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In reply to the discussion: Top cancer hospitals across the country treat their patients' PAIN with "woo." [View all]Silent3
(15,148 posts)109. In other words, they let patients indulge in generally harmless placebos of their own choice...
...as supplementary treatment for the placebo effect.
So what?
That placebos, as a general idea, can be effective isn't "woo".
But when, for example, it turns out that sham acupuncture (done with no regard at all for particular placement of needles, and/or faking the insertion of needles) is just as effective as "real" acupuncture, that exposes acupuncture, as a system, to be pseudoscience, just one more in a long line of interchangeable mind games we can play with ourselves with sometimes positive results.
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Top cancer hospitals across the country treat their patients' PAIN with "woo." [View all]
pnwmom
Apr 2014
OP
You know what else is really common, and generally accepted without mocking? Prayer.
Electric Monk
Apr 2014
#1
If some cancer hospitals are treating patients' pain with prayer, I didn't run into any.
pnwmom
Apr 2014
#2
When my mom had cancer, she had many friends who said they were praying for her recovery.
Electric Monk
Apr 2014
#4
that study was so poorly designed and so poorly executed, NO ONE should reference it.
KittyWampus
Apr 2014
#19
I can't stand it, between that and other childish words thrown around here of late
Dragonfli
Apr 2014
#70
My step-mother was once prescribed decaf coffee enemas for relief from hives
OriginalGeek
Apr 2014
#85
Yes, it is not woo/psuedoscience. That is wonderful for your father!
Tuesday Afternoon
Apr 2014
#124
I think things like acupuncture have a hypnotic component that truly does help pain.
mucifer
Apr 2014
#8
Acupuncture as such is not 'woo'; there is some evidence that it can relieve pain and other symptoms
LeftishBrit
Apr 2014
#12
It's a business. Cheap perks that give you a leg up over the competition are smart.
LeftyMom
Apr 2014
#13
The National Institutes of Health doesn't fund studies of hospital valet parking. n/t
pnwmom
Apr 2014
#31
As the OP points out, many actual physicians disagree with your great wisdom
Bluenorthwest
Apr 2014
#35
A commenter on another board, with a related thread asks the pertinent question...
SidDithers
Apr 2014
#36
Pnwmom, I have to disagree with you as I have been treated with acupunture AS PART
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#40
Oh okay, I am so sorry. I read it but not completely. I shouldn't have assumed that
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#46
OH BULLSHIT. Only talk about what you know. Just because she went to someone who
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#69
IT WORKS, Curmodgeness. I am a recipeint of this "cray-cray". IT IS NOT CRAZY
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#47
NIH funded study: Acupuncture for Chronic Pain / Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis
magical thyme
Apr 2014
#55
We use acupuncture with great effects on the horses. Animals can't manufacture a placebo response
riderinthestorm
Apr 2014
#91
From what I remember the only problem with the studies is that you can't double blind
Recursion
Apr 2014
#81
It is very important to differentiate the marketing information provided by health care centers ...
etherealtruth
Apr 2014
#65
What does that have to do with acupuncture, which is what the thread is about? nt
Electric Monk
Apr 2014
#94
In other words, they let patients indulge in generally harmless placebos of their own choice...
Silent3
Apr 2014
#109
Sure, because we give the DEA 60 billion a year to bully doctors into under-treating pain.
Warren DeMontague
Apr 2014
#118
Top cancer hospitals across the country relieve their patients' of money with "woo."
MattBaggins
Apr 2014
#120