Migraine sufferers benefit from placebos, study shows

A recent Harvard University is shedding further light on the placebo effect phenomenon -- a condition where fake treatments or medicines are just as effective in reducing symptoms as real medicine.

The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, shows that migraine sufferers who took a dummy pill they thought was real experienced pain relief to the same degree as when they took the real drug that they thought was a placebo.

"There was no difference between the pharmacology of the drug in reducing pain and the placebo dressed up with a nice word," study author Dr. Ted Kaptchuk tells NPR. "Basically we show that words can actually double the effect of a drug. That's pretty impressive."

Researchers looked at 66 migraine patients who were instructed to take pills in a specific order. The pills were in envelopes marked "Maxalt" (the real drug), "placebo" or "Maxalt or placebo." Patients were unaware that some labels were incorrect.

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The results showed that when the participants took a Maxalt pill that was properly labeled, they reported 40 per cent less pain. And when they took a mystery pill, they also reported a 40 per cent decrease in pain.

Yet curiously enough, even when the patients knew they swallowed nothing more than a dummy pill they reported 25 per cent less pain.

"The more you give a positive message, the more a drug works," Dr. Kaptchuk tells Live Science. "In this case, our message was just as important as the pharmacology of the drug."

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He speculates that 50 per cent of the Maxalt's effect could be attributed to the placebo effect.

His research falls on the heels of another recent study which shows that both real and fake acupuncture reduced muscle and joint pain, as well as hot flashes associated with cancer drug treatments.

While researchers are unclear how exactly the placebo effect works, studies show that it is a true biological phenomenon. Placebo treatments have been proven to stimulate real physiological responses from changes in heart rate and blood pressure to chemical activity in the brain, such as the release of pain-relieving opioids.

Because of the powerful effect of placebos, some medical experts have suggested that doctors start prescribing placebos instead of real medications when necessary.

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It is a controversial practice that is largely denounced by the medial community due to the ethics of lying to patients, however, some doctors already do it.

The Globe and Mail points to a 2008 study showing that more than half of American doctors give their patients placebos ranging from vitamins and sedatives to unnecessary antibiotics.

And in Canada, a 2011 study found that 20 per cent of psychiatrists as well as non-psychiatrists routinely prescribed placebos in their practices.