Nocebo

Yesterday’s outing was to the pharmacy to pick up my new anti-anxiety med, Buspirone. It takes a while for it to build up in the system so it’s too early to see if it helps. While on the prescription pick up line I had an unfortunate encounter with the person behind me. They mark off on the floor where to stand so as to keep six feet apart. I felt someone close behind, so I turned around to find someone right behind me. When I asked her nicely to move back and pointed to the marker she said she was at the marker. The back end of her shopping cart was on the marker and she was in front of the cart. I’m unhappy with myself as I didn’t let it go. I said that I didn’t know if she was stupid or selfish. It’s true, she is stupid or selfish but as my parents always told me, “You shouldn’t say it even though it’s true.” They were right. What good did it do to vent like that? All I succeeded in doing was increase the amount of tension in the world. We have more than enough without my contribution. I made myself more unhappy. I also saw a store full of people acting responsibly. That’s where my focus should be.

As long as I was out I gave myself a treat, Popeye’s for dinner. Thanks to ordering on the app that involves spending only a short time in the store. That reduces the COVID-19 risk. I’m careful but only to the point of diminishing returns. They key to so many things is balance. Absolutes are rarely the best way. I am being more careful as COVID-19 rates are going up. It’s over 4% in my zip code. I can’t act the same way I did when it was under 2%. I wish the City would ban indoor dining and close gyms. Instead they are talking about closing schools which have not been shown to be hot spots. In places with open schools, teachers have no hire infection rates than the general public. People that work in restaurants do. People that patronize restaurants do.

An advantage of eating at Popeye’s less often is that when I do I appreciate it more. Perhaps they made it hotter than usual but that spicy chicken sandwich was amazing. I won’t be back for weeks, maybe longer depending on the COVID-19 infection rate.

Let’s get back to my new med, Buspirone. Do you know what I didn’t do when I got the prescription? Research it online to find all the side-effects. Reported side effects mean nothing. All that means is that someone had symptom A some time after taking drug X. That’s not science. One thing following another in time is not proof, it’s hardly evidence, of causation. People get headaches all the time. If they get one after taking a drug they will often blame the drug. It’s worse than that, there’s the nocebo effect. If people think they will have side effects from a drug they will get them, even if they they’ve taken a placebo not the drug. There was just new research done on this in England. 90% of the side effects of statins seem to be the nocebo effect. Read about it here, Most Statin Problems Caused by Mysterious ‘Nocebo Effect’, Study Suggests [BBC News]. People that take inert pills report side effects at almost the same rate as those that take statins. Statins aren’t harmful but reading about the side effects is. Don’t do it, you can literally make yourself sick. The only side effects patients need to be warned about are those that can cause harm if the drug is continued. When I took Gabapentin, I didn’t check the side effects. I found that I couldn’t stay awake after I took it. I reported that to my doctor and was told it’s a side effect. I stopped taking the drug. If I had known about this beforehand I would never be sure if the drug did it or if it were the nocebo effect.

When the new COVID-19 vaccines become available people will start reporting side effects. The more people worry about it, the more side effects will be reported. Get mentally prepared for that now, it’s inevitable. It is not a reason for you to not get vaccinated. They do double blind experiments to test these things. Those you can believe, anecdotes you can’t.

Last night’s excitement was watching the launch of the Space X mission to the space station. We need to name these better. Space X is the company, not the name of the mission. The rocket is the Falcon 9, and the crew capsule is the Dragon 2. Maybe we should call these Dragon 2 flights. That’s not what we did during the classic space program. The capsules didn’t have names, they were just the project name capsule. We’d launch a capsule on a Saturn Five and call it an Apollo Mission. Dragon is a cool name, and we could apply it to all missions involving that capsule no matter the launch vehicle. I’m all in. I added the NASA channel to my Roku so I could watch on TV not my computer. I still get excited watching a launch. This is the first step back to the moon, and then to Mars. It’s much better thinking about that then somebody crowding me in a store.