Better yet, make it timed-release
Sometimes, as Zombyboy reports, you just want something to make you feel better:
When we left the doctor that day, we kept talking about the different treatments, about how happy we were that the Botox was working (even though it paralyzes her eyebrows, a fact that bothers her more than I expected). She explained that sometimes she kept trying the stuff that made me roll my eyes because it made her feel better even if, logically, she wasn’t sure that it was making any difference.
I suddenly understood. What she wanted was something that worked regardless of whether it was effective (which is the only way I can formulate such an imperfect thought) — until it stopped working, a placebo that did nothing other than making her feel less pain was just as good (and, sometimes, better) than a drug that played havoc with her brain and that had limited effectiveness is warding off the migraines. Some of those drugs made her feel sick whenever she ate, played with her short term memory, and some even seemed to give her more migraines. When faced with side effects like those and all the uncertainty that comes with changing the drug regimen, a metaphorical sugar pill with no down side has to be attractive.
What she wouldn’t give for a really good placebo.
If only we had the technology:
Some products that have been on the market for decades, like Prozac, are faltering in more recent follow-up tests. In many cases, these are the compounds that, in the late ’90s, made Big Pharma more profitable than Big Oil. But if these same drugs were vetted now, the FDA might not approve some of them. Two comprehensive analyses of antidepressant trials have uncovered a dramatic increase in placebo response since the 1980s. One estimated that the so-called effect size (a measure of statistical significance) in placebo groups had nearly doubled over that time.
It’s not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It’s as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger.
The fact that an increasing number of medications are unable to beat sugar pills has thrown the industry into crisis. The stakes could hardly be higher. In today’s economy, the fate of a long-established company can hang on the outcome of a handful of tests.
On the other hand, you can actually get pharmaceutical-grade sugar pills today.
Mark Alger »
13 September 2009 · 12:29 am
Me, I’d rather have a panacea.
M
fillyjonk »
13 September 2009 · 5:01 pm
“Sucrosa”
HAH haha haha haha.
(A couple weeks ago I had the “what is a placebo and why is it important” discussion with my gen bio students. I sadly see from the last test some of them still don’t quite get it.)
So, could my good health and general lack of physical complaints be due to the fact that I consume moderate amounts of sugar? Hm.
Of course, I prefer to take mine in cookie form, rather than pill form.
fillyjonk »
14 September 2009 · 8:37 am
There is also, apparently, a “nocebo” effect, where otherwise healthy (nondiabetic, non-hypoglycemic) people have been so scared by “demon sugar” that they report various symptoms after consuming it.
(This group, as you might guess, contains mostly women.)