Can placebos cause side effects?

Can placebos cause side effects?

If so, are the side effects real?





Enjoy.

Apparently they do, it depends on what the person is told or beleives the placebo will do. If they are told the "medication" may cause a stomach upset, they may well experience one. I beleive its much like phsycosomatic illness. The power of the mind is amazing, if you beleive in hypnotism, its the same thing, power of suggestion.
It would be interesting to read factual accounts of drug test where the tester has told the subject to expect side effects. Im not sure if this happens or not, I would think it might be counter productive to test somehow. It would be interesting if the control group experienced side effects that were visible i.e a rash.

I don't know what's funnier. The (un)original rhetorical proposition, or that instar took it seriously. Good one.

placebos can sometimes cause effects like the real drug being tested would. I remember reading about test of Rogaine and some percent of the people given the placebo regrew new hair.

Never heard of any side effects but it might have happened

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
placebos can sometimes cause effects like the real drug being tested would. I remember reading about test of Rogaine and some percent of the people given the placebo regrew new hair.

Never heard of any side effects but it might have happened

Placebos CAN and DO cause side effects. As mentioned earlier in this particular forum, it really does depend upon the individual. Furthermore, it depends upon what that individual believes could occur if he/she takes a medication that is supposed to affect a particular condition. For example, in an arthritis study, many of the participants would, of course, have arthritis. Because of their past experiences with arthritis medications, their reaction would be influenced. Many arthritis medications cause upset stomach so it would not be unusual to find that people taking a placebo in an arthritis drug trial would report having an upset stomach.

Originally posted by DeltaChaos
I don't know what's funnier. The (un)original rhetorical proposition, or that instar took it seriously. Good one.

Whatever

www.diabetesaustralia.com.au...
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The most frequent adverse events reported in the study were pharyngitis (sore throat) (14 percent) versus placebo (10 percent) and infections (13 percent) versus placebo (eight percent). Rash was reported by seven patients treated with Lamictal versus six patients on placebo.

From
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