It killed him?!!!
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lol
Not really.
The comic I posted above implies that research is being done in this area.
There are lots of other good xkcdās on placebos/controls.
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I also like this one from the Onion.
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Second one had me llol
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I regularly take zinc when Iām sick, I just caught something Saturday and Iām 98% recovered now. Of course, I canāt prove that it would have lasted longer had I not taken the zincā¦
Zinc makes my stomach turn so no thanks.
Maybe whatever causes your stomach to turn in the near future drives you to take zinc!?
I do not, although i donāt judge people who do (or not too much!)
Some of it is that i donāt trust the placebo effect to work reliably for me.
But there is an element of not wanting to fool myself. Iām not sure thatās the right feeling, but i donāt have the energy to re-think it.
I think there has been tons of work understanding how the placebo effect can unexpectedly affect study results.
Iām not sure how much study there is or how the placebo effect biologically occurs.
so tempted to post this in the grammar mocking thread . . .
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FTR, I do believe that consuming vitamin C and zinc will help reduce the impact of various illnesses.
However, I donāt put much into the idea of that starting to take these things (or increasing the dose) at the onset of an illness will do much for reducing impact of the illness (either in duration or severity).
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I take vitamin D prophylacticly. I think itās good for immune health as well as other things. But i like to have something i can do when i catch a cold, so thatās when i take vitamin C.
(Also, Iāve sometimes had low vitamin D. Iām an office worker. I donāt get enough sun. I suppose Iāve never been tested for vitamin C, but i eat enough fruits and veggies that itās probably fine.)
Iāve taken zinc in the past for a cold, but havenāt in years. Maybe i should buy some. It tastes nasty, which should make it a more effective placebo. 
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In related news, the FDA just ruled that a decongestant used in numerous cold remedies do not work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/health/cold-medicine-decongestant-fda.html
Sorry for getting so off topic btw. Maybe we need a placebo thread.
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It was a crime against humanity to ban phenylpropanolamine just because a few people had bad side effects. Phenylephrine might as well be candy by comparison. (Pseudoephedrine is okay, but not as good as PPA was.)
Never tried phenylpropanolamine, but pseudoephedrine is an awesome drug. Iām just cranky that itās gotten harder to get. But not so much harder that we donāt keep enough of a stash to treat both of us through a cold.
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OG Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine was THE BEST cold medicine hands down before the PPA ban. Itās almost as if the ban specifically targeted it just to disrupt the cold medicine market (and make me sad). 
Sometimes it feels like the internet was a mistake.
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