Is it normal to feel wiped out day after taking folate 4 mg?

[Heidiv]

Hi,

My dr has prescribed 4 mg of folic acid/week together with my weekly 1000 mcg Hydrocobalamin shot. I do prefer to take the folic acid once/week because it - as most supplements do - upsets my GI system. I've seen most people take daily dosages of 400 mcg/day. I hadn't been taking the folic acid with the B12 for a couple of weeks because of the GI-upset. But I understood that it would be better to keep on taking it, since I had a low serum folate together with the low serum B12. I've taken a 4 mg capsule last night after dinner and have felt totally exhausted all day with muscle pain/weakness. I've walked around for a couple of kms. but my legs were very weak. Also have some knee pain like when I have caught a virus.

I know that it's normal to feel worse before it gets better with the B12 shots, but didn't realize folic acid could make me feel this much under the weather.

Thanks as always for your response. It's good to know that I'm not alone in this.

[pvanderaa]

If you can, spread the folic acid evenly throughout the week.

Folate the “fuel” for the methionine loop where B12 is the catalyst. Try Googling “methionine loop” to get a picture of where everything fits together.

Your body is working off the backlog of metabolism. Make sure you are taking a multivitamin for the metals and minerals as these get used up as well.

As far as the upset GI track, have to tried adding extra acidic foods like salsa, tomato, citrus, to your diet?

Have you tried going gluten and dairy free? I was getting tiredness symptoms from these even after getting B12 and folate sorted out.

Do you keep a logbook to help sort out symptoms from causes as there can be 3 to 48 hour delay between them.

[Heidiv in reply to pvanderaa]

Thank you, I've been gluten free for years now and it helped a lot before moving to tropical Singapore, wich seems to be a shock to the whole system. That's when aĺl my symptoms went through the roof and i even got new ones. My theoryis that extreme climes where you are dehydrated all the time every day of the year deplete allyour vitamins/minerals including B12.