Will the Pill Really Make it All Better
Posted July 6, 2008
Jennifer Buettner came up with the idea of marketing a placebo (sugar pill) medicine for kids while she was caring for her young niece who was not feeling well. Her niece was laying it on a little thick and had an obvious case of hypochondria when Buettner was told by a relative to give her niece some Motrin since she believed it was the most benign thing to give.
Buettner found it unnecessary to give real medicine to her niece and decided it would be a great idea for parents to have the option of handing out sugar pills when their kids were exaggerating an illness. She calls her pills Obecalp (Placebo spelled backwards) and will be selling them by the bottle (50 pills) on her website for around $6 a bottle. She plans on coming up with a liquid form of the sugar pill as well.
As expected by Buettner there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Obecalp. Dr. Howard Brody, a medical ethicist and family physician, believes the continual use of placebo pills during childhood can be harmful. Brody says, “Kids grow up thinking that the only way to get better is by taking a pill.” Brody adds that kids may never learn that scraped knees and colds can improve on their own.
Buettner defends her product by saying she is not promoting drug use with Obecalp. She adds that “the over prescription of drugs is a serious problem, and I think there needs to be an alternative.” Buettner believes her pill can reduce potential harms from unnecessary medicines.
What do you think of Jennifer Buettner’s placebo pill for children?
Is this something you would offer your children when and if the need arose?
48 Comments
I find it very irresponsible to offer a placebo to a child. You can't leave it up to intuition if a child is REALLY sick. My personal experience was a rapid virus that almost took my oldest son's life. Had I have given him "fake" medicine he wouldn't be alive today!
A hug and a talk are my "cup of tea" as a "cure" . Proceed from there.
We all think we know hat isbest for our children, rule of thumb if it concerns you then call a doctor. Each child is different, so each case is different. My son is sick and unless you knew he had a tumor i nthe center of his brain you would think he was a normal child.. Case in Point,,,, each child is different...
I do not agree with this at all. There are certain symptoms that may not seem like they are serious in the beginning stages that may be the start of something serious. I do not think giving children a "sugar pill" is not a good alernative to the over prescription of drugs to children. I tend to use a warm bath and rest as an alternative.
don't we have enough kids as well as adults who take all kinds of things to make them feel better, I think if we talked more to aour kids we would find they didnot have as many fake illnesses, but need a hud and a warm glass of milk or even a cup of chicken soup. Worked wonders for my kids and grandkids
Is this really sending the right message? I think a hug and sitting down to really listen to the child is a much better solution than giving them a placebo, which only sends the message that medication cures it all.
Any time a child says thaey don't feel well it should be taken seriously. If you think your child may just be looking for attention them give them some and you may find out that they truely are sick. Do we really want to teach kids that a pill can make everything okay? I know i don't want to
I'm not in favor of passing out pills placebo or otherwise. I feel this society is inundated with pills for everything. We don't need another reason to pass out a pill, if your child is just needing some extra attention, the best way to overcome their "illness" is to spend time with them and engage them in some one on one or an activity that they can get interested in. I don't want to teach children to reach for pills everytime there is something "wrong".
I am not in favor of giving kids pills for every little thing, but after having a child who is a hypocondriac I would have loved to have it. My oldest (now 19) would often claim she was sick when she just needed attention. I would have loved to give her a sugar pill and send her off to school.
I think giving a sugar pill to a kid is wrong. I mean kids aren't dumb and what happens if their allergic to it becouse the manunfacture didn't give you the right product. More and more children are allergic to more medicine than anything. I don't belive in giving kids pills for a hang nail. how ever for medical reasons I do like asthma. I know a ton of my friends that have kids. I don't have kids. however I have read a lot of articals on medication use on children and adults. and kids don't cry for attention there is something wrong or they tell you they don't what to go to school something is wrong.
I mean the wrong product
I think I wouldn't try this with my kids but they don't usually exaggerate when it comes to being sick. I do know people who have kids that do make exaggerate and I think this might not be such a bad idea for them.
