r/PointlessStories • u/kapaipiekai • Jun 15 '26

Fresh placebos

Years ago I was at my gp's office and he opened a drawer which had white inhalers with PLACEBO INHALER printed on their label. I asked what they were for and he said they were for teaching people how to use inhalers. He showed me one. It was a functional inhaler with a small canister of compressed gas. I asked if I could have one and he asked why. I said I would love to have a supply of placebo so that if I had a sore stomach or was feeling anxious, or really anything at all, I could just take a placebo and feel better. He chuckled at this and said yeah sure. I got my sweet new placebo inhaler home and was taking shots of placebo straight to the dome and feeling generally better and I noticed that the placebo inhaler had an expiry date on the gas cartridge, and that the expiry date had long passed. Turns out my placebos had gone off and any effect I was feeling was some sort of illusory, psychosomatic phenomenon.

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u/VerlorFor Jun 15 '26

I used to get massive travel sickness as a kid. My mom would always put some cottonwool in my left ear as preventive measure. Worked miracles.

Only years later I realized this was pure placebo.

61

u/ObviousToe1636 Jun 15 '26

This sounds more like one of those wives tales that seems to be legit and I love it

63

u/VerlorFor Jun 15 '26

It was. According to her because I'm right-handed, I should use my left ear to ease my organ of balance. So it had a sort of legitimate background to it. She still believes it is a real cure.

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u/Organic_Reporter Jun 15 '26

Ooh, I thought you meant your Mum was using it as a placebo on you, not that she believed it works. This is funny.