Tom's Writings Newsletter Blog is now working

Please see http://toms-writings.blogspot.com/.  Thanks

Pill Potentizer Coming Soon! Why not? Multiplies the effect of cheap medicines!

This short video is an animated rundown of the curious properties of the placebo effect - http://www.epicnews.org/195/article/the-placebo-effect/

Remind of you of The Virtual Healing Machine?  - where I have combined the Placebo Effect and Self-Hypnosis.

Best wishes to you all.  Now, that I've said that....I've placed a good thought in your mind...and subconsciously you will have a good day.  Of course, I can't make you do something against your will - You can over-rule my good wishes and have whatever day you want to have.  :-)

Are You Working on The Placebo Effect? - Trying to Figure it out?

This might give you some insights.  Close but no cigar yet.

Endocannabinoids Pitch In for Placebo Effect - NSAID-induced placebo response mediated by CB1 receptors - http://www.painresearchforum.org/news/10072-endocannabinoids-pitch-placebo-effect

Placebo and Nocebo Effects - Suggested Lesson Plan or Science Fair Experiment

An article got me to be thinking....How can Teachers encourage (teach) students to learn about the Placebo Effect....How to design their own Science Fair Experiments, etc. How to evaluate what others think of the Placebo Effect and the Nocebo Effect. How to form their own opinions. If they find it useful, how can they make their own placebo-enhanced medical devices, e.g. "a super band-aid" or "a mommy's mega-kiss to sooth an ouch".

Start Materials....

School Teaching Aid - Just the placebo effect? - http://www.scienceinschool.org/print/2577

Science Fair Project -

http://www.fun-science-project-ideas.com/Science-Fair-topics-Placebo.html

http://www.ehow.com/info_8267628_science-projects-using-placebo-effect.html

Google Search String to find more of the same - (lesson-plan OR science-fair) (placebo OR nocebo)

***********************

Tom sez - To get the topic exciting, ask the students to look at the Museum of Quackery - http://www.museumofquackery.com/. What can we learn from Quackery? Patients say they work, yet Science says no.

Also, what can doctors learn from Medical Hucksters, Faith Healers, etc.? - The great American medicine show: being an illustrated history of hucksters, healers, health evangelists, and heroes from Plymouth Rock to the present by David Armstrong, Elizabeth Metzger Armstrong

Where do Psychodermatology and Psychoimmunology Cross?

Some recent articles got me to be thinking about "Where do Psychodermatology and Psychoimmunology Cross, Interact, or Meet?

Here's what I did to find out more....

Good Google Search String - (psychodermatology (psychoimmunology OR psychoneuroimmunology)) - cut and paste into Search Engine

Particularly Interesting ....

Psychodermatology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychodermatology

Hypnodermatology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnodermatology

Psychoneuroimmunology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoneuroimmunology

Psychoneuroimmunology and multifactorial psychodermatological diseases - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7419/is_2010_June/ai_n55040505/pg_5/

Psychodermatology: When the Mind and Skin Interact - http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/2003159

Psychodermatology: The Psychological Impact of Skin Disorders [Paperback]Carl Walker (Editor), Linda Papadopoulos (Editor)

Biopsychosocial Aspects of Health and Disease Vol. 1 By Konrad Janowski

Prof. Uwe Gieler - www.psychodermatology.info/lebenslauf-engl.html

Open Access Journals on this Topic - http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=openurl&genre=journal&issn=1019214X&volume=44&issue=suppl+1&date=2010

************************************

Tom sez - Maybe tools for this juncture of this are Hypnosis, Meditation, Guided Imagery, etc.  

I might do a module someday for The  Virtual Healing Machine on Skin Disorders....another on over- or under-active immune system.  Ah well...someday.  Let me know if you have an urgent need for this module.

Cheers!

Major Universities and Hospitals Promoting Placebo Effect - Please Let Us, The Public, Help Too!

Video on Placebo Effect - Depression -


"PiPS Associate Director Irving Kirsch discusses the placebo effect with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes this past Sunday." -  http://programinplacebostudies.org/tag/placebo-effect/

Harvard-Wide Program - Beth Israel Medical Center

Tom sez - How about opening this research to the public?  Crowdsourcing?  Open Innovation?  Wiki?

People know what works and what doesn't, even if Science doesn't agree or can't figure out how it works.  Examples - Many people swear by devices that others have said are "Quack Medical Devices".  Who is right? The patient who says it works or ....the skeptic who says it does not or cannot work?

Is Your Doctor Using All the Healing Tools Available to Help You?

Lessons From Recent Research About the Placebo Effect—From Art to Science

"Medicine has been of 2 minds, so to speak, regarding the placebo effect in clinical practice. On the one hand, the placebo is disparaged as an inert and deceptive intervention intended to please or placate the patient but without any potential to produce meaningful therapeutic benefit. On the other hand, placebo effects are touted as having the power to produce substantial symptomatic relief across a wide range of medical conditions. Until recently, scientific data that elucidate the mechanisms of placebo effects and evaluate their potential to significantly enhance patient care have been lacking. During the past decade, there have been advances in scientific research on the placebo effect, paving the way for evidence-based techniques for promoting placebo responses in clinical practice in ethically appropriate ways.¹ Additionally, practitioner surveys indicate that physicians today appear much more comfortable acknowledging the placebo effect as a therapeutic tool consistent with a scientific understanding …" - http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/23/2612.short - JAMA.
2011;306(23):2612-2613. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1850
Also see Nocebo Effects, Patient-Clinician Communication, and Therapeutic Outcomes
JAMA. 2012;307(6):567-568. - See how your doctor might be harming you, whether they know it or not.
You can get these articles through your local library, EBSCO, or other free sources.  If interested, ask your librarian to help you "find more of the same".  Maybe Doctors, Nurses, and other Practitioners want to learn some "people skills".

