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Rough start on SMP, suspecting folate issues

Messages
26
Location
UK
I have bolded my main questions at the bottom, those and the thread title are the main purpose of this post. Sorry, I'm not good at being concise! :Retro redface:

I had quite a strong reaction when I tried hycbl yesterday. I took one drop and within 30 minutes felt like my gut was reacting to something, but no diarrhoea. Then I got fatigue, nausea, pain in my lower back and feeling like my nerves were short-circuiting. Throughout the night I kept waking up with stomach bloating/cramps and aching limbs and joints. I stopped the B12, but the following day still felt slightly nauseous, fatigued, had no appetite and was constantly getting watery diarrhoea. Feeling better this morning, though at least one episode of diarrhoea so far...

For the past month or so I have been taking 2 Thorne B #5 split between meals, with 50mcg each of folinic and 5MTHF. I don't know if some of the other Bs were too high doing this. I ordered some Multithera 3 to use instead of the Neurological formula, but haven't opened it yet because I wanted to avoid all soy. Instead I have been taking all of Freddd's basics except for the fish oil because, again, mine has a soy E preservative. I am taking pretty extreme doses of A and D to try and help my acne and deficiencies, ~150,000iu and ~20,000 per day respectively. Notably in the past I have taken NAC without any problems.

At first I thought maybe I needed potassium. My diet isn't particularly high in potassium, but I had eaten 3 bananas and drank maybe 900ml of orange juice that day. I took two doses of ~500mg, but didn't notice much difference.

Then I thought perhaps it was folate I needed, so I took two doses of 200mcg before going to bed. The nausea seemed to subside aftwards.

Thinking and reading other people's folate symptoms, it does seem to fit. My health has declined noticably over the last couple of years, during which time two doctors prescribed me folic acid based on blood results. Bumping into doorframes, clumsiness, slowed reactions, not wanting to talk or socialise - These stood out to me reading the Confirmed Folate Deficiencies thread.

I've replaced my Thorne B with Biocare B-Plex, which doesn't have folic acid or B12. I have taken one this morning with 800mcg methylfolate.

Assuming I am not misinterpreting my symptoms... I was wondering if I should build up my folate reserves before starting B12, and if so what dose I should try. Also, how long does it take for methylfolate to kick in? So then I know whether to try a higher dose or not.

Thanks:D
 

nanonug

Senior Member
Messages
1,709
Location
Virginia, USA
I was wondering if I should build up my folate reserves before starting B12, and if so what dose I should try.

There are no reserves for folate. There are, however, reverses for B12. If you reacted that way to B12, I would say your reserves are running pretty low. Take B12 in the morning (with the rest of the B's). Starting with 200 or 400mcg/day of methylfolate seems reasonable. For B12, you need around 1mg/day if using the oral route.


Also, how long does it take for methylfolate to kick in?

It kicks in immediately.
 
Messages
26
Location
UK
Thanks, nanonug.

I never thought it could be too little B12. I think to start off I will still avoid the folinic supplement just in case, then I might experiment with it again once I'm up and running.