More expensive drugs really DO work better (but only because we think they will)
Patients expected a £1,000 drug to be more effective than cut-price version
As a result, their symptoms improved more when on expensive medicine
But neither of the drugs were real - both were just salty water
Finding ways to use power of the mind could make drugs more effective
By FIONA MACRAE, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 21:00, 28 January 2015 | UPDATED: 07:44, 29 January 2015
We’re all guilty of thinking an expensive wine must taste better than cheap plonk.
And it’s easy to believe a £20 lipstick will surpass a budget brand.
Now it seems the same is true of medicines.
A study found that Parkinson’s patients expected a £1,000 drug to be more effective than a cut-price version.
As a result, their symptoms improved more when on the expensive medicine.
Trick: Patients who believed they were taking expensive drugs were more likely to think they were effective.
The twist is that neither medicine was real. In fact, both ‘drugs’ were nothing more than salty water.
The US study suggests that finding ways to harness the placebo effect, in which mere expectation and positive thinking can improve health.
The University of Cincinnati researchers said that finding ways to harness the power of the mind could make drugs more effective.
It would also allow doses to be reduced, so cutting cost and the risk of side-effects.
Twelve men and women with Parkinson’s disease were told they would be given two injections of the same drug.
I have read many of these (research ) results and I would be in a very bad place if my drugs were replaced with saltwater, I would be crippled, I wonder how much money goes down the tubes every year, spent on negative research money that could be spent on positive research , If you have our unwelcome enemy lodged and settled comfortably and easily warding off our attempts to kick his a,,e out of the old grey blancmange you want every last groat or 1/2 groat even back to Norman / Saxon times when the Normans would with great relish remove Saxon brains and charge the victims 11MITE for the mess they made, this could not by any measure be looked upon as Neurology and I am not suggestinng that it is, but I was reading the latest PARKYMAG and this very well put together informative (and looked forward to I might add) 1/4trly , it is 1/4trly isnt it ???? and I began browsing the article about the research that some of the HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE DRUG LEVIATHANS are involved in ,not just seeking ways to DESTROY BLACKHEART, which I am trying my best to help them with,,, I am donating my brain to the local BRAIN BANK,, will they have a ATM,,Brains only, mounted on the wall, or one of those ridiculous kiosks standing alone in every small town and even smaller village, when you think back to when you opened your firstt account, the magnificent buildings friendly staff,, oh im off on one again,, sorry, and after reading about the successfulllness of these companies in fighting PD may I go on record in my humble appologies to all those brilliant men and women using their brains to try and save us from this B/////d disease, so here it is OLD FED DOES HEREBY HUMBLY APPOLOGISE, FOR MY UNFAIR RANT, and will there be ovenight depositary facilities at thes new brain banks.
I WISH YOU ALL (INCLUDING THE GOOD GUY DRUG CCOMs) agreat day or night dependding, where you are on this third rock,BFN FED
For me, far from belittling the patients, it shows the amazing power of the brain. There was a very interesting programme on TV about how they are trying to harness the power of the brain to influence outcomes - I think it was in the "Trust me I'm a doctor" series. They even had results with a similar trial with altitude sickness drugs for mountaineers and it was amazing to see the very specific changes the body produced in those who had been given the placebo. Even more amazing was positive results with some people (I forget what the condition was) who were actually told they were taking a placebo.
The only thing I would question is why they chose PD patients when it is already well known that with PWP's the placebo effect is stronger. Or perhaps that was the point to follow on from previous research.
Research Abstract dated 2006.
The placebo effect can be encountered in a great variety of medical conditions, but is particularly prominent in pain, depression and Parkinson's disease. It has been shown that placebo responses play a part in the effect of any type of treatment for Parkinson's disease, including drug therapy, deep brain stimulation and dopamine tissue transplantation. Recent studies have demonstrated that the placebo effect in Parkinson's disease is related to the release of substantial amounts of endogenous dopamine in both the dorsal and ventral striatum. As the ventral striatum is involved in reward processing, these observations suggest that the placebo effect may be linked to reward mechanisms. In keeping with this placebo-reward model, most recent experiments have shown activation of the reward circuitry in association with placebo responses in other disorders. In addition, as dopamine is the major neurotransmitter in the reward circuitry, the model predicts that the release of dopamine in the ventral striatum could be involved in mediating placebo responses not only in Parkinson's but also in other medical conditions
