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May

23

Reverse Placebo?

Filed Under General, Philippine Comics | 5 Comments

I’m sure everybody’s heard of the “placebo effect” where a sick patient is cured of an ailment by tricking him into believing he’s been given medication to cure him when all he got was a pill filled with sugar. Basically, the patient is healed by the power of suggestion.

I’ve not seen it work myself, but I’ve seen plenty of evidence of the exact opposite. Of people falling sick simply through the power of suggestion. These “people” meaning ME. For example…

I have an assistant, Zara, who works in the house three times a week, from Monday to Wednesday. On the particular week in question, her tasks were restricted to a computer just a few feet from my drawing table where I spend my time drawing. Come the end of Wednesday, Ilyn points out how bad Zara’s cold is based on her sniffing and coughing.

Now I really didn’t notice that at all, engrossed I am with whatever it was I’m doing. I thought, wow, Zara has a cold? And she’s there just a few feet from me for three whole days? Obviously, I’m paranoid about being sick. Not because of becoming sick per se, but because I can lose time working, and it’s time I can’t afford losing.

I immediately felt like a cold was coming on. I suddenly felt my nose clogging, and my head started to throb a bit. I kid you not. I panicked and downed a couple of biogesics and braced myself. With Zara gone the following day, I felt better.

Now the other day I was watching CSI Las Vegas. I was at my desk drawing. One of the running subplots in the show was one of the CSIs, Nick Stokes, has a cold, and he’s coughing and sneezing all over the place. It was kind of distracting. With every sneeze he makes, I was like … “Holy crap!”

Astoundingly enough, just a few minutes later, I sort felt an itch in my throat, and by the time I went to bed, my throat was hurting and my nose was starting to clog. Now really, how can this even be possible, eh? It’s crazy eh? Well, here I am, still with a sore throat, trying desperately from getting a cold.

So what is this? Is there a technical term for what I’m having? Hypochondria? But I’m not fussy about keeping clean, or shaking hands with people, or playing with animals. I don’t worry about that kind of stuff. It’s just people having colds that drive me batty.

Comments

5 Responses to “Reverse Placebo?”

  1. auggie on May 23rd, 2008 10:54 am

    Naaahhh ! no cause for alarm. Baka mi mga allergens lang diyan sa work area ninyo, kaya try to vacuum it first, pero maglagay ka ng maskara. Si Zara naman baka sensitive din sa allergens, kaya umuubo.
    Be that is may, try to fortify yourself with vitamin C, siguro ,1,000 milligrams a day , sufficient na ?
    Kung meron na eh de mag chicken noodle soup ka and try to get sufficent sleep, say 10 hours, pwede na sa iyo ?

  2. Ed on May 23rd, 2008 12:15 pm

    I’m allergic to…girls I think. Hehehe.

    I rarely get cold. Kahit my bro’s been staying here for almost five days with a cold, I haven’t cought the virus. Kahit pag nasa parents ako where some kids have coughs and colds, I never get it. Knock on the wood, pero I rarely get fever or flu.

    Wag muna ngayon, wala pa akong pera para magkasakit. Hehehe.

    Sa isip lang yan, Gerry. *ha-choo!* *sniff snif*

  3. gilbert monsanto on May 23rd, 2008 5:04 pm

    Ako parang kabayo, minsan lang magkasakit pero matagal at malala haha.

    Baka naman empathic ka Gerry sa sakit nga lang hehe.

  4. Rod Samonte on May 24th, 2008 12:06 am

    Gerry,
    You are well, you don’t have a cold, and you are not sick. Just think of these words at magaling ka na, hehehe. If that fails, subukan mo ang sabi ni Auggie na 1000 milligrams a day of Vitamin C. Also I heard an herbal dietary supplement called AirBorne really works wonders, if that is available in the P.I. Also, don’t even go to Manila, the fumes and smog got me when I was there. Speaking of Zara, is she the same one who helped finish El Indio? And speaking of that, when is it going to be published? I already gave my brother the money to buy several copies, and my sister who lives with him, is here right now from Manila with no copies. She tells me my brother called up the Coching family and the response was there is no publisher yet. Hope you don’t get sicker with my complaint, hehehe.

    Ed,
    Knock on wood. I haven’t had the flu in more than 20 years… more knocks on wood. However, I have cold-like symptoms all the time, it’s not cold, it’s allergy. I take allergy tablets once in a while only, if its worst than usual, I don’t want to make it a habit by taking it everyday.
    Rod

  5. Jaime on May 24th, 2008 1:28 am

    Gerry,

    You don’t have a cold.
    You’re just watching TV too much. :)

    Now drink some water
    , get enough sleep
    and when you wake up…

    Get back to work! :D