Hi I've posted further down so I wondered if anyone else could help me. I've got folic acid 5 mg and been taking it daily as I'm injecting B12 every other day. I'm confused now though as the internet makes it seem like too much folic acid could make B12 symptoms worse. But then I've heard they work together but u should only take up to 1 mg aday. I've bought a b complex with 400 mcg folate in it, so would that be sufficient as my folate was 24 (10-42) in the range.
Any help from those who know or who are self injecting and taking
folic acid would be great.
Thank you
Written by
Ndobins
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Hi Ndobbins. Folate supplementation is sometimes a little tricky to get right and whilst some people do need to take quite high doses (especially when severely deficient) some don't.
5mg a day sounds to be quite a high dose - even if you are injecting daily (though that's not to say that some people would need this).
Ideally folate should be in the top third of the reference range...and your result looks to be about there.
You're right that B12 and folate work together - but it's getting the balance right that's important. Too little and B12 will not be utilised by the body properly. Too much and the side effects (which are very similar to the side effects of B12 deficiency) can be quite horrible. I know this from personal experience - when I first started B12 injections I took 5mg a day, my deficiency symptoms got much worse and I slept for only 4 hours a night - I felt very ill indeed. I now take 400mcg a day and that seems to suit me just fine.
The recommended dose for folic acid deficiency is 400mcg - 800mcg a day and under 1000mcg a day would not be expected to produce side effects. Anything more than that might do.
Here's one good place to find more information about folic acid, supplementation and side effects etc:
Think it would be a good idea to drop down to the 400mcg daily and see how it goes - you might find that you get an improvement in symptoms (I did)...but see how it goes...if you feel worse you can increase to 800mcg and then reasses.
The only sure way to know if your folate levels and supplement regime is the correct one for you is to get your folate levels checked periodically by your GP - and no GP should have a problem doing this if you are B12 deficient.
So I did start to feel brighter 4 weeks in and now I feel angry , frustrated, tired, down in the dumps and no energy , so maybe if I drop I'll feel a bit better again. All is crossed. And a what a great idea to take an extra 400mcg along side my b complex.
Hi Ndobins. Total sense is not something I try to do too often 😉😉😀.
What I meant was take 400mcg a day only (wherever you get if from) and only increase to 800mcg a day if your symptoms worsen whilst on 400mcg - and give the 400mcg a good trail before adding anymore in (if your folate is currently too high, it will take it a while to drop down).
I strongly suspect that you will feel better with the lower dose of folate.
How did I feel when I took too much folate - well...it's was just as if my B12 had stopped working. Increased pins and needles, brain fog, shortness of breath, nausea, insomnia, problem with cognition, nominal aphasia, muscle pain...everything just got worse...and I was so cranky and short tempered (not usual for me - until I need more B12). And symptoms improved to the usual annoying level once I stopped the high dose folate supplements.
Ok great. Yes I'll just take my b complex with 400 mcg folate and see how I go . Once it's settled down, does anyone ever top up their B12 in between injection with a Jarrows lozenge? Just thinking out loud
Topping up with lozenges - yes some people do. And some use nasal spray. Some choose to simply inject more often. It's very much an individual thing...try it and see what suits you.
Also - have you been looking at cofactors (magnesium, potassium, vitamin D etc). And what are your ferritin levels like?
All these things can have an impact and make you feel quite ill if you have levels that are too low (or indeed, too high).
deniseinmilden and Polaris are very good at cofactors - if you click on their usernames (I've included them as a links) you can look at some of the replies they've written about cofactors and also check Denise's my experience' section (can't remember if Polaris has one). Well worth a look 😀
Ok I will , my ferritin is 63 and I read one of your recent replies that 80 is better so bought some Spatone. I take magnesium , selenium , thyroxine and now Spatone and b complex. So think I'm covering it all. I'll check them out thank u 👍👌
Watch the B complex - don't take more than the RDA for vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) - over that can cause peripheral neuropathy - and some 'multis' contain much more than the RDA (brain fog - think the RDA is 100 - but grief, can't remember if it's miligrams or micrograms (mg or mcg). How bad is that....😖.
In addition my every day breakfast cereals, All Bran and Grape Nuts are both fortified with Folic acid so I get plenty of it yet my last Serum Folate was 18.2ng/ml3.10 – 20.50ng/ml
I've been supplementing with iron and folic acid for more years than I can remember going back to the 1970s along with the B12.
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