@caledonia I have been sick with runny nose, congestion, water eyes, headaches since Sunday and reading this post prompted me to read your Roadblocks to Successful Methylation Treatment. That made me think possible Paradoxical Folate Deficiency, but there are several other things that seem much more likely (see list below). I have never had PFD in 10 months on Freddd's Protocol, and in the past few months I only have very minor symptoms, if any, when I increase dosages. Just wanted to get your opinion. Hope you can help!
I am currently taking
total per day: Solgar MF 3,800mcg, Enzy MB 9,000mcg, AD 3,000mcg (can only tolerate Source Naturals), Dr's Best LCF 1,000mg. I take the MF and MB 3x/day, LCF 2x/day on empty stomach, all in divided doses, and AD 1x/day with my pm MB dose.
There are several different things that occurred on Sunday that could have triggered these symptoms, which makes it very difficult to know which one it is:
1. I got a new chest freezer that had a lot of chemical/new smells that dissipated somewhat after cleaning with baking soda and water. I am chemically sensitive, so this was a bit of a concern. On Sunday I ate food from the new freezer for the first time (food that doesn't usually bother me), and the congestion started shortly thereafter. At first I thought it must be from the freezer smells getting in the food, because of the timing and also because the other things I did that day (listed below) didn't seem that drastic. I decided to just try to adapt to the new freezer, which I often can do to new things after awhile, as the symptoms weren't so bad at that point.
I do want to add that I did not get the symptoms when I was cleaning the freezer, and and while I may have had similar symptoms from food or chemicals in the past, they are not usually to this extent. The symptoms would usually be milder and pass quickly.
2. I believe it was after I ate the food, but I'm not sure if before or after the symptoms started, I decided to try adding in a 30mg Solgar zinc citrate capsule. That was already in my game plan for the day, because it was the one missing essential nutrient that I had not been able to tolerate in the first several months of FP (other than the 15mg of zinc picolinate in a multi I have taken for years), so I wanted to try it again since I had been doing better on the protocol. When I had tried taking separate 20-50mg of zinc picolinate or zinc citrate previously, I had side effects like either an upset stomach or intense burning in my mouth/tongue, which is a common symptom for me.
I was amazed that I had no symptoms after I took it except for very slight tongue burn, which is not unusual for me. That made me think I must be getting better. I wish I could remember exactly when I took the zinc, but I think it would've been unusual for me to take it on an empty stomach before I ate. Yet it seems even more incredulous that I didn't postpone the zinc if I was already having symptoms.
I continued taking it every morning since (except for today), but I also continued eating the new freezer food daily, and my symptoms slowly worsened over the next few days. I do want to add that another reason I wanted to try extra zinc, was after reading a post from
@ahmo about pyroluria, I took a questionnaire that showed me as being borderline. So I figured I'd try adding zinc first and then go from there.
3. For some dumb reason, I decided to also modify my PM dose of MB and AD on Sunday several hours after the congestion and headache already started.
@Freddd and
@ahmo both take their AD away from MB, although they take AD once a week, not once a day like I do. I cannot tolerate a large enough dose to take a big dose once a week. I decided to reduce my recent pm MB increase of 250mcg and do an AD increase of 1,000mcg instead, with the idea that I would slowly increase the AD dose while slowly decreasing the pm MB, in an effort to eventually take them away from each other. I have since read posts that people who take AD every day take it with MB, so I guess I did that for nothing. This is such a small adjustment on the MB side that I didn't think it would be a big deal, and surprisingly the increase of AD did not seem to bother me. I actually had a little more energy the next day, without the usual neurological and tight chest symptoms I get when I take too much AD.
Since I did this modification after the congestion/headache symptoms already started, I am only mentioning it because it might have added cumulatively to the symptoms getting worse over the next few days. It's usually pretty important that I take enough MB in ratio to MF, or I get a mild histamine reaction, usually watery eyes. I know you recommend nicotine, but previously
@ahmo told me that extra MB decreased her histamine reactions, and sure enough just an extra 250mcg of MB will decrease mine. I usually end up adding it into the protocol as an increase whenever I increase MF.
4. Yet again not the smartest move, but yesterday I went 45 min to town for every 2 weeks shopping/errands and to get my highlights done (which I have done every couple months for many years). I know highlights are not the best thing to do when you're chemically sensitive, but it's worth it, as any symptoms are usually mild and don't last long. I also overexerted myself with the shopping/errands and felt exhausted from the heat.
When I woke up this morning, I felt terrible, like I was really coming down with a terrible cold! Congestion and watery eyes were much worse and my throat hurt too. I feel a little better as the day has gone on, but now I'm wondering if I really did catch a cold, and maybe it wasn't allergies or something to do with my protocol after all. It seems so unlikely that I could've caught a virus, because prior to Sunday, I had not had direct contact with anyone for 8 days. The only other possibility is that there was some virus/germs on my mail, and I did hear there was a bad cold going around.
Lastly it made me wonder if it could be Paradoxical Folate Deficiency because it matches those symptoms. However I don't feel like I did anything to set that off. I know this is all very confusing, and I have definitely learned a lesson about never doing more than one new thing at a time. I think I just got a little cocky, since I have started feeling a little better on FP. So far I am temporarily stopping the zinc citrate just in case, but I'm not sure what to do about my AD/MB doses tonight. Thank you very much for your thoughts on all of this!