The Patient Whisperers' Podcast

This is episode # 04 of The Patient Whisperers’ podcast. The one where Marc and Roger...

Discuss the environment they work in and how to utilize the chaos and noise to their advantage while helping their patients. Also, in this episode, they give the gift of a bedside relaxation session.

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This is episode # 03 of The Patient Whisperers’ podcast. The one where Marc and Roger...

Discuss Utilization, using the tools already in the room to be better at the bedside and the Stethoscope Relaxation Induction.

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*Special Episode Part Two* Supporting our fellow brothers and sisters on the frontlines battling COVID 19 during this pandemic.
The last episode was so overwhelmingly received that we wanted to follow up with another special episode to help our brothers and sisters cope with the stress of caring for our COVID 19 patients and dealing with the isolation that has become our "new normal".
Please share this with as many healthcare professionals as possible to allow them to receive this gift of relaxation and immunity-boosting session.
Contact us with your requests for subjects you want us to talk about or let us know about your great stories of using Verbal Medicine at your facility!
www.patientwhisperers.com
Stay Safe!
Marc and Roger,
The Patient Whisperers

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*Special episode to support our brothers and sisters joining us on the front lines fighting the COVID 19 pandemic.
Today, we’re talking about the Correlation and Interdependence of Stress and the Immune system and we, The Patient Whisperers, are honored to provide a special gift to our brothers and sisters in the healthcare profession as we all work together on the front lines caring for the whole nation in these unprecedented times.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/

Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry

Suzanne C. Segerstrom and Gregory E. Miller

In mammals, these responses include changes that increase the delivery of oxygen and glucose to the heart and the large skeletal muscles. The result is physiological support for adaptive behaviors such as “fight or flight.” Immune responses to stressful situations may be part of these adaptive responses because, in addition to the risk inherent in the situation (e.g., a predator), fighting and fleeing carries the risk of injury and subsequent entry of infectious agents into the bloodstream or skin. Any wound in the skin is likely to contain pathogens that could multiply and cause infection (Williams & Leaper, 1998). Stress-induced changes in the immune system that could accelerate wound repair and help prevent infections from taking hold would, therefore, be adaptive and selected along with other physiological changes that increased evolutionary fitness.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10204970

Psychological stress, cytokine production, and severity of upper respiratory illness.

Cohen S1, Doyle WJ, Skoner DP.

OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this study is to assess the role of psychological stress in the expression of illness among infected subjects and to test the plausibility of local proinflammatory cytokine production as a pathway linking stress to illness.

METHODS:

After completing a measure of psychological stress, 55 subjects were experimentally infected with an influenza A virus. Subjects were monitored in quarantine daily for upper respiratory symptoms, mucus production, and nasal lavage levels of interleukin (IL)-6.

RESULTS:

Higher psychological stress assessed before the viral challenge was associated with greater symptom scores, greater mucus weights, and higher IL-6 lavage concentrations in response to infection. The IL-6 response was temporally related to the two markers of illness severity, and mediation analyses indicated that these data were consistent with IL-6 acting as a major pathway through which stress was associated with increased symptoms of illness. However, this pattern of data is also consistent with increases in IL-6 occurring in response to tissue damage associated with illness symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS:

Psychological stress predicts a greater expression of illness and an increased production of IL-6 in response to an upper respiratory infection.

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Welcome to the second season of The Patient Whisperers’ podcast, I’m Marc Sacco and I’m Roger Woods and we are your guides on the entertaining and informative journey into the world of...Verbal Medicine, The Language of Healing. Today, we’re talking about the effects of negative language on patient recovery and the health nocebos used by every healthcare professional and what we can do to stop doing it.
The study cited: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5639717/

Nocebo effects in clinical studies: hints for pain therapy

Regine Klinger, Maxie Blasini, Julia Schmitz, and Luana Colloca
Selected passages:
Neurobiological studies have revealed great similarities between the molecular basis of drug action and the related placebo responses, suggesting that a placebo can partially replace the verum and enhance its effects.

For example, a pioneering study reported that of 15 patients receiving lumbar puncture who were told to expect a headache afterward, 7 experienced headaches. By contrast, of the 13 patients who were not warned about the possibility to have a headache, none experienced such side effects. The authors concluded that “patients should not be told to expect a headache, as this may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Also, in a randomized controlled study, the effects of verbal suggestions have been investigated during the administration of epidural anesthesia for labor pain. Women were informed about the procedure using 2 styles of framing: “We are going to give you a local anesthetic that will numb the area and you will be comfortable during the procedure” or “You are going to feel a big bee sting; this is the worst part of the procedure.” Women who were informed through the positive-framing technique reported significantly less pain than those informed through the negative-framing style for the same procedure.

Nocebo effects could be prompted by knowledge of adverse effects related to the use of pharmacological drugs, and could potentially last for long periods of time. A study performed by Mondaini et al37 investigated the sexual side effects associated with treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia with finasteride (5 mg) by informing patients through 2 different disclosure styles. Randomization of patients into the 2 groups occurred after the treatment was described as having proven efficacy for managing benign prostatic hyperplasia. One of the groups was provided with information regarding uncommon but potential sexual side effects, specifically naming erectile dysfunction, decreased libido and problems with ejaculation, while the other group was not informed about such effects. At 6- and 12-month follow-ups, a significant difference between reported sexual side effects was observed between the 2 disclosure groups. Of the group informed about the sexual side effects, 43.6% reported sexual dysfunction compared to 15.3% in the noninformed group.

Informed consent practices may be inadvertently inducing nocebo effects by triggering negative expectancies through the explanation of possible adverse effects related to medication use. Thus, it calls for a need to balance the ethical principles of protecting the patient's autonomy and right-to-know, with the poss

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