Mind Over Matter, Placebos,Holistic Health, and 1/2 Marathons

Part two

Yesterday Secretariat and I attended a Sons in Retirement luncheon.  I showed our book trailer video to the group, and spoke about my anti aging pill ride and tie, meeting Secretariat in 1997, and about our competition.  I talked about mind-body and the power of expectations .I made the point that expectations had to be reality-based.  On our training runs, I do not expect to beat Secretariat based on 15 years of history –as that is the reality.  Hopefully ,I made that point to the group. Secretariat took the opportunity and talked about his competitiveness, and why he runs.

Today, Secretariat and I will run to the arena, help Linda saddle her horse, and assist her in mounting.  Then we will continue on our trail run, and all told, will travel about 15 miles.  We both have entered a half marathon on the 29^th in Marin County.

A study published in New England Journal of Medicine included 46 asthma patients.  They were put into four types of experimental treatment groups: no treatment at all; supplied with an albuterol inhaler; supplied with a placebo inhaler; and subjected to sham acupuncture. In this study, the research team induced an asthma attack, and then measured lung function, as well as a perception of symptoms. One interesting finding is that the real inhaler, improved lung function better than the placebo inhaler.  However, the patients in both inhaler groups reported feeling good   regardless of whether they used a real or a placebo inhaler.  The placebo inhaler worked just as well-how’s that for mind over matter.

  2,703 menopausal patients with hot flashes were given either a real or sham acupuncture treatment and evaluated after five weeks.  At the end of this five week treatment procedure, only some 60% of participants in both groups reported that hot flashes.  Seven weeks later, 55% of the patients in the sham acupuncture reported hot flashes, compared with 73% in the real acupuncture group.  Hooray for sham acupuncture.

Okay, these findings are impressive- even more so when patients are told they are receiving a placebo.  Placebos, in some cases, seem to work better than actual, real medication.  One explanation is that expectations play a significant role along with the perceived meaning of the medical treatment situation.  These patients find themselves in an environment where the setting is positive and official; they are given personal attention, and coupled with an innovative approach – like a daily pill taking ritual.   These factors likely created and resulted in an openness to change or to get well.

  We have a mind-body self-healing process that suggests that the placebo or our mind changes conditions, and not the underlying biology of an illness.  In other words, the way a person experiences or reacts to an illness is an important key. Just think if we did not have HM Os and managed care systems and the medical profession spent more one-on-one time with the patient just like in the old days; and the doctors were trained in some of these other adjunct procedures; and the drug companies had less hold on the medical profession-the doctor’s did not have to write prescriptions, we might have different and healthier outcomes.

Another element to consider is what if insurance companies reimbursed the providers who actually work one-on-one with patients? As long as insurance companies are in the business for profit, it is unlikely they will reimburse many of the holistic treatments. Insurance companies and the prescription drug companies have the lobbyists to keep things the way they are. You might ask who does not want a single-payer.