Trying to solder something

[ski2xblack]

Glad you've been feeling better.

It's implausible to the extreme that your use of a grounding pad has anything other than placebo to do with it. Like with all SCAM* modalities, it only works until it doesn't.

*SCAM = Supplements, Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It's equivalent to expensive magic wire in audio.

 

[Squishman]

Weird that you guys think it's a placebo effect. I think that is just lame and that you don't want to admit that there might be something to it. That's your out. Want me to quit and see what happens? Nope.
Thanks ski2 for saying you are glad it is working . Thanks though, really.

 

[Squishman]

So, if it's a placebo effect, would it not come back in time? If it doesn't, then what will you say?

 

[ski2xblack]

Thanks ski2 for saying you are glad it is working

I didn't say that. I said I was glad you're feeling better.

I don't discount placebo effects, they can be quite dramatic. My hopes are that you stay in remission. Pain sucks. But while you're grounding yourself, be sure to take full advantage of what evidence based medical practice has to offer. This sort of mumbo jumbo alt med nonsense often leads to neglecting to pursue treatments that actually work.

So, if it's a placebo effect, would it not come back in time? If it doesn't, then what will you say?

That's why I said it only works until it doesn't. If it "works" indefinitely for you, fan-freakin-tastic. I want you pain free. I just don't think the modern day folk remedy you're employing is doing anything other than placebo or creating expectation bias.

Outside of a lightning storm, the pad seems pretty harmless, if whimsical and unmoored from reality. So don't stop on our accout. Magical thinking is fun, you get to be your own voodoo doll! Or just skip the woo.

All sarcasm aside, I do hope you continue to feel better.

 

[Squishman]

I didn't say that. I said I was glad you're feeling better.

I don't discount placebo effects, they can be quite dramatic. My hopes are that you stay in remission. Pain sucks. But while you're grounding yourself, be sure to take full advantage of what evidence based medical practice has to offer. This sort of mumbo jumbo alt med nonsense often leads to neglecting to pursue treatments that actually work.



That's why I said it only works until it doesn't. If it works indefinitely for you, fan-freakin-tastic.

Outside of a lightening storm, the pad seems pretty harmless, if whimsical and unmoored from reality. So don't stop on our accout. Magical thinking is fun, you get to be your own voodoo doll!

All sarcasm aside, I do hope you continue to feel better.

I was kidding... see the wink? I do have a doctor who is an RA specialist. I won't see him for about 5 months, unless I need to. He gets my labs every 3 months and always comments on them. I am not neglecting jack btw.

 

[Squishman]

I know little about "placebo effect". Doesn't make sense that that is what is happening. My blood pressure is normal now too. This what not something I had in mind. It's been high for a very long time. Now, the past month it has been normal consistently. I check it myself 3 or 4 times a week. Serious question: how can that also be a placebo effect when it was not even something I had in mind at all concerning grounding?

 

[Swerd]

I think it's interesting that some folks in this thread who were skeptical (or worse to the point of ridicule for some) about my trying grounding to alleviate pain haven't commented about the success I am having. STILL NO PAIN ladies and germs.
edit: or at least none, zero pain in the last week or ten days. Getting better all the time. Even the fleeting-type pain never happens much and when it does, it might be like a minute, then it's gone.

I am very glad to read of your improved RA symptoms. But you should still count me as a skeptic. (It was my job to be so much of a skeptic during the last 20 years before I retired.)

Placebos work especially well on symptoms modulated by the brain, like the perception of pain. Placebos may make you feel better, but they will not cure you.

And … you are the best person around to fool yourself .
Quoted from "The Power of the Placebo Effect"

This gets magnified when only one person (N=1) is talking about his own perception of pain, as you are. It would help convince the skeptics like me if many more people (N=100 or more) were involved in the same effort.

I do get why you're interested in this. You are simply interested if grounding helps you and your RA pain. And, you enjoy doing DIY projects. But other readers may want to know if grounding really matters.

Here's an example of the kind of evidence skeptics like me want to see. I worked in research on new anti-cancer drugs. The ultimate test for any of these drugs is a large clinical trial. This trial was meant to see how well a new drug called Selpercatinib (Red trace, below) works in lung cancer when compared to the existing standard first-line therapy (Blue trace). Patients got either Selpercatinib alone or the control (oxaliplatin cytotoxic chemotherapy plus the antibody called Pembrolizumab, aka Keytruda). There were 300 patients in each arm of this trial, and they were followed for about 3 years. The graph shows how many patients in each arm survived without their cancer growing (progression-free-survival). Clearly, Selpercatinib works better. (I now take this drug for lung cancer, so this is quite important for me.)

I do appreciate how you report your observations as you run this DIY experiment. But please understand that whole body grounding to treat RA symptoms has to clear a higher bar before it gets widely accepted.

 

[Swerd]

… SWERD can tell you more as he was a senior statistician at the NIH with a lot of experience in trials. Your statements have zero medical or scientific credibility.

Thanks for the promotional plug . But I must correct the record. I worked for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in a group that sponsored clinical trials of new anti-cancer drugs. The NCI is independent from the NIH. Don't worry, many people get that wrong.

I was a research biochemist, not a statistician. I did get to know a small group of statisticians who really understood how to design clinical trials so they got statistically significant results. I didn't understand everything they did, but I learned to nod my head intelligently at whatever they recommended.

 

[highfigh]

I never said anything about proof or anything of the sort. Labs might tell a different story in a couple months. Why would I quit now? This is by far the longest ever stretch of no attacks for me.

Good to see that you're not having attacks.

Stress affects many diseases and AFAIK, RA is one of them, as are many other inflammatory reactions. Less pain = less stress, fewer symptoms.

 

[Squishman]

Good to see that you're not having attacks.

Stress affects many diseases and AFAIK, RA is one of them, as are many other inflammatory reactions. Less pain = less stress, fewer symptoms.

I wish I could say I have no stress. That would be great.
I appreciate you guys letting me tell you about this. I cannot remember if it's been 12 or 13 years with this disease. The first time, it was in my neck and they admitted me into the hospital! So, this past several weeks is a dream come true.

 

[highfigh]

I wish I could say I have no stress. That would be great.
I appreciate you guys letting me tell you about this. I cannot remember if it's been 12 or 13 years with this disease. The first time, it was in my neck and they admitted me into the hospital! So, this past several weeks is a dream come true.

Look into TM, deep breathing and other methods of relaxing. They worked for me. If you want to do a simple test, check your pulse and make note of it, then close your eyes and inhale slowly through your nose, hold your inhale while counting to four and exhale through your mouth with your tongue pressed against the roof.Hold your exhale for a four count before inhaling and repeat this for a minute, then check your pulse. Don't hold your breath so long that you struggle for breath- if you need to count to 2 or 3, that's OK but it helps to hold it a bit longer.

If you have problems going to sleep or back to sleep, rather than let thoughts churn in your mind, think of the word 'nothing' and repeat in your mind at an interval of once every few seconds. By thinking of that word, it's hard to think of the stuff that keeps you awake.

If you can't do anything about something that bothers you at that time, let it go until you can.

Segregate your issues- don't try to solve all problems at one time, deal with them one at a time.

 

[Squishman]

Going for a motorcycle ride is always a nice thing!