For stories like this, people always predictably discuss how ethical it is for doctors to knowingly prescribe placebos for stories and how different interventions have different impacts.
If placebo alone can't cure anything and only gives mild pain relief, I'm surprised nobody mentions it's overhyped.
> Placebo effects are strongest for patient self-reported subjective symptoms (classically, pain) and weakest for objective clinical signs measured by experienced observers.
My point is people seem to discuss placebo with an implied assumption that the effect is so big it's worth e.g. discussing the ethics of prescribing it. If it's only giving mild pain relief I don't see why it's that interesting.
And you're misrepresenting Homeopathy--that's not the principle on which it operates.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/surgery-is-one-hell-of-...
Isn't this just showing the supposed real surgery doesn't work? I don't see how this is showing placebo has an impressive effect.
To be honest, we are actively hacking our body when using hormone replacement therapy. Strange things are bound to happen. Skipping a dose of estrogen can trick the body into triggering PMS like symptoms, etc.