Consensus on too much methylfolate?

[SJB944]

Is there a consensus on any side effects of taking too much methylfolate?

I know @Freddd has argued consistently that the studies into Deplin showed no side effects from taking 15mg and 30mg per day.

Yet, there is increasing posts on here about overmethylation, which I as I understand it can be a result of too much methylfolate. I see Dr Lynch talks about side effects being not enough potassium, magnesium, glutathione, possible SOD and methionine.

Is this another case of it being individual and testing and seeing? @Freddd, do you have any further developed thoughts on this?

 

[PeterPositive]

Is this another case of it being individual and testing and seeing? @Freddd, do you have any further developed thoughts on this?

Well, I don't think it is accurate to say that no side effects were showed in studies.
In fact hypersensitivity side effects have been reported and those that are often discussed here seem to fall exactly in the same category --> http://www.drugs.com/sfx/deplin-side-effects.html

Personally I wouldn't dare takin' 15mg of methylfolate, let alone 30... although I need some because of the double MTHFR mutation.

So, if you have a history of hypersensitivity to food/supplements etc... I'd be very careful to start low and see what happens.

Cheers

 

[ahmo]

I have just been having a conversation w/ @caledonia about this topic. We've witnessed 3 members during the past 2 months have extremely rough times w/ methylfolate, not rectifying it nearly quickly enough with niacin or B12. And these have been relatively small doses, probably under 5 mg. It's been distressing to witness, to say nothing of those having the experience.

It's unclear to me whether there is a clear relationship between snps and reactions. It's quite possible that those w/o MTHFR mutations (or others, I can't posit a list) are very susceptible to excess folate. And we are far from normal, well people, which might skew the reaction even further.

I was up to 30mg folate, w/ similar dosage of MB12. At that point I became aware that this was stressing my adrenals, recognized the impact green vegetables was having on my folate uptake, quit the veggies, and halved my folate needs. I find now that small increases in folate can stress my adrenals. But except for occasionally having over-methylation symptoms when I was titrating my doses up, I haven't had anxiety responses. I'm currently using 2mg/day, sublingually. If I swallowed it, I'd need twice the amount.

 

[caledonia]

As Ben Lynch says - his original article on Methylfolate Side Effects is the most popular article on his site. That should tell you something.

Some people can have COMT or other issues with doses of 50mcg or even less.

I was having anxiety/stress issues with even as low as 1mcg until I addressed CBS.

Ben Lynch also mentions CBS in the 2nd methylfolate sides effects article - the section called "opening the sulfite pathway" where you stop sulfur foods and take B1 and molybdenum. It's not real obvious which is why I'm calling it to your attention.

 

[SJB944]

Thanks guys. Will check that out @caledonia.

I'm taking about 16mg methylfolate a day, but this is after being on Fred's protocol for about 4 years - 2 with all of the DQ. And I started small and titrated up. Came to this level earlier this year to keep folate symptoms at bay, after increasing a b-complex (sans folic) to 1/2 a tablet twice a day -- this increased my need for folate and potassim dramatically with no otehr noticable improvement. Have cut the b-complex down to 1/8th a tablet once a day. I take 18mg mB12 and 5mg adb12 daily atm with about 500mg L-carnatine, plus about 2900mcg potassium (this varies).

Just had major potassium symptoms last night, starting to think maybe don't need as much folate and mb12, so thinking of slowly dropping both --the DQ have been an absolute major part of my improvement over the last two years. from being unable to walk much further than the letter box to 3- 5klm walks and swimming occasionally. No immprovement has been linear, and there are many setbacks and hurdles.

I've hit one of those points where some old symptoms are returning, and having to work out what to do from here.