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$95 for l-methylfolate

Messages
56
Hi,

I saw Dr. Levine in NYC last week and she prescribed 7.5mg l-methylfolate without any explanation. I had to pay full-whack for the script which was $95. Naturally if it ends up helping me, I don't want to be spending that every month. Can I safely pick up equivalent dosage l-methylfolate on say amazon.com instead?

Thanks, Pete
 

Scarecrow

Revolting Peasant
Messages
1,904
Location
Scotland
Hi,

I saw Dr. Levine in NYC last week and she prescribed 7.5mg l-methylfolate without any explanation.

Without any explanation? What!!!!

I take either 400 or 800mcg Folapro so don't have any experience of Deplin-sized doses. Life Extension does 100 x 1000 mcg on Amazon at $19.99.

Would that work out to be less expensive for you? How many7.5 mg tabs did you get for $95?
 
Messages
56
I got 30 7.5mg tabs for $95 which is $3.16 per day. I'd need 7 1/2 Amazon pills for every non-Amazon one. So that's $20 / 100 * 7.5 = $1.50 per day. I think.
 

Scarecrow

Revolting Peasant
Messages
1,904
Location
Scotland
@Scarecrow
not to take the thread off topic but.......
Please get me back to Kansas :) ??
OK, so it's a long way from Scotland but that's where Dorothy came from. And Hank the farmhand looked just like the Scarecrow, so I figured that's where the Scarecrow must have been from too. I just want to go back home (i.e. get my normal life back). I don't like Oz much, it's too 'technicolor' and it hurts my brain. :( Full of charlatans masquerading as wizards and wicked witches, too!
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
OK, so it's a long way from Scotland but that's where Dorothy came from. And Hank the farmhand looked just like the Scarecrow, so I figured that's where the Scarecrow must have been from too. I just want to go back home (i.e. get my normal life back). I don't like Oz much, it's too 'technicolor' and it hurts my brain. :( Full of charlatans masquerading as wizards and wicked witches, too!

And I thought it would be quite a simple reason:aghhh:o_O:D
 
Messages
52
Yes, it is much cheaper to buy over the counter. Deplin is a rip-off. The best (and the exact same thing as Deplin) is Metafolin, so look for that on the bottle. I have been buying this from iHerb, and I think this is what most people use:

http://www.iherb.com/Solgar-Folate-As-Metafolin-800-mcg-100-Tablets/13961#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-US&w=solgar metafolin&rc=4&sr=null&ic=2

If you are new to iHerb, you can use my coupon, or anybody else's, which will get you $10 off your first order
http://www.iherb.com?rcode=IBO113

If you are at a a dose of 7.5 mg per day that will cost you about $37 with the Solgar product.

However, I'm trying to go even cheaper with these guys:
http://www.methyl-life.com/methylfolate-5.html

This would be even cheaper at about $21 per month. But, I can't vouch for them yet, as I'm just about to start trialling them.
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
I've just followed a tip from @stridor and begun taking my folate by emptying out capsule or putting tablet into my gum. I'm now literally using/needing less than half than what I'd been on. I'd been taking 15mg for about 5 months, this week have reduced to 7mg. I'd been paying $60 for 60x 5mg capsules, so the bottle lasted me 20 days. This method of ingesting doubles my money!:)

http://www.iherb.com/search?kw=MTHF&sug=mhf-1&x=11&y=3#p=1

Freddd has found that folate works best in divided doses. So you can split your tablets and take them at different times. When you buy more, eg from Amazon or iherb, you can get different doses to make up your total.

I test all my dosages by self-testing, the only way I have of knowing whether this is working for my body.

Wow, @adreno's got a new selfie:thumbsup:
 

whodathunkit

Senior Member
Messages
1,160
@sming, you probably got Deplin, for an off-label use that insurance won't pay for. My doc prescribed some for me, too, but because the only officially prescribed use is for depression, I don't think insurance will pay for it unless that's your diagnosis. I'm not depressed any more (even if I was I wouldn't want that diagnosis following me around in my electronic medical records, anyway), so she didn't use that. I'm not sure if we used methylation or lady-part health as the reason for the prescription. I've been using methylfolate for both.

I got the 'script because I was taking so much OTC methylfolate it was costing me like $150/month just for the Solgar Metafolin. I was hoping insurance would pick up the prescription since methylfolate has done me so much good.

