Placebo

   [EDIT: 9/28/2020 8:41 PM - I made an addition to a Theory to try and account for why medications targeted at the mind are potentially all placebos.  Am hoping my insurance provider doesn't revoke my prescription drug plan.]

    I mentioned before I was going through...  something....  that seemed like schizophrenia on the surface.  I resisted taking any medication because I was sure it wasn't actual schizophrenia.

   My family was persistent about getting me to try one so I finally did.  I tried a couple.

   The first one worked well enough I guess.  The side effects made it difficult to fall asleep.  My thoughts would get stuck in a 10 to 15 second loop that would run for hours before I'd fall asleep.  It was kinda unpleasant.

   The second one worked better.  I won't give the name but it's advertised a lot on TV.  The information said it could take about 10 days before fully working.  At day 4 or 5 I noticed the things I was hearing had started to sputter.  And I mean literally sputter.  Then it sounded like someone was changing the radio station on an analog radio.  Channels were going in and out of focus and I was hearing something different on each.

   Let's just say I was suspicious about it.

   The information was accurate though.  On day 10 I didn't hear anything.  Just the normal sounds around me.  But my suspicions got to me and after a few more weeks I quit taking it.

   Here's where it got interesting.

   After a few days off the medication I started hearing what sounded like a word every so often.  Then I could hear what sounded like partial phrases or sentences.  Just a few days after that I was hearing the same things as before the medication.

   I waited 2 weeks before taking the medication again.  To say I was confused and surprised is an understatement.  Because an hour after taking the first tablet everything I was hearing stopped.

   Gone.

   Silence.

   Same medication.  Same box in my kitchen cabinet.

   I didn't take another one.  Yes, what I was hearing came back in a few hours.  So I waited 2 weeks and tried it again.

   No I wasn't watching a clock.  Yes, when it stopped again I looked at a clock and it had been 60 minutes since I took the tablet.

   It was a placebo.  But why in the world did my mind not go along with the 10 days to take effect the last 2 times?  If this is actual schizophrenia then a medication shouldn't be necessary.  If it's not actual schizophrenia then what was it?

   Was my hearing it some kind of choice?