New here - Help with results please.

[cj-79]

Hi, I'm hoping to get some advice on my latest test results. My backround is that I have been having symptoms exhaustion and tingling/numbness in my hands, feets and legs for months and months. I initially put it down to having 2 young children and breastfeeding them but turns out I have low folate and I have been put on Folic Acid tablets for 4 months. My Serum B12 was normal - 416 (range 180-700ng/l). So after a little research about the B12 test being inaccurate I self funded the Active B12 test. My Active B12 was in the grey area - 45 pmol/L so I did Serum MMA which came back today as normal - 0.19 umol/l (range 0.29-0.70umol/l).

So is the MMA result of 0.19umol/l confirmation that my symptoms are not due to vitamin B12 deficiency and ONLY due to low Folate?

I have included my other blood tests results below just in case they help. Thanks so much for any advice. x

HbA1c levl - IF?CC standardised 25 mmol/mol

Serum inorganic phospate 1.04mmol/l (0.8-1.45mmol/l

Bone Profile

Serum Calcium 2.18mmol/l

corrected serum calcium 2.19mmol/l (2.20-2.60mmol/l)

serum total bilirubin level 8umol/l (<21umol/l)

serum alkalin phosphatase 95iu/l (35-104iu/l)

serum ALT 8iu/l (<34iu/l)

serum albumin 47g/l (38-51g/l)

GFR calculated abbreviated MDRD 87ml/min/1.73m2 (<60ml/min/1.73m2)

Serum TSH level 2.77mu/l (0.27-4.20mu/l)

Serum Folate 2.6ug/l (4.60-18.70ug/l)

Urea and Electrolytes

serum sodium 141mmol/l (133.00-146mmol/l)

serum potassium 4.7mmol/l (3.50-5.30mmol/l)

serum urea 4.4mmol/l (2.50-7.80mmol/l)

serum creatinie 66umol/l (45-84umol/l)

Iron profile

Serum iron 19umol/l (7-26umol/l)

Transferrin 2.91g/l (2-3.60g/l)

transferrin Saturation 26% (15-50%)

Serum Ferritin 23ug/l (15-300ug/l)

Serum vitamin B12 416ng/L (180-700ng/l)

Vitamin D 26.6nmol/l

Full Blood Count

Haemoglobin estimation 133g/l (115-165g/l)

total white cell count 5.9 x10*9/l (4-11x10*9l)

Platelet count 276 x10*9/l (150-450 x10* 9/l

Red blood cell count (RBC) 4.43 x10*12/l (3.8-5.8x10*12/l)

Haematocrit 0.391 1/1 (0.37-0.47 1/1)

Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) 88 fl (76-98fl)

Mean corpusc. haemoglobin (MCH) 30pg (27-32pg)

Mean corpusc. Hb. conc. (MCHC) 340g/l (300-360g/l)

Neutrophil count 3.56 x10*9/l (2-7 x10*9/l)

Lymphocyte count 1.88 x10*9/l (1-4x10*9/l)

Monocyte count 0.39 x10*9/l (0.20-0.80x10*9/l)

Eosinophil count 0.05 x10*9/l (0-0.40x10*9/l)

Basophil count 0.02 x10*9/l (0-0.10x10*9/l)

[Gambit62 Administrator]

from the results above you are deficient in vitamin D and in folate - both of which would cause the symptoms you mention above - more likely to be these than B12.

[cj-79 in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks for your reply Gambit. Its a relief to hear it's just folate and vit D causing symptoms. I have been on folic acid and vit D for 1 month already and my symptoms haven't really improved much yet. Hopefully they will start to improve soon. X

[TrishEtc]

If your symptoms aren’t improving, I would look into taking active folate, rather than the synthetic form of folic acid.

I’m also B12 deficient. So is my son. He’s a big bread and cereal eater. In the US, flour is fortified with folic acid and it’s caused him all sorts of medical issues. Medication wasn’t having the desired effect and the doctor kept upping the dose, which meant more side effects. Genetic testing shows he has the MTHFR polymorphism which means he has trouble processing folic acid, which also gets in the way of absorbing B12. He’s now on L-methyl folate aka metafolin and doing better. It’s inexpensive, by the way and available over the counter.

As a medical news journalist, I can’t understand why more countries are considering adding synthetic folic acid to their food supply, when a 2016 study from Stanford University showed that it’s not having the desired effect of reducing neural tube defects (and according to other emerging research, could actually be harmful to a significant portion of the population.) med.stanford.edu/news/all-n...

[cj-79 in reply to TrishEtc]

Thank u TrishEtc for your reply and advice. I am starting to get side effects from folic acid now but my energy levels are starting to improve slightly although no change to my neurological symptoms. I will look into the active folate. Thanks again x