But the 15mg/day prescription of Deplin was something like $249 for a two-month's supply so (right in the same price range with your prescription). By that time, however, I was already stepping down the dose from the cost of $150/month, so no money to be saved there. I said no thanks to the 'script, I'll go with OTC, since it's easier to adjust the dose according to daily needs.

I think the economic benefit you derive from a full-cost Deplin prescription depends upon how much methylfolate you're taking. For me for a while, when I was taking 30-40mg/day of methylfolate, even a full-cost prescription of Deplin would have been of benefit. But by the time I actually got the script, it wasn't any economic benefit at all.
 
Messages
56
thanks for all the replies guys - very helpful. My biggest takeaway is that it script stuff is just the same as the stuff you can buy without a script.

Regarding knowing the right amount for you, how long do you recommend staying at a dose before deciding if it needs adjusting - a day, a week, a month?
 

whodathunkit

Senior Member
Messages
1,160
@sming, it sounds like you need to read a bit more around here, get a bit more familiar with how things can go.

The short answer is that there is no answer to your question about the "right amount" of methylfolate. The right answer varies for everyone. Most of us let our symptoms/side effects be the boss.

But even with symptoms there are two schools of thought: one school advocates starting very low and going very slow, then if you get adverse side effects slowing down or stopping and then re-starting according to how you feel.

The other side recommends starting off at whatever you're comfortable with (typically fairly low), and then if you get certain side effects dramatically increasing the amount until you feel better. This is my side, and what worked for me. YMMV.

It's all about what you're comfortable with.

Likewise, the amount of time you spend at a dose varies. Most of us want to take the lowest possible amount we can get away with. But getting to that nice, normal maintenance dose can be tricky with either school of thought. Myself, I was taking 40mg/day at one point. $$$$$!!! (That was when I could have used the high-dose prescription) Now I'm down to between 8mg - 16mg/day, depending upon symptoms. I'd like to be at more like 4mg/day. Working on it.

But there are also lots of variables like nutritional status with other vitamins and minerals, particularly potassium. Getting methylation started can get a potassium deficiency started. Mild potassium deficiency is a PITA engendering symptoms like leg cramps, fatigue, and irritability; severe potassium deficiency can cause heart arrhythmias and be life-threatening

So please read and research, and see which tack you want to take. Also read up on paradoxical methylfolate deficiency (aka "the donut hole"). Before choosing it's important to understand about that.

But basically, what tack you take all boils down to what you can tolerate as far as side effects. Some people like to go low and slow, which lessens the severity of the sides but can also take longer to get through them; some people like to radically increase dosage and power through the sides, thereby lessening the time spent dealing with them. Some people want to power through but get too sick and are forced to stop. It's just an individual thing.

The thing that doesn't seem to be individualized is that if you have the symptoms that drive most people to this discussion board, you will get sick and crash at some point after you start methylfolate and methylation. LOL Getting sick seems to be some byproduct of kickstarting a slow metabolism. Seems like it's part detox, part induced nutritional deficiencies with stuff like potassium, other B vitamins, etc.. What's individual is the approach taken to deal with it, the dosages involved in the approach, and how long it takes to get through the crash.

As far as we understand, the methylfolate in OTC supplements is the same thing as prescription Deplin. But regardless of form it's all fairly costly, and the benefit of Deplin is if you're doing high-dose, you only have to take a couple pills per day. With the OTC, if you're doing high-dose, it's handsfuls of pills per day.

Okay, well, that's not really a short answer. :D But you see where I'm going with that. It's complex and there is no pat answer to your question. Hopefully others will chime in, too.
 
Last edited:

fibrodude84

Senior Member
Messages
191
I think I'm going to start full blast on 15mg to see if it helps. If I feel sick how fast should I expect side effects?
 
Messages
56
@sming, it sounds like you need to read a bit more around here, get a bit more familiar with how things can go.

The short answer is that there is no answer to your question about the "right amount" of methylfolate. The right answer varies for everyone. Most of us let our symptoms/side effects be the boss.

Thanks again for the reply. To be fair to myself I didn't ask what the right amount was, I asked how long people typically stay on a given dose before changing. But I get that even with that YMMV. I'm a longtime anti-depressant user/taker and that's pretty much the mantra I'm used to. Even the stuff about going slow v.s. powering through to a higher dose is the same - it just depends on the person.

Just to throw more into the mix, Dr. Levine prescribed me Famvir. I've not started taking it yet since I want to try and keep things to one variable at a time. But it's tempting since I just want to feel better already. Ho hum.