B-100 Complex
May 17, 2012 3:11 PM Subscribe
I got this B-100 Complex from Costco that promotes energy and mental clarity. I took it for a week, every single day made so sleepy I even was afraid to drive. Does anyone has any idea why it has that effect when all the comments are so positives?
Best answer: PLEASE STOP TAKING IT
That said, "B-100 Complex" is not a very medically or chemically meaningful term and we can't really know what is in it. Is this the product that you mean?
B vitamins are just a collection of all of the water soluble chemicals that our bodies cannot produce but are in someway needed for cell metabolism. They have fundamentally different mechanisms of toxicity and fundamentally different effects when deficient. Assuming that you live in an industrialized nation, unless you have some risk factor for malnutrition such as alcoholism or pregnancy, taking B vitamins is not very likely to have a significant positive effect on your health. Saying that any particular formulation "promotes energy and mental clarity" is not only vague and unhelpful but pretty irresponsible at best.
That said, there are many people who find B vitamin complexes to have beneficial effects for them and it can be worth experimenting with. You've experimented with them and found them to have a significant negative effect on you, for a week, it sounds like its time to call the experiment a success and now know to never take it again.
posted by Blasdelb at 4:06 PM on May 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
That said, "B-100 Complex" is not a very medically or chemically meaningful term and we can't really know what is in it. Is this the product that you mean?
B vitamins are just a collection of all of the water soluble chemicals that our bodies cannot produce but are in someway needed for cell metabolism. They have fundamentally different mechanisms of toxicity and fundamentally different effects when deficient. Assuming that you live in an industrialized nation, unless you have some risk factor for malnutrition such as alcoholism or pregnancy, taking B vitamins is not very likely to have a significant positive effect on your health. Saying that any particular formulation "promotes energy and mental clarity" is not only vague and unhelpful but pretty irresponsible at best.
That said, there are many people who find B vitamin complexes to have beneficial effects for them and it can be worth experimenting with. You've experimented with them and found them to have a significant negative effect on you, for a week, it sounds like its time to call the experiment a success and now know to never take it again.
posted by Blasdelb at 4:06 PM on May 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Return them to costco and tell them they are defective. Not doing what it says on the tin. Having said that, I have never had an issue, nor noticed improvement, taking B-complex or multivitamins.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 4:47 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by JohnnyGunn at 4:47 PM on May 17, 2012
Either (a) you received a nocebo effect, unlike the placebo usually generated by medically unnecessary vitamins; (b) your sleepiness correlates with some other psychological or physiological factor, and you are confusing causation with correlation; or (c) the product is contaminated.
B vitamins have a negligible effect on your "mental clarity", one way or the other, unless you're suffering from pellagra, pernicious anemia, or some other serious deficiency.
posted by dontjumplarry at 4:51 PM on May 17, 2012
B vitamins have a negligible effect on your "mental clarity", one way or the other, unless you're suffering from pellagra, pernicious anemia, or some other serious deficiency.
posted by dontjumplarry at 4:51 PM on May 17, 2012
My experience with B vitamins is that they kind of rev me up, actually, and if I take it at night I don't feel like I sleep as deeply, and I remember/have stranger dreams. Is it possible you haven't been sleeping as well since you started taking it?
posted by shortyJBot at 6:34 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by shortyJBot at 6:34 PM on May 17, 2012
You could try taking them at a different time of day— morning if you've been taking them in the evening, or v.v.. But as blasdelb says, if they're not doing what you want, stop taking them.
(What do your pills actually contain? "B-100 Complex" is a pretty generic description— each maker will include a different cocktail of B vitamins, other vitamins, things that they thought were interesting, fads of the moment, floor sweepings, etc.)
posted by hattifattener at 8:50 PM on May 17, 2012
(What do your pills actually contain? "B-100 Complex" is a pretty generic description— each maker will include a different cocktail of B vitamins, other vitamins, things that they thought were interesting, fads of the moment, floor sweepings, etc.)
posted by hattifattener at 8:50 PM on May 17, 2012
I find B-12 in a high enough dose makes me hyperactive and unsettled. Maybe look for a B complex that has no or low B-12. Also, taking any kind of B vitamin too late in the day leads to crazy dreams for me.
posted by hifimofo at 10:27 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by hifimofo at 10:27 PM on May 17, 2012
Talk about getting it completely wrong! Let's reverse that advice.
Try finding a B complex with higher levels of B-12, or purchase B-12 separately. But watch out for the crazy dreams.
posted by hifimofo at 10:33 PM on May 17, 2012
Try finding a B complex with higher levels of B-12, or purchase B-12 separately. But watch out for the crazy dreams.
posted by hifimofo at 10:33 PM on May 17, 2012
B Complex is commonly used in Relaxation pills such as this one.. As Blasdelb says, taking B complex when you have no deficiency is unlikely to help you.
posted by vacapinta at 10:38 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by vacapinta at 10:38 PM on May 17, 2012
I think with a lot of vitamins and herbs the description on the tin describes the effects on MOST people. But reality is the effect on you depends on your body. So if you were already more alert and had more mental clarity than average, then taking the B1000 vitamins could slow you down (considerably by the sounds of it) whereas for someone who was sleepy or slow, it would make them more alert and think more clearly, like the package says. A bit like how anti depressants or birth control causes lots of women to gain weight but a few to lose it - the vitamins will bring you closer to average.
posted by EatMyHat at 2:26 PM on May 18, 2012
posted by EatMyHat at 2:26 PM on May 18, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
Take it at bedtime so you can sleep off the initial drowsiness. I suspect part of its magic is that it makes you sleep good.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:26 PM on May 17, 2012