4 ms·

Placebo effect

• adrianN 10y ago
  It could also be something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergen_immunotherapy#Oral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergen_immunotherapy#Oral
  • noipv4 10y ago
    This might be it. Very interesting!!
    • nommm-nommm 10y ago
      It most certainly is not. You don't respond immediately to immunotherapy and certainly not in 10 minutes.
      • fit2rule 10y ago
        .. unless you've been doing the "10-minute fix" for some years ..
        • nommm-nommm 10y ago
          It still doesn't work that way though. The GP didn't describe immunotherapy, they described "take a substance, feel better in a few minutes" like an aspirin. That is just not how immunotherapy works.
          • noipv4 10y ago
            Do you have a hypothesis as to why it works? In my case it has almost the same antihistamine effect as 60mg Allegra pill.
            • nommm-nommm 10y ago
              No mechanism of action I know of other than placebo effect. You did not describe anything that resembles immunotherapy. Immunotherapy takes a very long time (months to over a year) before you start to notice an improvement in symptoms and requires year round treatment, not just during allergy season. After 3-5 years treatment is discontinued.
              • noipv4 10y ago
                Can you suggest what kind of blood test can determine if my immune system is reacting to the concoction? In the past my eosonophil and neutrophil numbers were very high during seasonal allergies. Would testing for these numbers be indicative?
                • nommm-nommm 10y ago
                  I am no doctor so I do not. Try consulting yours.
                  • noipv4 10y ago
                    Unfortunately I do not have the finances to consult a specialist, and thus my trial with non-Rx treatment for hay-fever like honey, BB, and other stuff. Anti-histamines like Allegra, Zyrtec, and Xyzal are quite the sleep inducers for me.
  • nommm-nommm 10y ago
    GP said "starts acting in 10 minutes" Immunotherapy doesn't work that way.
  • arkades 10y ago
    Allergen immunotherapy requires long-term small-dose exposures which cause an immunoglobulin class switching resulting, in effect, a "masking" of the allergen with the non-allergy-inducing globulin. It requires small doses over an extended period of time: no bolus infusion (e.g., "I'm having my big cup of pollen tea now") is going to do it, and it's not going manifest over a short period of time ("and 20 minutes later I feel better.") Additionally, a general fault of immunotherapy for allergy is that we tend to present the allergen in a manner distinct from its biological presentation - e.g., oral presentation of inhaled allergens. Since we have different mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues throughout the body, and since they do react differently, generally you're not going to get a great response to oral administration of a non-oral allergen (e.g., something you'd normally inhale, like pollen).
• goda90 10y ago
  Placebo effect can be nice to have as long as you're not doing anything dangerous to get it.
• DKnoll3 10y ago
  That's quite a presumption you have there.