New ear stapling fad claims to curb appetites

The Daily Athenaeum ^ | 12/11/06 | Brenda Paiz

[ichabod1]

Aaaahhhh, the miracle of the placebo effect!

I'd give up Placebo, but it wouldn't do any good.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I wouldn't be surprised if real acupuncture could be effective for appetite suppression or quitting smoking, but it si contrary to the theories of real acupuncture (and concrete biological/medical science) that permanent installation of the "needle" would have a similar effect to periodic brief acupuncture treatment. The body quickly adjusts to the presence of an acupuncture needle, and stops responding at that site (though secondary effects may continue for days or weeks afterwards).

Having undergone electroacupuncture in the past, I can attest to this effect at least in that technique. It uses a TENS unit which generates a small electric current (these are also used in allopathic medicine) attached to the needles. At first you can feel a tingling at the puncture site (sensation strength depends how strong the current is set for), but after lying there for 20 minutes, even a tingling sensation strong enough to be bordering on pain at the outset has diminished to where you can't feel it at all. Your nerves figure out that the thing they were generating responses to is unimportant/unchangeable and no longer needs to be reported to the brain.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Of course there may be an extra placebo effect here. Not only does the person who had it done obviously think it may work, but it's so readily visible and odd that the stapled person inevitably has to explain it to his/her friends. Extra incentive to eat less and exercise more comes from the realization that you'll be the laughing stock of your social circle if you end up having to explain that it "didn't work" because it's clear you haven't lost any weight. In fact, it probably generates external reinforcement of this effect, by causing skeptical friends to periodically inquire "So is that staple in your ear working at all?", thus reminding the stapled person that "Oh sh!!, my friends think I'm really stupid and they're going to keep thinking that unless I lose a noticeable amount of weight".

[tubebender]

I don't expect you Whipper Snappers to know this but back in the Early 1980's it was the rage to tape a pair of Cow Magnets to your fuel line and it was reported it would improve your cars mileage.

The magnets are about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long and the farmer forces one down into one of the cows stomachs where it will catch any metal that is in the feed a cow eats and reduce injury to that Holstein worth a couple of thousand dollars.

I tried them on both of our vehicles for a friend in the repair business to test them. There was zero difference but he had customers swearing to him that they were miracle so he bought a case of them and charged big bucks to these believers and had them sign a disclaimer he had drawn up...