Hi all
Hope someone can help please - I have read lots of posts on here after first hearing about methylation but am a bit wary of just jumping in to a protocol without advice. I must confess I am not an ME/CFS sufferer - although I have had adrenal issues in the past. I am a UK male, 35. I have got a bit of help on adrenal/digestion issues on other boards too, which is much appreciated.
I've been trying to work out some digestive issues (poor absorption suspected after low zinc and magnesium in blood test plus ongoing male fertility issues) and in doing so came across the concept of methylation. I had a standard UK blood test for B12/folate and the results were B12 level was 768ng/L, which appears to be pretty good. But my folate level was 22ug/L, which is apparently rather high. I have been on a Wellman Conception multivitamin for 2 years (which I've abandoned), which contains cyanocobalamin and folic acid. I have been trying to get MTHFR/homocysteine tests here in the UK and am awaiting having these as I see these are recommended.
In the meantime, after reading details on here I acquired Jarrow sublingual methyl b-12, which I've been taking for about 6 weeks at 1000mcg a day. All generally fine, although for a couple of days at the beginning I doubled the dose and got palpitations. I now take 1000mcg per day in the am plus one potassium pill (99mg).
A few weeks ago, I added in one (low dose?) pill of Quatrefolic Methylfolate (Dr's Best brand, 400mcg) - even though I'm not sure if I should if my blood folate levels were high - and tried this for 4 days. Each day I took it in the morning and then experienced severe insomnia that night. When I stopped it, sleep returned.
Finally, 2 weeks ago I also added B6 - initially 25mg standard Pyridoxine. This seemed ok. After a bit more reading, I swapped that for Biocare P5P (50mg) - which has made me unbelievably tired.
So now I'm confused and not sure what to do. Why was my folic acid level so high (my wife takes twice as much as me and hers is normal)? Is this the 'methyl trap' I've seen referenced on here - even if my serum B12 level seemed ok? Does anything explain why methylfolate makes me wide awake for hours and the P5P makes me half asleep? Is this temporary?
Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. My doctor is very kind but does not know anything about this so I'm having to research this myself and just want to ensure I don't do the wrong thing. I am working on improving my digestion in the meantime and take vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, CoQ10, amino acids, magnesium, fish oil etc. I am very keen not to cause my wife yet another miscarriage so hope that methylation is the key.
Thank you very much for your help.
Hope someone can help please - I have read lots of posts on here after first hearing about methylation but am a bit wary of just jumping in to a protocol without advice. I must confess I am not an ME/CFS sufferer - although I have had adrenal issues in the past. I am a UK male, 35. I have got a bit of help on adrenal/digestion issues on other boards too, which is much appreciated.
I've been trying to work out some digestive issues (poor absorption suspected after low zinc and magnesium in blood test plus ongoing male fertility issues) and in doing so came across the concept of methylation. I had a standard UK blood test for B12/folate and the results were B12 level was 768ng/L, which appears to be pretty good. But my folate level was 22ug/L, which is apparently rather high. I have been on a Wellman Conception multivitamin for 2 years (which I've abandoned), which contains cyanocobalamin and folic acid. I have been trying to get MTHFR/homocysteine tests here in the UK and am awaiting having these as I see these are recommended.
In the meantime, after reading details on here I acquired Jarrow sublingual methyl b-12, which I've been taking for about 6 weeks at 1000mcg a day. All generally fine, although for a couple of days at the beginning I doubled the dose and got palpitations. I now take 1000mcg per day in the am plus one potassium pill (99mg).
A few weeks ago, I added in one (low dose?) pill of Quatrefolic Methylfolate (Dr's Best brand, 400mcg) - even though I'm not sure if I should if my blood folate levels were high - and tried this for 4 days. Each day I took it in the morning and then experienced severe insomnia that night. When I stopped it, sleep returned.
Finally, 2 weeks ago I also added B6 - initially 25mg standard Pyridoxine. This seemed ok. After a bit more reading, I swapped that for Biocare P5P (50mg) - which has made me unbelievably tired.
So now I'm confused and not sure what to do. Why was my folic acid level so high (my wife takes twice as much as me and hers is normal)? Is this the 'methyl trap' I've seen referenced on here - even if my serum B12 level seemed ok? Does anything explain why methylfolate makes me wide awake for hours and the P5P makes me half asleep? Is this temporary?
Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. My doctor is very kind but does not know anything about this so I'm having to research this myself and just want to ensure I don't do the wrong thing. I am working on improving my digestion in the meantime and take vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, CoQ10, amino acids, magnesium, fish oil etc. I am very keen not to cause my wife yet another miscarriage so hope that methylation is the key.
Thank you very much for your help.