"Placebo effect" - have you ever personally experienced it?
By amirev777
@amirev777 (4117)
India
February 17, 2019 11:53am CST
The placebo effect is a phenomenon in which some people experience a benefit after the administration of an inactive substance with no known medical effects, such as sterile water, saline solution, or a sugar pill, etc.
I had a personal experience, when I was sailing as a junior engineer on a passenger ferry more than 15 years ago. I had completed my contract, and was overdue for relief by more than two months. I had to be home urgently since there was some family problem, which needed to be attended. There was no chance of relief, as the vessel would be sailing for another 3 weeks. I was completely stressed out and could not sleep. So I approached the on board doctor, who was also my good friend. He gave me some pills and said that these would help me in catching sound sleep. And, lo and behold, I slept like a baby till I finally got relieved 3 weeks later. Just before signing off, I thanked the doctor for prescribing me the sleeping pills, and he nonchalantly handed over the bottle of pills to me - they were "MULTIVITAMIN TABLETS"!



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1 response
@ptrikha_2 (49753)
• India
17 Feb 19
Yes, placebo effect is used in many medical treatment. I am not sure if it is something that is written in medical texts as well, or is it based more on individual doctors' experiences?
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