in turn causes calcium to be removed from plaques or causes a lowering of cholesterol levels. 3. Chelation therapy may reduce the damaging effects of oxygen ions (oxidative stress) on the walls of the blood vessels, which could reduce inflammation in the arteries and improve blood vessel function. Despite the lack of scientific proof that chelation therapy can effectively treat problems other than proven heavy metal poisoning, the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 111,000 adults 18 years of age and older used chelation therapy as a form of complementary or alternative medicine in the previous 12 months. What should one expect on a visit to a practitioner of chelation

Inconsistent ingestion has caused the contraceptive to simply not work. While it is definitely safe with a success rate of roughly 99%, it is not 100% safe and it does come with side effects. Hormonal activity is influenced by OCPs, and as such, side effects can vary from serious to minor, therefore labelling the side effects rather unpredictable. One of the more serious side effects is the increased risk of blood clots and strokes. There is also a vague study that may indicate that ingesting the OCP will increase risk of cancer, however, there is also a vague study that indicates that ingesting the OCP will decrease the risk of cancer, so these studies render both theories obsolete in terms of factual information.

The ethical justification of a placebo as a medicine is a hot topic in the field of biomedical philosophy. Cases involving the prescription of placebos have been argued to suggest that a placebo is a form of deception. A placebo is treatment that has no specific physical or chemical action on the condition being treated, but is given to affect symptoms by a psychologic mechanism, rather than a purely physical one (Lipkin 155). In a specific case, there is a physician who utilizes place medication, Dr. Miracle, and a 45-year-old patient with chronic back pain, Michael Misery.

Health care providers may use placebos intentionally or unintentionally. When used intentionally, as in giving a sugar pill for pain or prescribing oral vitamins for fatigue, an element of deception is involved. The doctor does not believe the treatment is effective for the condition but believes it will be helpful for the patient because of the patient’s belief in the doctor’s prescription. This is an ethically compromised position regardless of the possible benefit to be derived and usually is not considered acceptable practice. Unintentionally, providers often create placebo responses just by their enthusiastic endorsement of and belief in a treatment.

After treatment, addition, new blood vessels may develop. The photodynamic therapy also aims to destroy the fragile blood vessels, but this is achieved by injecting a drug that adheres to the surface of said vessel, and subsequently illuminating the eye with a light that activates the drug. The activated drug destroys blood vessels only, without affecting healthy tissues. This treatment does not restore lost vision, but retards the progress of the disease. A recently developed a new treatment for macular degeneration with very good results in general (although there are people who do not respond to this treatment), which is based on the use of injections periodic anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth ), they are hindering the development of new vessels, which is the alteration that really worsens the prognosis of the disease.

The first-line treatment for RMSF is 7-14 days of doxycycline for both adults (100 mg BID) and children of all ages. Patients who are severely ill should be hospitalized and given intravenous doxycycline. An added benefit of doxycycline is that it covers other tick-borne organisms with clinical presentations that may be confused with RMSF. Another course of treatment is Chloramphenicol (50-75 mg/kg/day for 7 days) has anti-RMSF activity. However, its efficacy is inferior when compared to doxycycline, it has more side effects, and it has a complex dosing schedule.

In contrary, the antagonist drugs act as the blocker the way of the body’s natural agonist and also they avoid cell response to agonist. However, these two totally different target receptors can actually be used together. For example, in the case of Asthma. In the respiratory tract, albuterol will stick to the adrenergic receptors so the smooth muscle will relax and expand the airways, also known as bronchodilation. At the same time, the antagonist drugs, ipratropium, attaches to cholinergic receptors and obstruct the attachment of acetylcholine and limit the airways which called bronchoconstriction.