I’m a bit chagrined. A medical professional I know told me the tiredness I felt about 4 p.m. yesterday was not a crash from droplets of vitamin B12 wearing off but instead the dreaded placebo effect.
The best studies are double-blind, meaning neither doctors nor study participants know whether they have received a trial medicine or a placebo — often a sugar pill. Those who receive the placebo sometimes experience effects similar to those who receive medication.
UCLA even has an institute dedicated to researching the placebo effect. The UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in 2005 published a study in the journal “Neuropsychopharmacology” that examined susceptibility to antidepressant side effects.
According to an institute press release, the study was the first to link brain function and medication side effects, and to show a relationship between brain function changes during brief placebo changes and later side effects during treatment with medication.
The study compared brain function changes in healthy research subjects with no history of depression while taking an antidepressant versus placebo.
Researchers found changes in brain function in the prefrontal region during the one-week placebo “lead-in” were related to side effects in subjects who received an antidepressant, according to the release.
I’m not sure if the study makes my point, but it sounds interesting. Widely cited research from the institute in 2002 showed a number of placebo-receiving, depressed subjects reacted similarly to those who received antidepressants.
Whoa.
The way I see it, whether my brain goes AWOL, pumping endorphins out because that’s what it’s supposed to do, or the spray actually works, I guess I’m indifferent. But I can’t say I’m surprised. On the other hand, I’m not totally convinced this stuff doesn’t have some kind of effect somehow.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
October 10th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Well, my doctor “prescribed” a high-dose B12 pill for me when I couldn’t completely kick a cold I was recovering from. I didn’t really expect for it to work, but within a day I felt much better and more energetic, after struggling for a couple of weeks with fatigue and that “sick” feeling. Is it still the placebo effect if you’re not expecting it to work? My doctor, at any rate, thought there was something to taking B12. I’ve also heard they give shots of it to people in the military who are sick. Hmm.