slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (12/04/85)
> >Incidently, no one has ever proved the familar anti-diarrheal, Kaopectate, >works clinically, indeed pharmacologically there is no reason why it should, >but it continues to sell very well anyway because people think it works, & >MD's order it for their patients 'cause their patients think it works, and >everyone's happy, more or less. >John Gurian Except when they're swallowing it--Yuck! I've always thought that people think it works because it tastes so terrible. Something that awful MUST be medicine. It's also a good test of how sick you feel. I only want to take it if I think I'm dying. -- Sue Brezden ihnp4!drutx!slb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To search for perfection is all very well, But to look for heaven is to live here in hell. --Sting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (12/05/85)
>Incidently, no one has ever proved the familar anti-diarrheal, Kaopectate, >works clinically, indeed pharmacologically there is no reason why it should, >but it continues to sell very well anyway because people think it works, & >MD's order it for their patients 'cause their patients think it works, and >everyone's happy, more or less. >John Gurian That's quite a strong statement! Saying that no one has ever proved something implies that you have read all the medical literature in the world! Perhaps someone with more knowledge can comment one way or another. How about it, Craig?
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (12/08/85)
> >Incidently, no one has ever proved the familar anti-diarrheal, Kaopectate, > >works clinically, indeed pharmacologically there is no reason why it should, > >but it continues to sell very well anyway because people think it works, & > >MD's order it for their patients 'cause their patients think it works, and > >everyone's happy, more or less. > >John Gurian > > That's quite a strong statement! Saying that no one has ever proved > something implies that you have read all the medical literature in > the world! > > Perhaps someone with more knowledge can comment one way or another. > How about it, Craig? Oh, puhlleease, Andrew! First, I believe Gurian is either an MD or a medical student, and as such has as many credentials as anyone else, including our favorite med student, Craig. Also, it's true that controlled studies on kaolin/pectin mixtures show very little efficacy over placebos in most diarrheas. You don't have to read all the medical literature in the world to state that, just the few reports of controlled studies. Any pharmacology textbook will state this fact, and give references. I might mention in this regard that Pepto Bismol, a suspension of bismuth subsalicylate, was long thought to be in the same category as Kaopectate: simply an old, icky nostrum foisted off on consumers. It turns out that the pink stuff is actually quite effective in preventing and treating most cases of traveller's diarrhea, although no one yet knows why. It may be that the salicylate is released in the colon and acts against the bacteria which cause this syndrome, or perhaps it binds to the toxin which produces the diarrhea. Anyway, in THIS instance, controlled studies showed that Pepto Bismol was effective. I don't know whether it's as effective in most ordinary, non-traveller's diarrheas. -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA