Month: October 2008

What’s a placebo?

More on pills: The BMJ released the results of a survey of 673 doctors that found that about half prescribe placebos to their patients.Not literally sugar pills but vitamins and headache pills. Medicines that aren't typically used for a given condition that might benefit the patient, is the way the survey question was phrased.Questions abound:…

How sick are we?

The notion that economic crisis is forcing some to cut back their prescription medications put me in a mood just thinking how dependent we've become on meds in general. I have nothing but questions:We know we're fatter than our grandparents, but are we sicker? If so, why?If not, then why so many meds? And better,…