The doctor was reassuring: I could continue exercise but avoid further 4-mile walks for a bit. He scribbled a prescription for anti-inflammatory drugs, both pill and gel. In two or three days, he promised, I would be back to normal.
The oracle’s verdict cheered me so much, I walked out of the surgery without limping. The pain was still there but I was the victor now, and I walked to the pharmacist to claim the sacred remedies.
Later I got to thinking, “what is inflammation?” for I’d never asked the question before. It’s “a localized protective reaction of tissue to irritation, injury, or infection, characterized by pain, redness, swelling, and sometimes loss of function.”
Why do we feel better no matter what the doctor prescribes? Suddenly I understood. The pain is a protective reaction that sends us a message, for this is the body’s wisdom: to protect us at all times. It’s certainly wisdom to stop repeating the message once it’s certain we have heard it and taken appropriate action. And what was the message? This is what the doctor failed to tell me because he is past his prime and this is why he of all the group practice has the most available appointment slots. Whatever the contents of the message, I don’t believe it was “Shoot the messenger with powerful drugs!”. Unless the current medical theory is that Nature doesn’t know what it’s doing.
The placebo effect occurs when the body prematurely judges that its message (e.g. of pain) has been acted upon, though the offending thorn, as it were, has not yet been pulled from the foot.
I consulted another oracle, the Internet. It advises a regime called RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. Stick your leg up on a cushion with two trays of ice-cubes strapped on tightly with a towel and don’t move. The doctor never mentioned this, possibly because no ice-cube manufacturer has sent well-trained representatives to entertain him and shower him with gifts.
The placebo effect wore off as quickly as my trust in the doctor. The pain worsened because the obvious message was “Rest, and give some time for the tissues to repair the damage themselves.”
But what do I know? I’m an untrained layman – almost. A diploma hangs on my wall saying I’m an accredited therapist—in a certain discipline which I will not mention here. Coincidentally, I’ve been taking steps in the last few days to resign from it. I don’t understand enough about health and disease. I’m more interested in pursuing the mystery and asking questions. I have wanted to understand my clients and not just perform magic rituals, even though they work, mostly—and are not just placebos.
Ice-cubes and Nature are now my chosen healers.
a wayfarer’s notes 
mother nature !!!
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Funny, really. Once upon a long time ago, the skin began to peel of my hands. Square centimetres. Curious, think i. Went to Doc (dermitologist, i think it's called). aha! he sez. Dunno wot this is, but take this ointment and if it don't fix the problem in two weeks, come back an' I'll give ya another prescription.
?? think i, nah, if ya don't know how t fix it, fuk ya.
My hands healed themselves within two weeks.
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“The placebo effect occurs when the body prematurely judges that its message (e.g. of pain) has been acted upon, though the offending thorn, as it were, has not yet been pulled from the foot.”
Great insight well expressed, Vincent. I've noticed the same “placebo” phenomenon but never analyzed it.
The best advice I ever had from a doctor was to “realize that your body is set up to take care of almost anything all by itself.”
It amazes me the way older people rush to have themselves sliced and sawed and sewn whenever a doctor suggests the idea. When I was playing golf with such people, I joked, “Out of 8 knees in this foursome, I have the only two real ones.” I had a very painful and persistent knee injury but refused the doctor's offers to “have a look inside there” (with the help of a knife) and “consider other prodedures.” After a few months my knee had healed itself completely.
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it is imprtant to be able to know the difference between an injury that will heal on it`s own over time and a more severe issue that will need surgery or medication.
even some dctors can tell the difference.
thr placebo effect is a way of reframing the bodies natural way of combating pain….the medical community uses it to suggest that the only “real” way to heal is through medicine, and that we all know that placebo is just fooling the system somehow.
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