The San Diego Union Tribune had an article by Melissa Healy on March 20, 2016: Titled: "Study: Acetaminophen no Help for Osteoarthritis Pain" So this means that very many people experiencing osteoarthritis who were taking acetaminophen were only possibly experiencing the placebo effect if they thought they felt better after taking the drug. The study was done in Switzerland, and was published in the journal Lancet. The same thing happened to me in the mid 1970s when I had severe neck pain, and was given ever larger doses of a drug called "Darvon" (see on Wikipedia). After 6 months of continuous pain, I finally went to a Chiropractor who "popped" my neck back into the correct position and the next day the pain went away. The following year, I learned that Darvon was shown to not reduce the pain from back or neck pain.
I can't fault the drug industry, the doctors, or the FDA. Everyone reacts differently to each drug, and since there probably aren't two sources of pain that are exactly identical, it is very difficult to test each medication against all sorts of pain.
It seems to me that everyone who is given a medicine should be given an application for their phone, which would remind them to take their pill, record when they do take the pills, and allow them to record any changes in their symptoms or pain in some regular, routine schedule. Then, the drug manufacturer, the patient's doctor, and the FDA would have, in effect, "crowd sourced" information about how well the medication worked in each unique situation.
The study did show that diclofenac, naproxen, and ibuprofen did have some effect in reducing pain, but at recommended doses that sounded very high.
I can't fault the drug industry, the doctors, or the FDA. Everyone reacts differently to each drug, and since there probably aren't two sources of pain that are exactly identical, it is very difficult to test each medication against all sorts of pain.
It seems to me that everyone who is given a medicine should be given an application for their phone, which would remind them to take their pill, record when they do take the pills, and allow them to record any changes in their symptoms or pain in some regular, routine schedule. Then, the drug manufacturer, the patient's doctor, and the FDA would have, in effect, "crowd sourced" information about how well the medication worked in each unique situation.
The study did show that diclofenac, naproxen, and ibuprofen did have some effect in reducing pain, but at recommended doses that sounded very high.
