http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/op...=1&ref=opinion

That was interesting. I know about the placebo effect, of course, but the "nocebo" effect makes perfect sense as well. There are a couple of people in my life who are very suggestible, and I'm careful about how I present possible side effects.

The article states that people drop out due to side effects even on Placebo. This could be to additives in the placebo capsules. They must put something in the capsule even if it is ot the drug.
I have had so much experience having reactions to various drugs that I am rarely susceptible to imagination about what they are doing to me. Sometimes I've had a predicted possible reaction, but just as often I've had an unusual reaction, such as slow pulse with chemo I was taking last year. I have been trained by a lifetime of vigilance to notice what is happening and also notice what is not happening.

Thanks, Jane, a good read.

As the article points out, it is important what you say. Far better for a nurse of a patient getting chemo to say, "Let me know if you have any problems" than "Call me if you get nausea."

Words are powerful.
ANN