FOOD ALLERGY OR INTOLERANCE: THE PLACEBO EFFECT

by admin on April 20th, 2009. Filed under Allergies

One intriguing aspect of illness is that it can often be ‘cured’ – at least temporarily – by any form of medical attention. A medical investigation or injection can work wonders, and a course of tablets is almost as good. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect placebo being a Latin word that means ‘I shall be pleasing’.

Research shows that over a third of people in pain get relief from inert

tablets that they believe to be painkillers. Headaches, migraine, insomnia, epilepsy and rheumatoid arthritis are among the conditions that are susceptible to placebos.

In some cases, the symptoms may have been psychosomatic in origin, which would account for the good effect of the placebo. It may be that the patient feels gratified by someone taking his or her illness seriously, or it may simply be the power of suggestion – because they feel they are being offered a cure, they actually begin to get better. In other cases, there may be a mixture of organic illness and psychosomatic illness behind the symptoms – the two can coexist, one feeding on the other. Again, the placebo could be powerful because it meets some psychological need for attention and treatment.

With diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, it is less obvious how the placebo effect works. However, the immune system plays an important role in rheumatoid arthritis, and this may provide a clue. A new form of treatment, or a new and more enthusiastic doctor, may act as a morale-booster which has a beneficial effect on the immune system – the sort of effect that the psychoneuroimmunologists are currently studying. Placebo effects are also seen in allergy, perhaps for the same reason.

A characteristic feature of the placebo effect is that it does not last all that long: it is usually only a matter of weeks, and two to six months is about the most that can be expected. If a patient responds to a new treatment and is still well after a year, it is unlikely to be a placebo effect.

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