THIS IS REDICULOUS!!! How many times have you been to the doctor with a REAL concern and he/she decided that your complaint wasn't serious enough for him/her to treat or diagnos so you ended up suffering needlessly. Not to mention that if you give your child even a fake pill that is setting them up to think that pills or drugs are a good way to fix whatever ailes them. Hope the inventor of this doesn't have a child who feels that since his/her mommy gives them a pill every time they feel sick that they will feel just as safe or inclined to take pills offered by their friends to "feel better".
Uhhh a sugar pill? Don't kids aready have enough sugar? What if they are developing diabetes and are having a issue..and give them sugar. That's kind of DUMB if you ask me. If a child is truly ill, they will tell you and you would know. Common sense says...take your kid to the doctor. Another point is that you may be setting your kid up- if they are small and need a "placebo" to encourage them to feel better what will happen when they are teenagers..... do drugs so they feel better.....here in California Medical Marijuana is legal . So here is the scenario....Jennifer Buettner's child at 15: Oh I don't feel well.....maybe I should smoke a joint.
This idea is just a ridiculous thought .Pills , pills, pills, that is not the answer.That just makes you into a pill junkie . Why push pills on a child , thats just likea drug pusher to make them feel better .This idea is a most dangerous idea .Let the person that thought this up give it to her or his kids , MINE ? no thank you !!!
Clearly this will send the wrong message to children. A pill will never make everything better. I think this country already has a bad enough drug problem, this seems like it could be a stepping stone to bigger problems.
I think it could cause children to grow up thinking that a pill or liquid medicine is the cure for everything. Bad idea. A kiss, hug or a cute bandaid cure most small things.
If you are a good fit, I think it is a wonderful solution for a lot of women's problems, but you need to assess if you are really a good candidate for the pill.
Kinda silly, ain't it?? As many years as i've had raising kids, i've found one sure thing, u can't always be sure when they're "faking" an illness. I've come to trust what they say about how they feel. With no fevor, or any symtoms have had a child say they don't feel well... and lo and behold the next thing u know they're vomiting, or spiking a high temp. Trying to take a child's attention off the problem by changing the subject to something they find interesting (school, toys, board games) gives me time to just keep a careful eye on the situation. And No, wouldn't even consider giving a "fake" pill! There are so many creative ways to better handle the case of the fake sick child.
I think that giving kids this pill will teach them that drugs are the answer to our ailments. it is a pharmaceutical world out there... but there are better cures than pills. let's teach our kids how to live healthy lifestyles and avoid becoming ill (such as proper hand washing and avoiding things like certain foods that make us feel yucky).
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It's all about the money, isn't it? This is the most rediculous thing I've ever heard. Knowing your own child and talking to them and giving them a hug when needed is the best action to take. Calling your doctor when concerned about your child is always a step in the right direction. I say stay away form these junk pills.
This is rediculus, a hug and kiss and some time with mom & dad or other should be the best medicine. It teaches children they 'need' to take something to feel better. Not Good.
Wow... I think,NO. This is almost a no brainer as you can see from a majority of the people that posted. You don't give your children fake medicine and you don't encourage your child to fix things with a pill. This is riddled with the wrong messages for children. No to mention I don't believe that their psyche is even ready for the placebo trick.
That's the basic standard of behavioral conditioning. Pavlov what do you think?
I have read alot of great advice here, but form my own history with my 5 year old. TV commerials have convinced him that if you give him a pill or medicine of some kind the next thing you see is a happy bouncy kid. The commercial tell him that medicine cures all. Now every time he eats to much or something that doesn't agree he wants a TUM like on TV. Or if he gets a headache from jumping and playing to hard in the heat he wants some medicine. I try to distract him, or give him something cool to drink even a popcicle, but he knows that on TV only medicine work. Even the Nick Jr. web site has ad's for some type of medicine or another. So for some children such as mine when they are convinced that the only way to get better is medicine I have to admit that I to have tricked him with a child's vitiam or 2. But every were I turn on childrens programing via tv or the internet, there it is medicine will fix it all.
A little bit of tough love through humor may be good way to take a child's mind off of a minor boo boo. Make sure you know the child well, and that the child knows that you have a sense of humor. This isn't meant to scare the child, but to make him/her laugh at the silliness of a suggestion to fix something small by reacting in a big, over-the-top way.
