Mad Kally

Rick, I'm seeing if this works.
here

You put an extra bracket in there with the [url=

Jackalope

Yup, that worked.
Dr.Rick, you can always click the little tickbox that says "Disable Smilies in This Post"

Claudia

One of the best cures I have at home for iritated skin (for example, nosed rubbed by too much wipping) is an homeopatic ointment. Of course, the efficiency is probably due to the excipient, but it does work (abd I commonly use it). I would have no prevention against buying the excipient only, same price same conditionning, but it is not sold

Mad Kally

The human body has an amazing way of healing itself. No matter what you rub on you skin. Try some K-Y Jelly, Vaseline, cortisone cream, antibiotic cream or hand lotion on your skin next time. It will work just as well.

Ab_Normal

My loving husband dashed out and bought some of that Oscillo-whatsis stuff when I got the flu, on the recommendation of a friend of his. I took it to make him happy, then broke his heart a few days later by telling him that homeopathy is a fraud. "Now you've broken my placebo effect," was the core of his complaint.

Mad Kally

You did. That's the sad part. The placebo effect is very powerful.

doghouse

Actually, the power of placebo effect reported in many studies may be the result of flawed research methodology. That is, this effect is actually just the natural course of the illness. For example, in a meta-analysis of 114 randomized placebo-controlled trials, the authors concluded that in general, there is little evidence that placebos have powerful clinical effects. They did find some evidence of an effect in the important subgroup of trials in which the main outcome was pain.

Hróbjartsson A, Gøtzsche PC. Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment. N Engl J Med 2001;344:1594-1602.

Wyz_sub10

The placebo effect is useful in controlling pain or hidding symptoms, but no placebo effect is going to remove a tumour.

Mad Kally

No tumors Wyz...

From: here.

The placebo effect is a beneficial response to a substance, device, or procedure that cannot be accounted for on the basis of pharmacologic or other direct physical action. Feeling better when the physician walks into the room is a common example.

A placebo may be used to satisfy a patient that something is being done. The term itself is derived from the Latin word placebo, which means "I shall please." By lessening anxiety, placebo action may relieve symptoms caused by the body's reaction to tension (psychosomatic symptoms). In certain circumstances, a lactose tablet (sugar pill) may relieve not only anxiety but also pain, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, shortness of breath, and other symptoms. The patient expects the "medication" to cause improvement, and sometimes it does.