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caledonia
I have been feeling better the last couple days and stopped the Deplin yesterday. I don't know if this is attributed to the Deplin or the fact that mentally I have decided to simplify/streamline my medical approach and all that that entails. If the Deplin was "working" will I notice it by not feeling as "happy" going forward. Should I still suspend taking it?
If the Deplin was working (making you feel happier) and you stopped it, you should gradually go back to feeling less happy again. You could repeat the experiment again to make sure it's not something else. This is where it helps to keep a symptom journal and take notes on when you start and stop pills and how you're feeling over time.
I don't know if you should stop. If it was me, I would experiment with lower doses of methylfolate first. The reason is that a large dose of methylfolate can either cause:
1) overmethylation, which will make you feel worse
2) methyl trapping, which may make you feel better at first, then apparently "stop working" or cause you to feel worse because it's stopped methylation and/or depleted your B12, leaving you in an even worse methylation situation
3) or you could luck out and be one of the few who require mega doses of methylfolate to get a response, and all will be well.
There can be a honeymoon period, where at first you feel good, then you start feeling really bad. So it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether it will be good for you or not. Your psychiatrist doesn't know this or he wouldn't have prescribed Deplin.
Note: even lower doses of methylfolate can cause this. It just depends on how sensitive you are. That's why I tell people to Start Low and Go Slow, and I wrote the document linked in my signature. Granted, I'm used to dealing with ME/CFS patients who are very sensitive. If you have good general health besides mental health issues, you might be ok. Or not.
23andme doesn't do that testing.
Sorry, I don't understand the question/statement.
I tried to upload my medical records but the file is too large. How can I get it to you? There are methylation cofactors and neurotransmitters and precursor results on there.
I will contact you backchannel so we can figure out how I can look at your records.
The Dr who designed the test and did a phone consult had me taking folic acid. Dr Sherry Rogers - she is retired. She does consults and writes books now.
I'm familiar with Sherry Rogers and have read several of her books. I thought she was mainly an environmental medicine specialist. Do you have chemical sensitivities, or toxic enviromental exposures?
It's been found that the "folic acid" form of folate is not well absorbed by those with MTHFR mutations and can actually block absorption of methylfolate and also float around in the bloodstream and possibly cause cancer. So it was the right idea, but the wrong form - not good.
I am confused by B vitamins in general. Are they all water soluble? Should I be taking a complex? Keep up on the B12 shots even if I am not taking Deplin now? How much? How often? How often should I retest. I know that you said 583 was suboptimal. What should I aim for?
I believe B vitamins are all water soluble. Technically, you would want to be taking the other B vitamins along with folate and B12 as they all work together. Some B complexes are better than others. You may want to only take small amounts.
I was a little confused about the COMT mutation. I don't know what that is or if I have been tested for it.
COMT = Catechol–O–Methyl Transferase. It degrades dopamine. If you have a COMT mutation, you will degrade dopamine slowly. This will cause an excess of free methyl groups. If you add methylfolate and methylcobalamin on top of this, it can cause too many methyl groups, and thus mood swings (panic attacks and bipolar symptoms). That's why I would suggest caution on the methylfolate 1000mcg injections, until you know if you have this.
You can find out if you are COMT+ from the 23andme test or Yasko's SNP test.
You also said "
The main thing with MTHFR A1298C is that your folate will be running a little slow, I think about 20% for one mutation? You likely have other mutations adding to the effect, and also the aluminum. Wow, I just looked at Heartfixer who says MTHFR A1298C plus CBS and BHMT will lead to a drain on BH4 and lowered neurotransmitter production. Aluminum will add to the problem. Boy, this really sounds like you!
Was my aluminum that high? I am glad I am on a non aluminum deodorant. I don't know where it could be coming from? Is that a high ammount of aluminum? What is CBS and BHMT? Why does that sound like me?
I'm not sure if your aluminum is high because you didn't state what the threshold number for "high" is. But it did sound higher than all your other metals. I'm glad you're on a non-aluminum deodorant too. Actually, I was going to ask you if you had a known exposure from work or hobbies.
This website says you can get aluminum from food, drinking water, some medications, and cooking and storing food in aluminum cookware. There is also aluminum in vaccines. If you have MTHFR and other methylation cycle or detoxification mutations, you'll have trouble detoxifying metals, such as aluminum.
CBS and BHMT. Too complicated to explain here, but low BH4 and neurotransmitters can cause mental health issues. The higher aluminum level can indicate problems detoxifying aluminum, and aluminum's presence will lower the ability detoxify aluminum even more - a vicious cycle, that can keep you trapped into having mental health problems and not be able to recover.
I have radically altered my diet. I assume that low carbs means crappy carbs. I eat eggs and an apple for breakfast. Almonds for a snack and half chicken/half broccolli or veggies for lunch. Generally an ok dinner. I've cut out ALL fast food and 90% of processed food. I do occaissonally indulge in an omellete at the diner or chinese/something fun once or twice a week. I do drink a handful of decaf coffees a week in addition to a glass a wine on the weekend, but no more iced tea and mostly just drink water and chamomille tea.
Diet sounds pretty good. The Chinese could be a culprit for anxiety, with MSG.
Should I just try taking some GABA? Is there any detriment?
You don't know until you try it, unless you want to learn self muscle testing. It's not 100% accurate, but pretty good. I use it all the time. It's helped me avoid lots of bad reactions.
I've heard of at least one person who had a contradictory reaction to GABA - it's supposed to be calming, but this person got very anxious from it. This person has extreme chemical sensitivities. So I think for most people it should be ok. But to be on the safe side, I would try like 1/8 of a pill to start. That way, if you do have a problem, it will only be 1/8 as bad.
This is the only doctor on the mthfr support site near me is
http://www.nycfuturedocs.com/nycfuturedocs/ContactUs/index.cfm
I left a message for them.
Sounds like a good step. Michael Gruttadauria has done a couple of BlogTalk Radio shows for MTHFRsupport - the last two shows - Nov. and Dec. 2013. Might be good to listen and see if you like him.
My homocysteine was 936 nmol/mL in the Spring and 13.5 Umol/L in the Fall. I notice that those units of measurement are different.
I looked it up. That's elevated.
Again, what does the a1298c mutation mean in general for my health. Is it just methylation or other things too? What problems can it potentially cause me?
It did say on my test (which I don't understand) "hyperhomocysteinemia is a risk factor for arterial disease and venous thrombosis. Homocysteine levels are affected by nutritional and genetic factors. Since MTHFR is involved in Methylation of homocysteine to methionine, individuals with MTHFR gene mutations that reduce enzsyme activity may develop hyperhomocystemia and thus be at elevated risk for vasuclar disease.
The analysis is telling you it's elevated and the possible repercussions. There are a wide range of problems MTHFR A1298C can cause, including the elevated homocysteine. Technically, a CBS mutation would cause lower homocysteine, which would cancel out my earlier hypothesis, but I've heard of people with CBS and high homocysteine too.
Has your doc mentioned the high homocysteine?
The good news is, methylation treatment should not only fix your mental health issues, but also the high homocysteine, aluminum buildup and any other problems caused by poor methylation.
You don't even want CFS in your medical record if you don't have it. Docs tend to stop listening as soon as they see that diagnosis.