I often introduce the idea on myself first, "Ow, Mommy has a hang nail, should I go get a knife to cut off my whole finger... or just use a nail file?" This way a child can see that exaggerated solutions aren't neccesary for small problems. A good life lesson for putting things into perspective and for using laughter as the best medicine.
When a child comes up and starts to whine about a little scratch on his/her finger, one might say, "Well help me find a pair of sissors and we'll just cut it off so it won't hurt anymore." He'll/she'll start to go with you, thinking that you're getting ready to go look for medicine or a Band-aid, then stop suddently when he/she actually LISTENS to what you are saying. A child usually will stop, giggle, then say "No, that won't work. That's silly."
Then I offer some "Kiss medicine" and a hug, and with a giggle the child is on his/her way.
Once again, only do this with children you know well that know adults can be silly, so that it won't freak them out.
Grandma offer a spoon of caster oil...insisted on it if you were staying home from school. I went to school not feeling tip top just to avoid the caster oil...who needs a sugar pill. Bring back the caster oil!
Well said, UCmba97. I agree with you 100%.
Most young kids do not complain unless something is wrong. It may not be a physical ailment but perhaps a mental or emotional problem. I could see where placebo pill would help in some cases but the Dr would need to use this case by case gathering all the information carefully before prescribing
I just cannot believe this! America is the most medicated nation in the world. Why would we do this? Our children will turn into a bunch of neurotics!
I hate to disagree from the majority here, but I don't think this is as ridiculous as some people think. I would never advocate using a placebo as a regular "cure" for every ailment, but every once in a while when it's clear that a child is over-exaggerating to get out of chores, homework, school, or just to get attention, I don't see that it could be that harmful. I do, however, think it's very important for parents to stress to their children that they need to be honest about how they are feeling, and that lying, hiding or exaggerating about an issue could have serious consequences.
Why not just tell them no? Or teach them what is necessary for each situation. Giving into them when they are pretending to be sick only makes them pretend more. So, my answer would be no to the 'sugar pill' because if people abuse prescription drugs then, they will most likely abuse a 'sugar pill.'
Unless you have a medical degree--or are a talented/experienced healer/herbalist etc--it is a huge level of irresponsibility.... As well it leaves a child on a mental/emotional level to suppose that taking a pill cures all--what about proper diet/expercise etc....even that the child could be looking for a degree of emotional comfort and must "make up" an illness to get attention from the parent....how about a hug and a kiss...or listening to them if they are emotionally upset....emotions affect the body and health...
As a pharmacist, I have to say this is probably not a good idea. If you give a child placebos during childhood, wouldn't one think that they will grow up as adults thinking pills fix everything? Would be interesting to see a study on this "placebo in children" and how it plays out in adulthood.
wow..soo much negativity here about this. I would use it in certain cases. I use comfort and love and attention and sometimes they need just a little bit more so a placebo would be grod to have. Granted, nobody would want to set the bottle out for free dosing, but sometimes kids need just a little something. I know there have been times when I go for the tylenol when I don't REALLY need it.
Everything being said, couldn't a parent use almost anything as a placebo? This 'sugar pill' is great in theory (if ALL parents were responsible enough to use it). But, unfortunately, they are not. It will be abused because it is an 'easy fix' for parents who don't take the time to stop and find a better solution.
if you can tell that there is nothing really wrong with them, then why give them anything at all? do we know the side effects of these "sugar pills"? they could be hurting those children. if a child is exaggerating, tell them to suck it up and send them on their way..dont dope them up
If you start children off early taking "medicine" to help with their minor illness your paving the road for problems. Kids need to learn to cope with a little sickness and not to just reach for a quick remedy. This is really irresponsible her.
i agree. this is irresponsible and lazy. kids are already over-medicated as it is--we send the message that anything bad (or even just DIFFERENT) can be fixed with a pill. there are other ways to soothe kids' booboos and tummy aches than with a pill. we had a booboo bunny at my house--just an ice cube wrapped up in a washcloth shaped like a bunny--and it did wonders to make all sorts of ailments feel better. kids want the attention, not the medicine. chicken soup, a popsicle, or even a backrub and a kiss make them feel amazingly better. and i think it's awful for parents to start a pattern of habitually lying to children.
