SwanRonson
Senior Member
- Messages
- 300
- Location
- Alabama
My current symptoms are basically those of folate/b12 anemia: constant brain fog/dizziness, sensitivity to light, weakness, fatigue, heavy arms and legs.
For the sake of brevity, i'll just post dates and what happened:
9/1 - Went to the E/R with stomach pain. Endoscopy confirmed gastritis (break in stomach lining, but not ulcer). We think it was a vitamin c powder mix supplement I was taking that caused the gastritis. Prescribed omeprazole (Prilosec) for 6 weeks.
9/5 - Had blood work done at my GP. Folate test came back as low (5.8).
9/10 - Follow-up with G.I. doctor. He noticed my low folate and said to take a 1mg folate supplement for "a few months" to bring the level back up. I went and got a bottle of "Folate" 400mcg (turned out to be Solgar Metafolin) and started taking 2 each morning (800mcg) with breakfast to get close to the 1mg the G.I. doc had recommended. I've been taking the 800mcg almost every day since along with my regular multivitamin which contains 200mcg of folic acid.
9/18 - I donated 1 unit of blood at a blood drive. I started feeling horrible that night with the symptoms listed at the top of this post.
9/24 - After going down hill for a few days I ended up in the E.R. with leg cramps, fatigue and dizziness. I thought it might have been a leg blood clot. They checked me out ,gave me a bag of saline and sent me home. I felt much, much better the next day so I chalked it all up to just a bad reaction to donating.
9/28 - Went for a follow-up visit with my GP. He took a bunch of blood tests and I started feeling horrible again that night. At that point I thought it was a blood volume issue, since each time I felt bad coincided with taking blood.
At this point I've been in and out of doctors trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with me for the past 6 weeks until 2 days ago when I happened to look up "methylfolate side effects" and discovered all of this information about methyl trapping. So now it seems like the blood donation was a coincidence and my symptoms have been those of paradoxical folate deficiency anemia the whole time - induced by the methylfolate that I unwittingly was taking.
My last dose of methylfolate was 2 days ago (400mcg in the morning with breakfast) and I've upped my potassium by eating plantains and drinking a lot of coconut water.
Before all of this started I was fine. The gastritis is now gone. I'm no longer on any medication, but the constant brain fog/dizziness is making it very hard to function. I don't believe I've done any permanent neuro damage since I have periods of clarity, usually after eating a meal of only meat. But the symptoms seem to return the next morning.
Does anyone have advice on the best way to proceed from here?
Thank you so much!
For the sake of brevity, i'll just post dates and what happened:
9/1 - Went to the E/R with stomach pain. Endoscopy confirmed gastritis (break in stomach lining, but not ulcer). We think it was a vitamin c powder mix supplement I was taking that caused the gastritis. Prescribed omeprazole (Prilosec) for 6 weeks.
9/5 - Had blood work done at my GP. Folate test came back as low (5.8).
9/10 - Follow-up with G.I. doctor. He noticed my low folate and said to take a 1mg folate supplement for "a few months" to bring the level back up. I went and got a bottle of "Folate" 400mcg (turned out to be Solgar Metafolin) and started taking 2 each morning (800mcg) with breakfast to get close to the 1mg the G.I. doc had recommended. I've been taking the 800mcg almost every day since along with my regular multivitamin which contains 200mcg of folic acid.
9/18 - I donated 1 unit of blood at a blood drive. I started feeling horrible that night with the symptoms listed at the top of this post.
9/24 - After going down hill for a few days I ended up in the E.R. with leg cramps, fatigue and dizziness. I thought it might have been a leg blood clot. They checked me out ,gave me a bag of saline and sent me home. I felt much, much better the next day so I chalked it all up to just a bad reaction to donating.
9/28 - Went for a follow-up visit with my GP. He took a bunch of blood tests and I started feeling horrible again that night. At that point I thought it was a blood volume issue, since each time I felt bad coincided with taking blood.
At this point I've been in and out of doctors trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with me for the past 6 weeks until 2 days ago when I happened to look up "methylfolate side effects" and discovered all of this information about methyl trapping. So now it seems like the blood donation was a coincidence and my symptoms have been those of paradoxical folate deficiency anemia the whole time - induced by the methylfolate that I unwittingly was taking.
My last dose of methylfolate was 2 days ago (400mcg in the morning with breakfast) and I've upped my potassium by eating plantains and drinking a lot of coconut water.
Before all of this started I was fine. The gastritis is now gone. I'm no longer on any medication, but the constant brain fog/dizziness is making it very hard to function. I don't believe I've done any permanent neuro damage since I have periods of clarity, usually after eating a meal of only meat. But the symptoms seem to return the next morning.
Does anyone have advice on the best way to proceed from here?
Thank you so much!