Michael Regilio

speaker

2,071 appearances 9 recordings 1 series first heard Nov 2024 last heard 12 Jul

Michael Regilio’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The Jordan Harbinger Show · 1085: Traditional Chinese Medicine | Skeptical Sunday · 1 Dec 2024 podcast

Not anymore. Okay, look, we need to understand if the act of needles stabbing the skin does something real, like tangible and scientifically provable, or is it just all placebo?

Yeah, it's awesome. In fact, in researching this episode, I came across several full-throated defenses of the placebo effect by some of the most reputable institutions in medicine. One article from Harvard Medical School was the one that really set me straight on placebos, particularly when it comes to pain management. Pain is in the brain.

Ooh, that is dangerously close to a Cypress Hill lyric, I think. That it is. And I may be insane in the membrane, but the fact of the matter is the way our brain perceives the messages from pain receptors is pain. That's just what pain is.

So if placebos convince our brains to release endorphins, which relieve pain, the pain relief is as real as if you'd taken a pharmaceutical drug without the risks of taking pharmaceutical drugs. Hey, placebos, like seriously, no disrespect. I get you.

Yeah. So it actually, this is where it gets murky because serious professionals who I respect haven't ruled out that causing micro injuries might be triggering an immune response or sending anti-inflammatory proteins and other infection fighting and wound healing chemicals to these micro injured areas.

Yeah. Some also propose that these micro injuries might, and you said it, increase blood flow to the area or might activate nerve receptors. Like they're still hypothesizing about it, but there's not a lot of evidence. Gotcha. Yeah. And you're still using the word might quite a bit. Yeah, look, in this case, might definitely doesn't make right. So what if they haven't ruled it out?

They also haven't ruled it in. Reputable people do wonder if acupuncture is doing something more than the placebo effect. But the fact is, all the evidence suggests that on a neurological level, it's treating pain just like a placebo does. So for pain relief, it sounds like acupuncture gets a solid maybe. Yeah, I don't know.

I'd go so far as to say a solid yes for pain treatment, as long as you believe. For skeptics, I couldn't help but wonder if the placebo effect is less or even null. That might be the study we're looking for. That's the control group. I'd be interested to see in believers versus skeptics.

Look, I don't believe in much either, but I am really determined to find out. And a lot of people have been working with acupuncture. In fact, in 2009, the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence... That is one of the most British-sounding names ever. Yeah. Look, Jordan, they still have a king. Everything over there is the royal this or the excellency that.

So in 2009, the United Kingdom's National Institute for Clinical Excellence did recommend acupuncture for back pain. But I have to keep saying this, back pain is weird. Specialists have long understood there's a very real mental element to overcoming it.

Just for comparison, I looked up what our National Institute of Health has to say about acupuncture, and I found what they were saying on the subject on their website to be kind of like how polite atheists talk about religion. They were like, it's good for some people, and sure, you can't prove it, but hey, people aren't dumb for believing it, that's fine.

Yeah, you said for some people acupuncture is effective. Okay, sure. It's effective-ish. But for certain things, it can assertively be said it's not effective. And here's the thing. Acupuncture makes a lot of claims. Let's shut a few of those down. Yeah, let's do that. Claims such as...

Okay, the evidence strongly suggests it is not effective for rheumatoid arthritis, stopping smoking, irritable bowel syndrome, losing weight, addiction, asthma, stroke, tinnitus, or thinking you're Napoleon Bonaparte or whatever else they are claiming it works on.

You might say that's like the Dumbo's feather effect. And you asked if it does any harm, though. And I guess that all depends on how you feel about, say, death. Because in extremely rare cases, it can be fatal. I found examples of it. Though, in fairness, the only cases of death I came across were not in the US.

But a really strange one instance that I found was in rural China, in which it said that the needles punctured the person's organs, right?

Yeah, it was shocking to me. But the fact of the matter is soreness, bruising, infection, those can happen anywhere. And they do happen very often as a result from acupuncture in whatever country you receive it in. But for the most part, it's pretty darn safe here in the U.S.,

I would like to see their certification because most states require a master's degree in acupuncture and Eastern medicine. And then there's the state exams and the actual certification process. So yes, it is a process.

Absolutely not. A few states, when I say that you have to get the certification, in a few states, there is no certifications. Only doctors and nurse practitioners are allowed to administer acupuncture. In Oklahoma, they allow chiropractors. Plus, the needles are highly regulated by the federal government.

They are coming out of sterile packages for one use only, unless you go to the place you went to.

Yes. In fact, I am not trying to belittle acupuncturists. I've been to a few. They were lovely people. I even allowed students to practice on me at an accredited college here in LA.

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