Whoa, a placebo! What a great idea1 I wish I had thought of that. She will probably make a million! NOT a good idea for children, however. They should NOT have the hypochondriac mentality at such a young age. And if they do, they probably need counseling, not a pill! But maybe for your hypochondriac husband or relative???
Wow - looks like the no vote took this one...
Coming from a family where most of us didn't take medicine until we absolutely needed it, I probably wouldn't use this product either.
But as long as its not something you RELY on, or a solution you go to right away, I don't think it's *wrong*. Any solution that is overplayed is dangerous, but why not use it to sense the severity of a child's illness. If the placebo is given and the symptoms remain, call a doctor. If the placebo is given and the issue goes away, let it be.
Just don't over do it.
Isn't this pushing pills!? Do you want your child to be a pill popper? You don't give medicine just because a child "thinks" they are sick. You give it when they are! That is the grown-ups responsibility to decide. It all starts at home! Look to the future - do you want your child popping oxy's for pain because Tylenol just isn't enough - or so they "think"!? NO PLACEBO, NO WAY!
No, I'm totally against this because if a child is having these 'symptoms' that aren't real, then there are other ways we can talk them through it. I am NOT going to give my kid a backwards placebo pill just to shut her up. What's that teaching? That popping pills are for everything? NO! We rarely ever take medications or anything in my home. I won't start now!
When a child says he does not feel well and makes up symptoms there is usually and underlying reason for the "acting". Sometimes, a parent just needs to delve a little deeper and ask questions conducive to a good conversation. Popping a fake pill is NOT the answer.
Why make your child think that by giving them medicine they are getting better. Not only are you creating the placebo affect but you are confusing the child. What if they get "hooked" on these completey fake pills? Then what. You wont mind it because they do nothing but to them they do something, or you've made them think so. I believe in a hug and a kiss.
Why make your child think that by giving them medicine they are getting better. Not only are you creating the placebo affect but you are confusing the child. What if they get "hooked" on these completey fake pills? Then what. You wont mind it because they do nothing but to them they do something, or you've made them think so. I believe in a hug and a kiss.
Oh GOODY! Let's all rush out and fork over money to LIE to our kids! Aren't people in general irresponsible enough as it is? Kids fake and exaggerate illness for a very VERY good reason. We ignore them! Think about it, how many hours a day do we (as a society, not individuals) spend with our children? My daughter spends less than 1 waking hour interacting with her children. That's right, less than an hour. I'm a stay at home mom with a 6 and 8 year old. I spend 2 to three hours a day actively interacting with my boys. Guess what, that's a lot more than the average working parent, but it STILL ISN'T ENOUGH! It's a struggle to do the right thing but folks, take a look at the gangsters. When asked why they join the answer invariably is "I want to belong". Gee, shouldn't they "belong" to their families? Moms and Dads? You can't belong to people who are smoking pot, snorting crank, dropping endless drugs, WORKING OUTSIDE THE HOME, drinking alcohol, ON THE COMPUTER, WATCHING TV... get the picture? America is on the brink of disaster because the Christian ethics that Europeans came to America with were quickly obliterated by greed, sloth (look it up if you don't know what it means), pride, perversion, etc. First we destroyed the native people that we came into contact with, then we started in on the land, and now our children. What about honor, respect, wisdom, or perhaps most importantly, self control? We must have dropped in in the trash with the McDonald food wrappers. OH NO! Nearly forgot, we didn't drop that in the trash, we dumped it out the car window.
I think this is o.k. to an exent. I know many people from middle school who faked headaches every other day so they could stay home and then ended up getting horrible grades. I think if the child continues to complain even after the placebo, then you should take it seriously. But a lot of times with children/teens (I am only 19, so it wasn't too long ago I was in school) it is all in there head and/or they just want to get out of school. Example:How hard is it to fake a headache so you can get out of that Italian or Math test? I do not think this is good in every situation but in some it may benifit the child in the long run, so I think it should be used with caution.