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submitted 2 days ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] hector@lemmy.today 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's a joke but obviously If the researchers know whom is getting the placebo the results are worthless, hence the double blind part.

And the placebo effect is real, in some people, some of the time. They did one with pain pills (and also found different colors had a higher effect rate for different conditions,) and for pain pills after they were given the pills they were administered nalaxone, and opiate antagonist that forces those drugs off of the receptors and reverses their effects, and the pain relief of those both experiencing effects from the placebo and those feeling the opioids were reversed.

Strongly suggesting the placebo fooled their body into releasing it's own endogenous opiates.

It was in a New Yorker article, The Power of Nothing, with a bunch of other interesting material:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/12/the-power-of-nothing

[-] Quibblekrust 3 points 15 hours ago

Strongly suggesting the placebo fooled their body into releasing it's own endogenous opiates.

I don't get it. Why would they assume that? You're given a placebo pain reliever and it relieves pain. Then you're given a nalaxone, which you, the patient, knows blocks opioids. In both cases, it could just be the placebo effect. You could be given water and told it's nalaxone, and it could have the same effect.

Were they not told they were being given nalaxone? Were there four cohorts? Were some of the people who got placebo painkillers also given placebo nalaxone where it didn't block the pain relief?

I can't read the paywalled article.

[-] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 6 hours ago

Huh that article never used to be paywalled sorry, there is a way to use archive to read it but it's never worked for me.

Because the ones feeling the pain relief, that don't know if they got the real drugs or placebo, are given naloxone and the effect is reversed. So they had opiates in their system that were blocked, but were not given any, meaning their body released the endogenous ones.

https://archive.ph/20221218222515/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/12/the-power-of-nothing

Let me know if that doesn't work this is the first time I've actually done this, with a tool before I tried from archive and it never worked.

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Plot twist: the researchers were also part of the experiment and were told he was getting a placebo when he actually wasn't!

[-] Tempus_Fugit@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

A double-blind double-cross if you will.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Wait, if the researchers don't know who got the pal ebo but placebos can cause actual effects how do they know which effects are from the medication and which are from the placebo? If someone got a placebo and experienced headaches but no one on the medication did do they still have to warn that the medication may cause headaches?

[-] webpack@ani.social 8 points 1 day ago

the study is setup so that the person taking the pill and the person giving it to the participant who is recording the results both don't know whether the pill is a placebo, but some other person knows or it's written somewhere else what the person got so in the end they can know if the result was from placebo. the important part is the researcher at the time of recording/interpreting doesn't know, because if they know they may be bias in favor or against the placebo.