I finally got my genetic results from 23andMe and found that I am homozygous (two copies) of the 677C>T mutation of the MTHFR gene. That might explain why I've been felling a lot better after switching to methyl folate.
I've been taking 400ug once per day. I was wondering how much others take and if anybody has had any of the myriad side-effects some people report.
It seems that it might also explain my depressive episodes - prweb.com/releases/2016/03/...
In Feb I started taking Jarrows MFolate. Recently I changed to Thorne Basic B Complex. It contains all the other B Vits as well as MCobalamin and MFolate at 400mcg each. They are a vegetarian capsule and easy to take.
On TUK forum the general consensus is to take a B complex to balance things out.
I am MTHFR heterozygous. I don't have any side-effects on this dose.
J
I take a B complex with 400 mcg a day or two around injections so probably 4-6 every month. My last folate was 13 after originally being 4.6 I think. I had previously taken them daily but then folate was over 20. I have not done genetic testing but followed advice here about using methyl folate. No side effects noticed.
I'm also homozygous for MTHFR c677t. I take 800mcg methylfolate now, but at the beginning I did have side effects, so I dropped to 200mcg for a couple of weeks, then built up slowly over about 2 months. Never had any problems doing it this way.
I have been taking 800mcg methyl folate for a while. Could you explain your side effects CarolineS?
It's mainly the fatigue and overall 'feeling good' that has improved since I started weekly B12 jabs and daily methylfolate after stopping them both for the first three (B12) and four (MF) weeks of January. Before then I'd been on folic acid (400ug), then switched to methylfolate Nov and Dec.
I can't say for sure if the improvements have been down to increased frequency of B12 or the switch from FA to MF. I suspect it's a combination of the two, but I'm not going to put myself through the torment of finding out by stopping one, then the other, then both.
My mood has drastically improved. And I'm sure that's the MF. I wish I'd kept proper track of it.
Hi Frank!
I'm glad you have found a benefit from taking it.
The delay in my replying to your post is because I was waiting to find out what suited me before I answered.
I have bought the Solgar 800mcg ones and get on with them really well: having struggled to metabolise my hydroxocobalamin, I felt like I did before I had any supplements but now I'm back to functioning well and working long hours again. The difference is miraculous!
Another benefit of the Solgar ones is I like the taste of them and can suck them like sweets! They don't have any sugar in them so don't challenge my teeth.
I really wanted to thank you for posting about it: yourcomments encouraged me to try it and it has given me my life back again.
I have found I need a couple of multivitamin and mineral tablets plus lots of potassium and magnesium too but all is good at the moment! I confess I am surprised how much of the methylfolate I need - 5 or 6 tablets a day - but this is the level recommended by lots of people on daily jabs so I guess it fits!
I hope you continue to improve!
Best wishes, Denise
Excellent. I'm so glad it's working for you. I've just got the Solgar 800ug tablets and I shall be switching to them soon - just to see if it gets even betterer.
I tried Mg supplements, but they had a nasty effect of my guts. And I can't find any tablets that contain small amounts. So I may try a small amount of epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) each day.
I've been using bananas for potassium. Last week I had my levels tested and they were OK - 4.5 (3.6 - 6.2).
Hello!
I had my K and Mg levels tested a while ago as I was getting deficiency symptoms despite eating and drinking everything with lots in (to the point it was unbalancing my diet) and the tests showed serum levels at the top of the ranges. When the B12 stopped working I felt I had to do something drastic so added in LoSalt to increase my K intake. At way beyond recognised toxic levels the symptoms went away and my B12 suddenly started to work again. A couple of months later the same thing happened with Mg. (I drank some of the animal intravenous magnesium sulphate I keep at the farm, knowing it was very pure and I could get my hands on it on a Sunday!)
It appears that I have a metabolism problem at cellular level so the reason why my serum levels were high was because the cells weren't taking it out of my blood stream.
Knowing I would die if I didn't do something and with diffusion gradients and "percentage uptake" in mind I have worked with my symptoms and have carefully supplemented accordingly. I won't have another blood test for either because it is likely to show that clinically I should be dead!! All I know is that I am symptomatically very much alive and my body is working fairly well again! 
I have just changed from magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salts) to magnesium chloride as it is reputedly more bio-available and has less of a laxative effect. I'm now trying to work out the best dose. You are supposed to be able to take it in transdermally but I find eating it works too and is convenient! It's highly exothermic as it dissolves so is wierd if I suck the flakes but hey! There are other ways when the novelty wears off!
I didn't like the idea of putting lots of chlorides into my body but found some written works which say that the reason chlorides are more bio-available is because the body is looking for chloride molecules to use to make HCl for stomach acid and that it is actually a good thing. It makes enough sense to try it.
I am looking into trying to improve my cellular metabolism and hope to get some help from university nutrition departments when they come back from their Easter vacation. I think amino acids might be making a difference and I have a hunch, from the way my body seems to react, that pig meat products might have the best results. This would make sense as pigs share the closest amino acid balance to humans but I have yet to put it through the scientific testing regime as it has been more important so far to test the methyl folate and now the magnesium chloride!
I'm going to look at the amino acid break down of pork to see which ones are most likely to be the critical ones that could currently be limiting me and see if I can get them from other sources too, to keep my diet broad. Quinoa has a good range of amino acids, including highish levels of lycene so may help too.
I'm sorry to have gone on so long but know your science brain will understand and hope it might give you food for thought at least! (Oops - pun not intended!)
I hope the Solgar 800s work as well for you as they have for me and you find a solution (!) to the magnesium problem.
Good luck! Denise
Wow! You've sure put a lot of work in. Glad it seems to be working out.
I wouldn't worry too much about getting lots of chloride, the kidneys are very good at getting rid of what the body doesn't need. However, you could try taking magnesium glycinate (where the magnesium is bound to a glycine molecule, rather than chlorine).
I really doubt that the amino acids you'd get from pig meats would really be much different to those from other types of meat. With a modern balanced diet (meat, fish, grains, pulses, green veg and fruit) you should be consuming more of the different amino acids than you need. As for quinoa - it may be my instinctive distrust of trendy 'superfoods' but I think that oats and spelt are tastier and have higher levels of almost all amino acids per calorie (definitely for oats). Talking of which - it's time for my porridge.
Thank you!
How much is too much?
How doctors are killing you
How much B12?
How much folate is everyone taking?
Can taking too much B12 cause you tiredness/fatigue ?
