I’m gonna speculate that “wholistic” is gaining traction because their intended [del]patient population[/del] con victims aren’t educated enough to know what “holistic” means.
Sorta like the authorities had to paint “flammable” on gasoline tanks because people thought “inflammable” meant “good to put out fires with”.
Now that you mention it, my cardiologist doesn’t spend any time looking at my bunion. Shucks.
My in-laws had some issues with drug interaction, but that was because they had lots wrong with them and went to lots of different doctors. I go to a big center which does pretty much everything, and we do over my drug regimen with alarming frequency. And they’ve never mentioned holistic once - data, yes.
I think I’m going to do a column on holistic microprocessor design and test. Yes, it will be a humor column.
I haven’t seen it, but I would avoid that. Holistic, too. Holistic medicine often means “avoiding standard medical practice”, and I don’t intend to go on a juice diet if I develop cancer.
But my MIL had some downright bad treatment from an ear specialist who forget there was a person attached to that ear. And the whole “stay out of the sun” push is from dermatologists who forget that vitamin D is valuable for other systems, and nor always adequately supplied in diet. And I’ve seen heart advice that was heart-focused, etc.
I’m pretty happy with my doctor, who is mostly an epidemiologist, and secondarily a pcp. Partly, because i think he is concerned with all the body parts.
I think the value of placebos is in helping to statistically separate products that actually work from products that don’t, due to various biases that humans have. If you’re saying that they actually can help you feel better, and not just more likely to report feeling better due to cognitive biases, I don’t buy that.
Well, he should!
If your foot’s hurting, you can’t get the exercise you need to keep your heart healthy, right?
Actually that’s not entirely a joke - if he says “moderate exercise” and you can’t because of some non-cardiac issue, he needs to at least know about it.
i do.
We were talking about pain and inflammation, two symptoms that can be improved by placebos.
Isn’t that what Quantum Computing is?
I can believe that they may make some symptoms better - anything that is affected by stress/anxiety, for example. If you think you’ve been given something to help you relax, you might just relax. If you think you’ve been given something to help with the pain, you might relax and become less sensitized to the pain. If your asthma is flaring a bit, a placebo might reduce the anxiety and awareness of the breathing struggle.
The linked article did not (that I could see) mention what someone else said upthread about how a placebo can help some things even if you know it’s a fake. I can’t imagine how that would possibly work.
These days it would be hard for a doctor to get away with prescribing a placebo anyway - with so much information readily available, the first thing I’m gonna do is look up that nifty tincture of dihydrogen monoxide the doc just prescribed.
Something not mentioned but somewhat related: having a real medication, and not taking it, can help. I’m specifically thinking of pain medication and sleeping medication. If I’m having a bad night of sleep, where the anxiety over insomnia can make the insomnia worse, knowing that I’ve got a small stash of Sonata, that I can take if I really need it, can sometimes be enough for me. My husband had a root canal. The endodontist prescribed a few tablets of Vicodin or some such. My husband never took it - but just knowing it was there if needed let him deal with the pain.