TED KAPTCHUK: I'm director of the Program in Placebo Studies at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. VEDANTAM: Why tell Bonanno the pills were a placebo? Wouldn't this prevent them from working? That's the question that has intrigued Ted Kaptchuk. And I thought, he made me come all the way down here to take a sugar pill. A physician running the trial gave her pills to take, but then the doctor told her that the pills were a placebo.īONANNO: Oh, I was disappointed. Bonanno was screened for the study and diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. VEDANTAM: A nearby hospital was running a trial for patients with intestinal pain. Then one day, she saw an ad on TV.īONANNO: And my eyes perked. One doctor told her she was lactose intolerant. VEDANTAM: Bonanno didn't know what was causing the pain. You're better off having a baby than what I went through. Intestinal problems constantly interfered with her daily routines. SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: For a decade, Linda Bonanno (ph) organized her life around the inevitability of pain. Most doctors believe placebos work only if patients think that they're getting actual medicine - if they're being deceived, essentially. Researchers have asked whether doctors can use placebos as a tool to heal people. The placebo effect - it's when people who participate in clinical trials feel better after taking sugar pills, and it's pretty common.
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