 Poster: A snowHead
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My Dad swears by Glucosamine Sulphate - he has suffered with sciatica for years.
Deb
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Hoppo wrote: |
If the placebo effect is an effective treatment, then doctors could quite legitimately prescribe 'placebo' with the words "Here you go, prescription for X - it'll make you feel much better". I'm not sure if I want the doctors in the house to tell me they're already doing this or not. |
My Dad, GP now retired, always used to tell us that the placebo patients responded to best was 'pink medicine'. So if you find that a high percentage of your treatments are pink and liquid, be suspicious!
David
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
| If the placebo effect is an effective treatment, then doctors could quite legitimately prescribe 'placebo' with the words "Here you go, prescription for X - it'll make you feel much better". I'm not sure if I want the doctors in the house to tell me they're already doing this or not. It'd also be interesting to know if patient outcomes were better if you just doubled contact time, or even increased it by a more modest amount. |
There has been some discussion about this in the media (by doctors) recently, so I assume that the doctors have been discussing it themselves? There is a distinct ethical dimension to it, especially when there are efficable treatments available.
For discussions on pretty much all of the subjects in this thread Ben Goldacre's site is a good one to read (whether you agree with him or not). He writes the "Bad Science" column in the Grauniad. As a number of his articles get cut, it's often worth reading his site's versions for the full text and follow-ups.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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At the moment it is not considered ethical to prescribe placebo in the UK. Suggesting something such as Glucosamine or similar may be considered a way around that ethical problem, perhaps not even consciously in many cases.
I think that there are also two distinct issues that need to be considered here, in the form that health care workers may ask themselves-
"Is this something that I feel is worth spending the NHS' money on, bearing in mind that we have a limited budget, and so if I spend the money on this, it means spending less on another treatment, that is likely to be more cost effective?"
which may have a slightly different answer than the question-
"Is this something that may have a benefit to my patient, that I may be able to recommend, so long as they are paying for themselves, and so not using up funds that would be better spent elsewhere?"
So in this case, whilst I would not be personally inclined to support the availability of glucosamine on the NHS (or magnetic wrist bands for that matter!), I see no harm in people trying it, or other complimentary therapies, providing it does them no harm.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
| So in this case, whilst I would not be personally inclined to support the availability of glucosamine on the NHS (or magnetic wrist bands for that matter!), I see no harm in people trying it, or other complimentary therapies, providing it does them no harm. |
Which is pretty much the conclusion I've seen reached in most cases where this has been openly discussed.
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