No period since March

[Elliss]

Hi there,

I haven't had my period since March so I went to the doctor and I had my blood taken. He told me over the phone that I had folic acid deficiency (that is all he told me) and was given folate to take daily. It's been almost a week since I started taking it but I still have had no period. Also, I'm definitely not pregnant. The symptons for folic acid deficiency doesn't include stopping of periods. I've been losing hair too. Is there more going on?

[JMN2017]

Hi Elliss

May I suggest you check out the symptoms of deficiencies in Vit B12, Vit D, Folate (B9) and Ferritin.

Also, check out where we get all these various vitamins etc from our diet (Vit D from sunshine mainly) and reflect on your diet to see if you could improve your diet.

In additon to that, there are a number of medications that are known to cause issues regarding these vitamins etc, so worth checking all that out too.

Make sure you get a print-out of any blood results so you can study them, or post them on this forum. When a doctor says 'all is normal' it's often 'where' within the range that is relevant and 'normal' might not actually be normal. Also, when one result is even slightly out of kilter, another may also be, and therefore can be indicative of an issue.

There will be several other possible causes for your symptoms so best to check them out too. Thyoid function springs to mind, as does being under-weight, as possible reasons for your absent periods.

Sorry to be so vague but you haven't given much info to go on

Hopefully, others will be posting their comments, possible suggestions too.

Wishing you all the best. Keep posting, eh?

[Gambit62 Administrator]

this is a link to NHS site

nhs.uk/Conditions/Anaemia-v...

both folate and B12 deficiency are linked to problems with fertility.

B12 deficiency can cause what appears to be an early menopause so quite probable that folate may do the same as the two are used together for a large number of processes.

people vary a lot in terms of how they will respond to particular vitamin and mineral deficiencies - most lists of symptoms will cover the most common effects and others that are rare, or less frequently reported, won't be mentioned.