The placebo effect

Interestingly, it has been noted to work well as much as a scientifically formulated drug

Having a doctor in the family is a benefit for all the extended family members, not only to seek untimely opinion on any health-related issue but also to usurp some of the sample drugs and complimentary things offered by pharmaceutical representatives. This particular incident happened 15 years ago when I was working in Chandigarh as a doctor.

While talking over the phone, my mother spoke about her heel pain and I promised to send her the medications to Madurai. I packed all the goodies which included several boxes of medicines, fancy pens and notepads and other stuff gifted by the medical companies and couriered them. A few days later only did I realise that I had missed the box of pills specific for her heel pain in that package.

Since I was planning to travel soon to Madurai, I thought I would hand over the medications in person. When I reached home, she was all smiles and praised lavishly the pain-relieving gel that she found in the package which I had sent earlier. I was nonplussed since I had not sent one. She showed me the tube, which immediately brought a sheepish smile on my face. It was actually a marker pen designed in the shape of a pain-relieving gel tube, and she has been rubbing only the ink over her foot, but which remarkably had relieved her pain like a magic. If one wonders how would a non-medicated ink relieve someone’s pain, we call it the placebo effect.