New Research Shows Prescription Placebo Can Improve Several Common Medical Conditions
by Dick Brennan
Could knowing you’re taking a fake pill make you feel better?
Research is showing that it is possible and that some patients may not need drugs, but instead a prescription placebo, CBS2’s Dick Brennan reported.
It looks like any ordinary pill, but it turns out it’s fake medication that doctors confirm can cure some of the most common medical conditions.
Placebo pills worked for Linda Buonanno, who suffers from irritable bowel syndrome. The condition often strikes without notice.
“I felt horrible. I didn’t have a life. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t plan anything,” she said.
So when Buonanno saw an ad for a study, she signed up right away.
“I was all happy about it,” she said.
But she was shocked when doctors told her she wouldn’t be getting real medicine, but a placebo.
“We said very clearly you don’t have to believe in it, just do it… it’s kind of a crazy idea,” Dr. Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard University said.
“I was so disappointed — a placebo, a sugar pill, are you kidding? That’s not gonna work,” Buonanno said.
But it did work, her symptoms disappeared.
Full Article:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/04/11/placebo-pill-study/
