more about nothing--defining medicine/malpractice

[Guest guest]

Also a validation of the importance of the mind and belief systems

in disease processes. I prefer being healed with a placebo whenever

possible!! Least invasive approach and if it works, what the hay?

Maybe if these people were taught some mind exercises their results

would have been even more dramatic and longer lasting and they would

have been empowered to handle it themselves during future flare ups.

thanks, Shanna

 

, yehuda l frischman

<@j...> wrote:

> Really, if you think about it, isn't this a validation of the TCM

pattern

> discriminations: Liver overacting on spleen or stomach, relative

to IBS?

> --See also the chapter on IBS in Flaws & Sionneau's " treatment of

Modern

> western diseases "

>

> On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:44:52 -0000 " "

> writes:

> >

> > this turned up in an article on Medscape about IBS....

> >

> >

> >

> > Trial Design Issues in IBS

> >

> > It is well known that placebo is an excellent treatment for IBS.

> > Indeed, there have been

> > reports that the placebo response can be maintained for at least

12

> > months, a finding that

> > remains both surprising and perplexing.[9] Patel and coworkers

[13]

> > conducted a very

> > interesting meta-analysis of the placebo effect in IBS. They

found

> > that the placebo

> > response varied anywhere from 16% to 71%, with the mean being

44%.

> > This finding reflects

> > how important it is to have a placebo arm included in all

randomized

> > controlled trials that

> > test new therapies for IBS, because the placebo response remains

> > unpredictable and can

> > be high or low, making any conclusion without a placebo

virtually

> > meaningless. It is

> > interesting to note that variables such as the year in which the

> > study was conducted, the

> > number of study arms, entry criteria, crossover or parallel

design,

> > study duration, use of a

> > run-in period, and exclusion of responders all failed to predict

the

> > placebo response. The

> > only predictor of the variability of the placebo response that

these

> > investigators observed,

> > and that seemed to be important, was number of office visits,

which

> > was associated with a

> > reduced placebo response. Perhaps this fact reflects an

exaggerated

> > centrally mediated

> > stress response in IBS in those who seek care. Of course, the

> > placebo response is still a

> > contentious entity in medicine, and its further elucidation

remains

> > a priority.

> >

> >

> >

> >