Cierra Major-Collazo

Have you ever wondered if  the medicine being prescribed is really working as good as your doctor tells you or if it might just be in your head? Well according to a study done at  The Departments of Internal Medicine and Adult Hospital Medicine, You might be correct. Doctors across the globe have been  prescribing placebos for decades to treat patients – according  to Traub,  in The Science of Medicine Journal.

Now you may be asking, What is a Placebos Prescription?   Placebos are drugs that are made to resemble medicine  but do not  actually  contain an active drug. A placebo is made to look exactly like a real drug but is made of an inactive substance, such as a starch or sugar, essentially expensive candy.Placebos. Even  there  is  no  real active ingredients, some people who take a placebo feel better. The issue with Placebo Prescriptions is that it is falsely  treating   patients. This happens  while manipulating patients  psychological well being into thinking they are  getting better from treatment  without their knowing. Even though some patients  show improvements Placebo drugs are an easy pass for doctors to possibly overlook  serious underlying  issues, and  further delaying the treatment of  possible mental health issues.

What is even more shocking to see is  how  often Placebo are used by doctors today.

WebMD claims  50% of doctor use placebos in their everyday practice. Study researcher Jon C. Tilburt, MD discusses his finding  regarding the use of placebos by doctors during an interview with  his  did a poll of  doctors  giving examples and asking questions  like:

• If a clinical trial showed a sugar pill was better than no treatment for fibromyalgia, would you recommend sugar pills to fibromyalgia patients? Yes, 58% of the doctors said.

• Do you ever actually recommend treatments primarily to enhance a patient’s expectations? Yes, 80% of the doctors said.

• In the last year, did you recommend a placebo treatment to a patient? Yes, 55% of the doctors said.

The  result of this  study is shocking nonetheless but placebos being used  for treatment are not  new.  They have been around for decades  actually. We can  even look back and  see Placebos used  being used on the popular  Andy Griffin Show in the   1960s on the  Ellie Comes to Town episode.

The picture above shows Ellie Walker giving Placebo pills to the “sick” Emma Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512472/on

In this episode Ellie walker was in town as the new pharmacist meanwhile, Sheriff Andy Taylor finds out that his friend Emma is feeling sick because she ran out of her pills that she takes everyday. When Emma request more pills  form Elli Walker, she is told no because she doesn’t have a valid prescription. Without the pills Emma‘s physical symptoms continue to get worse. Emma’s symptoms get so bad that  the whole  town feels so bad for her that they end up forcing Ellie to give Emma her pills. Emma feels better immediately  and  returns to her normal self. Later in the episode it  is revealed that the pills Emma had been taking all those years were nothing but  sugar pills. So we can see that even in the 1960s  comedic favorite, that although the purposeful use a placebos undermines emotional, spiritual, mental and physical levels this also treats the person as a whole mentally and physically.

The Placebo drug is done by the placebo effect. Although to many the use of the Placebo may be morally wrong there is scientific  evidence that shows there’s more to these “sugar pills” than magic. Placebo Drugs  works is by the belief in the power of treatment, which  is often enough to make people feel better. Many  brain imaging studies have confirmed that placebos cause measurable changes in neurological signaling pathways. The key to understanding the process  understanding that the expectation of benefit associated with a placebo causes measurable changes in neurological signaling,  that in  result give pain relief.

For example if your having some knee pain and  decide to purposely eat a sugar pill. You will feel  no different afterwards. However, if you  go to the doctors for your knee pain  and the doctor prescribe you the same pill  unknown to you. It can be expected  that the  pill will  have a therapeutic benefit. This  faith in the doctor activates reward pathways in the brain that releases this kind of  substances called endorphins. Which are made naturally in our body yet somehow  similar to opiates like morphine. Like morphine, these endorphins cause pain relief. Therefore, in response to belief and faith off  Placebo drug , your brain becomes flooded with its own supply of natural painkillers. This was as reported in “More Than Just a Sugar Pill: Why the placebo effect is real,” 2016.

Although belief cannot cause  underlying issues  such as a broken bone or diabetes, to disappear, people who believe that they are actually being treated often show a reduction of Pain, nausea, weakness, and many other symptoms can diminish even if a pill contains no active ingredients and can be of no possible benefit, such as a sugar pill.

At this time you might be asking yourself  well Of placebo Drugs are effective and help us to produce our own natural painkillers why are they so controversial! Placebo drugs are actually very risky and have much unwanted side effects. Like all medications real or fake they all come with side effects. The same mind controlling body power that helps heal many also harms twice as much. When patient. Those treated with nothing more than just a placebo often reported fatigue vomiting muscle weakness  and memory disturbances. The same face of suggestion from doctors giving the treatment can also come into play with the side effects that may be placed on the label of the placebo.

So why does it matter?  Some people argue that the only important thing is whether a treatment makes people feel better. It does not matter whether the treatment actually “works. This argument may be ok when simple aches and pains, which always go away on their own.Yet symptoms that seem small may be signs of a potentially serious disorder, important for doctors take each seriously to prescribe a treatment that really does work.

The ultimate goal is to  create an happier healthier environment for patients even understandable  the success rates for these prescriptions are  relatively high but   it diminishes patient’s “ right to know” and doctors essentially lying to patients and controlling their minds instead of  going further into the issue. If a patients has issues that re serious ,mentally or physically.Prescribing a placebo is simply an easy pass to doctors to cover  and temporarily fix the underlying issue.  Further  letting patients become ill. As of right the are no laws in place limit these fake drugs nor does it seem like there will be any soon. So only time tell  future  of  Placebo Prescriptions. Until then  use you power of belief to stay educated and informed instead of being mislead.