I'll never tell___

[LifeHiscost]

____until someone I love dies.

Quote:

A 2008 study in the British Medical Journal reveals that when it comes to placebos, the U.S. medical system is as lawless as a gold rush town in the wild west.

Led by a researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study found that about half of the U.S. doctors surveyed "reported prescribing placebo treatments on a regular basis."

That's disturbing, but not nearly as disturbing as what those doctors were using as placebos.

Only a very small fraction said they used actual sugar pills, which is the classic concept of a placebo.

About 40 percent said they used over-the-counter analgesics. OTC analgesics include aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen, and I'm sure you're aware that all three have the potential to produce adverse side effects.

That's very unsettling (not to mention completely unethical), but here's the worst: 13 percent of doctors said they used antibiotics, and another 13 percent said they used sedatives.

That's just wildly irresponsible! Those doctors are putting their patients in harm's way and should have their licenses revoked.

What I find most irritating is that a doctor might decide that he can't effectively treat a fibromyalgia patient (for instance) with conventional drugs. So he throws in the towel and prescribes an inappropriate drug, hoping for a placebo effect.

Meanwhile, if he were to make even the most superficial attempt to investigate alternative medicine he would find a Mayo clinic study that supports acupuncture for fibromyalgia relief. Or he might try chlorella, a freshwater algae that's been shown to improve pain and anxiety in fibromyalgia patients. Some doctors have also had success relieving fibro symptoms with magnesium and a hormone called relaxin.

About 40 percent of the doctors surveyed said they used vitamin pills as placebos, but apparently with no attempt to match a specific vitamin with a specific condition. Somewhat dismissively, the study authors refer to vitamins as "benign and safe," and "relatively innocuous."

If your doctor ever tries to give you pills that aren't clearly labeled and don't come with a detailed prescribing information insert--even if they're "benign" vitamins--put those pills down and walk away.

And find yourself a new doctor who knows that little white lies aren't medicine.

And some people wonder and are offended with a law that says,

Thou shall not lie!!

God blesses!