[Anonymous June 24, 1998 at 1:12 pm Post count: 93172]

#1149403

Hi George,

I knew what you meant! LOL Theroy business ya know.

Instead of them coming up with an instant read device for
checking thyroid blood levels and then maybe proving what
I felt (hehehehehe) I would rather they just come up with
a cure for this disease. I was not to keen when my husband
said what you said about the medicine because then it gave
me the nutso complex! Oh well, he has been wrong before.

Have a good day!
Michele B.

[Anonymous June 24, 1998 at 2:52 pm Post count: 93172]

#1149404

Just my thoughts on this issue – it seems to me that people with a chronic problem are much more attuned to how their body is doing that people who have an occasional problem. People with GD take so much medicine and have such swings that we may be more alert to subtle changes than a guy who is taking an asprin for a headache. I know after six years I am aware of every little twinge. I don’t get excited or worried about it, but I know when something happens, is going to happen or has happened with my body. I think some people also have a higher pain tolerance or discomfort level than others. We learn to live around these problems, but we are aware of them and no doubt some more than others.

[Anonymous June 24, 1998 at 4:57 pm Post count: 93172]

#1050495

I’m sorry if I offended anyone by siding with the docs and the pharmaceutical companies in saying that, in theory, you shouldn’t feel your medicine in an hour because ultimately YOU and only YOU know how you feel. SO, if you feel better in an hour, you feel better in an hour. Who am I to disagree. All I was saying is that it may not be physiologic and that it may be psychological. In saying that it is psychological, I’m not saying that it isn’t real. I would be just as susceptible to the placebo effect as anyone else. It has been documented scientifically that a “placebo effect” does exist. For example, if you tell someone who feels bad (say they have a headache) that you are giving them medication for pain and then give them a sugar pill, they might feel better just for the psychological effect of taking the pill. Some doctors estimate that up to one third of the efficacy of a medication can be attributed to a placebo effect. That’s why in clinical double blind studies they always divide the study participants into two groups. They give one group the real medication and one group the placebo to control for this effect because otherwise the study would be biased by the placebo effect. This is a real effect! And I’m glad for it because our medications would make patients feel only 66% as well as they do if it didn’t exist. I would like to acknowledge that by me having Graves and dealing with the health care system as a patient it certainly will make me a better doctor. But I would never choose to have Graves disease to become a better doctor. And if you were a patient came in and said that they feel better in an hour and asked for an explanation, I wouldn’t have one. I would tell them what every other doctor has because our knowledge is limited. But then I would try to point out that ultimately, it doesn’t matter if there is or is not a physiologic basis for why you feel better after you take your medicine. Be grateful that you do feel better! Again, sorry if I offended. We’re all in this together and I was giving my two cents worth not trying to tell anyone that what they were feeling wasn’t real.
George

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