Blind tests in Parkinson's .Who knows what is going on .?

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Blind testing the very thought of it makes me wonder just how much of this is going on. Just how far and for how long this could go for , on till he or she get the answer they want . I think this could be happening to me .I am willing to take part in any thing which I have the rite to drop out if I am not happy . The blind testing would not give me this rite . I would not know I was part of a study and how far would some nutter go to prove a point.

Question would they tell a study, if they ask ?

[ldq1997]

What is a blind test anyway?

[Pete-1 in reply to ldq1997]

A blind test is where the person taking a new drug in a trial does not know whether or not tablet they are taking is a placebo or not. If they knew then this can skew the results.

A double blind trial is where neither the person taking the drug or the person administering it doesn't know either..

If a new drug trial is not conducted using double blind testing then even if the person dealing out the tablets says nothing about whether they are giving the real drug or a placebo, there is still some subtle communication between both tester and administrator.

This is because most of what passes between two people is via body language, volume and tone of voice and perhaps smell.

The words used in conversation between 2 constitute only about 7%. The remaining 93% is via the aformentioned body language etc.

Any trilal not using at least double blind testing is not really worth its salt. The rigor needed to provide any degree of proof for whatever is under test is missing and should be taken very lightly.

[beauxreflets]

I beg to differ Pete-1 The changes I am getting via BocowoA are worth their weight in gold

Power of smell restored, more even mobility, better muscle tone, the return of feeling to a numb area (left from surgery many years ago) - the list goes on, and the tremor in the arm getting less and softer each new day (when my spine is straight and joints not under pressure)

If the remedy was not seen to be working and not making me feel a whole lot better, I would be back on the prescribed levodopa drugs I had been taking for years.

I do agree though that BocowoA should be tested to see if others get the same good response, and remain disappointed, that interest in this alternative treatment towards making it available for others still wanes.

[Pete-1 in reply to beauxreflets]

Hello beauxreflets,

It is marvellous that you are able to derive so much benefit from this, what I assume, is a herbal remedy. But that is irrelevant to the type of testing that enables meaningful results, that are reproducible and can be shown to be free from bias of any kind

If this treatment is found to be efficacious to the majority via a double blind trial (or better) then all the better for that and some progress may therefore be declared.

Otherwise the evidence remains anecdotal and has no firm foundation in science. Proper testing is a requirement to change the status of this treatment and any active reagents should be isolated and tested further. Otherwise results may be confounded by ignorance of the thousands of other chemicals in the herb and makes for unfathomable and unpredictable results. At least with normal drug based treatments there are only a relatively few chemicals to consider.

In short, your story is fine but it is not based upon science and so the results that you present only go a very little way in that direction. If your treatment is true and valuable then there can be no argument against a scientific approach including the rigor and discipline of proper widely accepted testing methods.

Let the light of scientific methods illuminate the truth or falsehood of this treatment.

Anyway your personal experience is of interest and I look forward to your next postings on this matter.

[beauxreflets in reply to Pete-1]

Hi Peter,

I hope science will illuminate the 'what is and why' I am seeing the changes by utilising BocowoA, but I have my doubts that it will ever do so.

After all, can science alter the component of water finitely and sufficient to separate and identify the spectrum of the rainbow into its separate colours. The shape and tone in synapse may be the zest and the cohesive aspect of the reaction from all the right components that will vary within each genetic variant.

I do hope some funding and interest will however materialise to get the ball rolling as I can do little more to take this onto the next stages in science on my own.

Regards

Andy