A new study published online in the journal Cancer suggests that any relief acupuncture brings may be the result of a placebo effect.

Researchers followed a group of 47 women being treated with aromatase inhibitors, a breast cancer medication that can cause menopause-like side effects (hot flashes, night sweats) as well as joint and muscle pain. Twenty-three of the women received eight weeks of acupuncture; the rest received eight weeks of something called “sham acupuncture,” where needles are placed on the skin somewhat randomly — not at traditional acupuncture points — and then not actually inserted.

The result? All of the patients reported that their side effects had improved, especially the severity of their hot flashes.

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/New-Study-Exposes-Acupuncture-As-Pseudoscience-5094637.php

Similar set up with a certain type of knee surgery (yea, sham incisions were done…), Everyone’s knee got better.

I’m not surprised. I think I’d be more likely to get better if they didn’t stick the needles in.

There have been many studies comparing true and fake acupuncture before. If I remember correctly, acupuncture does work for pain.

Here’s an idea: Compare fake acupuncture with fake blue pills and see if fake acupuncture actually works better. It’s already well known that not all placebos are equal – some are extremely effective whereas others are useless.

mollwollfumble said:

There have been many studies comparing true and fake acupuncture before. If I remember correctly, acupuncture does work for pain.

Here’s an idea: Compare fake acupuncture with fake blue pills and see if fake acupuncture actually works better. It’s already well known that not all placebos are equal – some are extremely effective whereas others are useless.

Interesting.

Oh heres one…

New study shows prescription medicine deaths greater than heroin, cocaine and opiates combined.

Excellent work, now if we can only get rid of those pesky neck breakers, back rubbers and needle throwers…

FMD.

New study shows prescription medicine deaths greater than
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For those searching for better intel…

Don’t bother in Australia… its kinda hush hush.

I guess it works for some people

I don’t like the idea of having needles shoved into me other than a syringe for my heroin

wookiemeister said:

I guess it works for some people

I don’t like the idea of having needles shoved into me other than a syringe for my heroin

Unfortunately you can’t get heroin with your private health insurance.

Witty Rejoinder said:

wookiemeister said:

I guess it works for some people

I don’t like the idea of having needles shoved into me other than a syringe for my heroin

Unfortunately you can’t get heroin with your private health insurance.

I normally take a trip once a year to Kabul to source my own stock at rock bottom prices

Unfortunately you can’t get heroin with your private health insurance.
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But it’s poorer cousins opium, morphine and codeine. are readily available…

And legal…. thanks to our tireless team at “We don’t make drugs we make medicine”

:)

Shiny happy people…

one thing I would like to know how to do is make things like LSD or other various dangerous party drugs.

the first use I’d put it to is possibly killing cane toads instead of having to take them away for freezing.

theres some chemical you can buy that is able to carry chemicals through the skin, you could mix a drug like morphine with it then spray the cane toad with it.

you need a painless death

but funny enough I think the cane toad problem could be fixed without anything other than holes in the ground

I noticed recently that there were a few cane toads trapped in a concrete pipe in the ground

everything else can crawl up the walls except the cane toad.

a shallow depression with a ladder could allow everything but the cane toad to get out

you then go round and check the holes after a few days and collect the cane toads

wookiemeister said:

but funny enough I think the cane toad problem could be fixed without anything other than holes in the ground

I noticed recently that there were a few cane toads trapped in a concrete pipe in the ground

everything else can crawl up the walls except the cane toad.

a shallow depression with a ladder could allow everything but the cane toad to get out

you then go round and check the holes after a few days and collect the cane toads

They are called pit-traps and will catch many small animals who cannot climb the smooth vertical surfaces. Cane toads are so numerous you would need many thousands of traps to make even the smallest dent in their population. The cost of setting this up and the large number of people required to do the sorting would be considerable and uneconomical for the likely results. A single cane toad can produce something like 25,000 young so there control is an enormous and complex problem.

there = their

wookiemeister said:

but funny enough I think the cane toad problem could be fixed without anything other than holes in the ground

I noticed recently that there were a few cane toads trapped in a concrete pipe in the ground

everything else can crawl up the walls except the cane toad.

a shallow depression with a ladder could allow everything but the cane toad to get out

you then go round and check the holes after a few days and collect the cane toads

what do we do when they start building ladders? deeper holes?

Are cane toads doing acupuncture? If not, how did we get to that topic?

dv said:

Are cane toads doing acupuncture? If not, how did we get to that topic?

I was hoping you’d tell me. :shrug:

dv said:

Are cane toads doing acupuncture? If not, how did we get to that topic?

wookie.. it’s all there in the thread.

The wookiewalk is a crooked path and none but legends tread it

The wookiewalk is a crooked path and none but leg ends tread it

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1305189?query=featured_home

“In this trial involving patients without knee osteoarthritis but with symptoms of a degenerative medial meniscus tear, the outcomes after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy were no better than those after a sham surgical procedure.”