I am observing The Placebo Effect on myself.
My wisdom teeth have been giving me a lot of grief, top and bottom, on the right side of my mouth. Five days ago, I went to the dentist to get a referral to an oral surgeon so I can get these suckers out of there, and he prescribed me Lodine 400 for the pain. Prior to my appointment, I was either loading up on ibuprofen or taking Vicodin where I could find it; the pain was unbearable, making it extremely difficult to concentrate on my work or my commute, and at the beginning, when I wasn't taking anything for the pain, I would cry.
They say that believing something will help, no matter what the help is for, puts The Placebo Effect into action. I haven't taken a pain pill since last night (about 16 hours), while they recommend one every 8 hours. Before you think, "Maybe the pain has just subsided", I don't see how that would be possible, due to the fact that my wisdom teeth are still in there, still impacted, still shifting. I am surprised that The Placebo Effect seems to be affecting me, while the Effect has been on my mind since 16 hours ago... We will see.
My mother is going in for an MRI today to learn that she is (hopefully, only) in Stage 1 breast cancer. She will have a double masectomy as a sort of preventative measure, rather than just a lumpectomy. (Her ex-sister-in-law had a lumpectomy, only to have the cancer return a couple years later.) She asked me to pray for her, citing "studies" (quoted because I do not know of any myself, and she did not provide me with any) that show people who pray and are prayed for generally do better (in this case, in health). I attribute this to The Placebo Effect as well.
The brain is a very powerful muscle. People can knowingly take sugar pills in place of pain, antidepressant, anxiety, etc. pills, and still obtain the same effects as the test subjects who took the real deal (in more than 30% of cases). By simply saying "I believe", knowing that something will and should work, will convince your brain of it.
When she asked me to pray for her, my mother made a good point when she said, "You could be wrong." Yes, I could be, and I will never claim to be an atheist until there is concrete proof of anything I now consider to be abstract. In fact, I would rather just be and not identify with any sort of denomination or otherwise; however, for the sake of argument, I would call myself agnostic. I do not know what is in store for me, nor anybody else, beyond this world; nobody does, and nobody should be claiming to know absolute truth when the only thing that is absolute in this world is Time.
With that said, I am still finding it very difficult to even approach prayer. If my mother's cancer has spread beyond her breasts, putting her in Stage 2 or more, it is there right now, two hours before her MRI. If she is past Stage 1, praying won't put it back to Stage 1. I tried religion; oh, believe me, I tried. As I grew (and as adults in the Church looked down on this child for asking too many questions, which I considered to be logical), the faith that was instilled in me since the beginning of CCD diminished. The effects of peer pressure waned, and my impressionable mind developed into a logically thinking one which questioned everything it had been prevoiusly told. I read the Bible, parts of it more than once, and while I will agree that it is an interesting story, my mind can't believe that it is anything more than just that: a story. Along with the Qu'ran, the Upanishads, Greek mythology, etc., they're all on the same level of Beowulf: a tale which has been passed on through the ages.
I do hope that, in a millenium, there aren't people wandering this Earth looking for Jack's beanstalk, a passage to the skies.
Keep my mother in your thoughts today.
EDIT: she's in Stage 1; double masectomy on the 20th.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Hey there- Sorry to hear about your Mom's diagnosis but good to hear it's not past Stage I. I think that prayer really does work and I think that the Bible is more than just a story- it's a good story. But I'm not saying anything in it is true, and I'm not saying that praying to some specific God is the only type of prayer that works- it's just a trick of the human psyche. It gives people a sort of confidence- if you don't think you can run a marathon, you never will, but if you really believe that you can, then someday you might-- Prayer works the same way, its a feel-good thing, and I think that if enough people think positive, positive outcomes happen!!! (soo cheeesy sorry) As for the Bible- I think it's great, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from it and can provide inspiration and motivation. Unfortunately, it has caused a lot of problems because not everyone interprets it as an inspirational storybook, but rather a tool to manipulate people and insult people and stuff like that. I'm ranting now...
You're probably never going to get any kind of solid proof that any higher power exists, but it's good to not write it off either, because you don't have proof that it doesn't exist! I say, since most major religions are based on the same principals, and since those same principals have been praised by philosophers and psychologists for ages- then what's the real difference between them or point in choosing one? Just be nice to people and you've got them all covered.
except people of other religions- ha!
I totally agree with everything you've said. It is a good lesson in morality, how to treat others, but too many people use it as an excuse to discriminate against others' differences. Every sacred text has, more or less, the same message; as humans, with our sense of superiority, some need to believe that there is a greater power watching us in order to do good. That's not to say that people who do commit themselves to one religion aren't inherently immoral, but...I think that some take it too far. Every major religion's Golden Word is along the lines of: Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. I'd be hard-pressed to believe that anyone would want another to judge/hate/discriminate them because of who they fell in love with, who they fell out of love with, if they chose to start a family out of wedlock, etc.
Just live a good life and don't cause harm to other creatures, big and small.
BTW her appointment got bumped to yesterday, the same day I got my wisdom teeth out!
I've talked to her a few times since she's lost her boobies, and she sounds great. It'll take some getting used to, but at least she was never a big woman! Now we just have to hope it didn't spread to her lymph nodes! But her surgeon said that, once he got in there, it was very uneventful, which is a good thing!
Post a Comment