Oh, good, KaySL you're here. I dedicate this one to you: She sounds like a real thorn in your side. She obviously doesn't understand your point and shouldn't be such a prick about it. She's probably not the needle in the haystack you were looking for. I say kill the acupuncturist and pin it on her. I'm sure the police will poke around but they'll eventually put in all behind them.

35- I don't think it matters much whether it works consistently or not. We are all built differently, and frankly, inconsistency in technique success goes across the board - not just in physical problems. I think we can't look at the diversity in humans all across the planet and expect very consistent results, outside of more aggressive methods (such as surgery or pharmaceuticals). Take any non-physical problem people tend to have, and you will often see that what works for one may not work for another. Even if it works for just 50% of people, and even if it might be the placebo effect, 50% isn't a statistically insignificant number. That's 50% of people whose quality of life has been improved. Also, acupuncture is not nearly as risky as bloodletting, so there's no harm in seeing if it might work for you. For some people, it really is one of the few choices they have to treat their condition.

The load of **** is your face pus bucket... Bloodletting is also a real medical procedure that is still used today is specific occasions, and its recommened by people who do more then sit on their ass and conjecture like you... Acupuncture also works effectiviley much more then 50% of the time, and look up the placebo effect dumbass, that affects less then 50% of a population, try taking statistics.

Is it a violent reaction because she took a break... Sounds like your a wuss. A violent reaction would be my foot going up your ass...

Shrooms - the placebo effect has been shown to treat things like panic disorder and rheumatoid arthritis for months or even years. The effect can be quite robust. That's the problem with inconsistent treatments. Something that works SHOULD work ALL the time, not just half the time or on half of people.

KaySL, I don't think you'd necessarily have to have an impressionable or weak mind for a placebo or a related technique to work on you. Firstly, because people largely overestimate the control they think they have over their mind, and secondly, because you can consciously allow it to affect you in that manner, to achieve the desired result (mints are cheaper than pills after all!). I suppose the latter would more closely resemble meditation, or clinical hypnosis, both of which do work provided that the people involved know what they're doing. I don't have enough information to make a judgement on the girlfriend, but I think OP should have thought it out before attacking her on the subject so viciously.

But acupuncture has been known to work on dogs... Can they get a placebo effect?

It's nerve stimulation that's what it is

71, The fact is that there are still many things we don't know about our universe. We do know that it tends to be consistent, but when we don't completely understand a phenomenon, it can appear to us as an inconsistency. That's a fault that lies within us, not our universe. The point here is, as you yourself said, that a placebo can have a profound effect on both physical and mental conditions. It's natural to ask why it's not consistent, but in the end it doesn't matter, and it doesn't discredit it if it has worked for someone. I think all this shows is the enormous effect the mind has on the body, and that the placebo effect is just one way to tap into it. The power of the mind has been demonstrated extensively, which is why it's rather sad that the general public is not being sufficiently educated on the subject. Excuse me for perhaps looking at the issue too deeply, but it's just in my nature. :P

This FML as well as the tanning one are turning out to be more controversial than the normally expected ones, I bet the mods didn't expect this. *Eats popcorn*

acupuncture works, it isn't a placebo

61 there was a man back in the day with some illness (cancer?) and was asked to take a new medication (that was injected) still being studied. He wa the only one of the group to recover. They questioned this because when he stopped taking the medication he got sick again (when it didnt help any other patients to begin with). Well they eventually gave him water instead, and he got better; when he found out the medication didnt work, he died. I read this story in school, if anybody could look it up like the guys name i would be glad!

Because theres a big difference between bologna and baloney. Bologna is a deli meat. Baloney is when someone acts stupid.