Bio-Medical Students - What Can We Learn From the Placebo Effect?

"A placebo can take the form of a sugar pill or even a fake surgery. It's often used to test the effectiveness of a trial drug. Ted Kaptchuk, director of Harvard University's Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter, discusses potential applications for the healing power of placebos." from link below...

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/06/144794035/one-scholars-take-on-the-power-of-the-placebo

Tom sez - Research and Engineering Students - Please consider the Placebo Effect a springboard for new medical products.

You might find that some of your ideas are in the History of Quack Medical Devices.  Patients say they work.  Scientists say they are bogus.  Who is right?  Especially, in the areas of pain and depression, which are largely evaluated by the patient.  From what I know, there is no diagnostic test for pain or depression.

Please consider reviewing Quack Medical Devices - What can we learn from them?  How can the Placebo Effect be amplified?  How can the Nocebo Effect be minimized?

You are the future of medicine.  Do you want to make things patients say work....or not?  If a patient is satisfied, isn't that good?

Good Luck!

Enhancing the Healing Response I - Emmett Miller, MD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZf5Mabrf0 - Video

Snippet from link above...Dr. Miller was a presenter at the Healing Journeys 2008 Cancer as a Turning Point Conference in Sacramento. In this excerpt from the conference, Dr. Miller explores how to tap the vast resources within each individual to work for healing and to achieve wholeness. For more information on our conferences, please visit http://www.healingjourneys.org.


You might have more power than you think to heal yourself!....says writer of this blog....

Is Your Doctor Really Helping You?....or Hurting You?...

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=15460&tag=The%20Nocebo%20Effect&limit=10

http://altmed.creighton.edu/placebo/nocebo.htm

http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/05/the-nocebo-effect.html

Please check out the links above....and consider whether your healthcare professional is really helping you...or hurting you....

Also, please consider the Nocebo Effect when you hear Medical or Pharmaceutical Advertisements....Do you suddenly come up with new symptoms?.....Hmmmmm?

Is your doctor confident in their diagnosis and treatment plan?...Do you really trust them?....Do you really want to get better?...Think about it - Your life might depend on your honest answers...

http://consideronline.org/2012/01/30/the-placebo-effect/

Snippet from link above....

The Placebo Effect

ALL THINGS CONSIDER — BY NAOMI SCHEINERMAN ON JANUARY 30, 2012 AT 12:00 PM 

When I was younger and would fall and scrape my knee, my mother would kiss the painful spot and all of a sudden the pain would go away. The placebo effect is well heard of: individuals have been given fake or phony pills or treatments and gotten better. Such false methods of medical recovery include sugar pills that aid cold or fever symptoms, ordinary skin lotions that cure itching, injections of saline that relieve pain, fake therapies that shrink tumors, and meditation that cures skin diseases. According to WNYC’s RadioLab, these are signs of the pivotal psychological components of curing physical maladies: the combination of a confident physician or healer and a desirous or willing subject. The doctor is imparted with the job of being caretaker and healer to the patient. Without the trusting relationship between patient and doctor, there is little hope for healing. Additionally, the patient must trust in his very capacity to recover: both be given and believe in the confidence to heal. These seem to be, at least on the surface, the components of the placebo effect. This idea is also compatible with the reason that dog therapy, friends and family support, and bright and happy colors are also key ingredients to a successful recovery.

Click on link above for full article...

Useful Information in making Mind-Body Healing Machines

FYI....here's some useful information that I used to make The Virtual Healing Machine.  You might find the information useful too.  See link below.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByxQMXIbYsLcN2ZkNjk1NGQtM2Y2Yi00YzM4LWIwNDEtMWZjMDZlNDg1NGU2

Five Tips to Aid Your Health Condition

Five Tips to Aid Your Health Condition

Dr. Ader was ahead of his time. He realized that the mind does indeed affect how a person heals. Today, science is catching up with him, with all the mind-body hype that goes on around us. The founder of Psychoneuroimmunology died, but the concept lives....

http://voices.yahoo.com/five-tips-aid-health-condition-10769785.html?cat=5

Tom's Writings - New Blog - News of all my writing and inventing

Hello All – FYI – I now have a news hub for all my writing and "virtual inventing" – Tom's Writings | TG Ideas LLC

If you want to know of all my activities then please “Follow by E-Mail” or “Subscribe” on Tom's Writings.

I’m off to a fresh start in my blogging. Stay tuned. I’m so excited to start writing, researching, inventing again. 

Best Wishes to you in your endeavors. 

Tom

1. Tom's Writings | TG Ideas LLC (Hub) – New Blog

2. Ideas for Products or Inventions

3. Do It Yourself Health Care

4. Health Information Your Doctor Might Not Even Know About....(Or Might Not Want You to Know About!) – New Blog

5. Interfacing with the Doctor Within

6. Mind-Body Healing Machines - formerly titled Virtual Healing Machine

7. Exploring Life As We Don't Know It – New Blog

8. Other Writings – Yahoo Voices, Helium, etc.