Yes- if you are in pain and you take a painkiller that you believe is ineffective, you will experience less pain relief.
One interesting example is to compare pain management after surgery in the U.S. versus Europe. Opioids are prescribed for post-operative pain something like 10x more commonly in the U.S. than in Europe. In Europe, often the combination of ibuprofen (or other NSAIDs) and paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the only pain medication given after surgery. In the U.S., if you just give ibuprofen and acetaminophen, most post-operative patients will report uncontrolled pain, and will require opioids to get it under control.
It has been suggested that one factor at play here is a cultural nocebo effect in the U.S. towards non-opioid pain medications, i.e., belief that they are "weak" pain killers that could not possibly be effective for post-operative pain since they are generally used for "mild" everyday aches and pains.
c3fepime t1_ismsrde wrote
Reply to comment by PvtDeth in Does a reverse placebo exist? by Nearby-Cloud-3476
Yes- if you are in pain and you take a painkiller that you believe is ineffective, you will experience less pain relief.
One interesting example is to compare pain management after surgery in the U.S. versus Europe. Opioids are prescribed for post-operative pain something like 10x more commonly in the U.S. than in Europe. In Europe, often the combination of ibuprofen (or other NSAIDs) and paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the only pain medication given after surgery. In the U.S., if you just give ibuprofen and acetaminophen, most post-operative patients will report uncontrolled pain, and will require opioids to get it under control.
It has been suggested that one factor at play here is a cultural nocebo effect in the U.S. towards non-opioid pain medications, i.e., belief that they are "weak" pain killers that could not possibly be effective for post-operative pain since they are generally used for "mild" everyday aches and pains.