Hey guys & gals!
I have been preaching this placebo effect for years. It could be the key as to why some PWP's react differently to the same treatments. I remember speaking to a group about my positive experience with Spheramine (surgical implanting of dopamine-producing cells into my brain). I made the coomment that one would probably never know if my progression course would have been the same with or without the surgical intervention. I also remember the group chuckling when I added, "And if it proves to be a placebo effect, you should bottle it and sell it!" Now I am thinking all the more how this could be for real.

Phase I Spheramine trials (only 6 people) maintained a 40+% improvement after 4 years. Phase II participants (78 people) did not meet their endpoints. This means that of the people who received sham or fake surgery, those who got the real stuff faired no better. Everyone, including the researchers were left with their jaws dropped, having reported only days earlier at international professional meetings about the anticipated potential of Spheramine.

My point - if "thinking" you are better can do that kind of thing to test results, there are 2-3 possible answers that might hold the answer to why PD hasn't found better therapy in 40 years:
1) we need to review the testing protocol presently used by research (those used to measure improvement - such as the UPDRS, Hohen & Yahr, etc.) or are we using unrealistic statistical formulas to analyze data?
2) we need to look at the way patients are recruited (are we allowing "unqualified" participants to enter trials which skews results - such as depressed patients who would naturally get "better" by default of feeling better about their treatment), and
3) if the placebo effect IS truly that powerful for Parkinsoon's, why aren't we seeing more treatments designed toward this? (Examples: biofeedback, anti-depressant therapies, etc)

Comments?

Peg