Folic acid tablets: Are folic acid 5mg tablets... - Thyroid UK

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Folic acid tablets

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7 years ago•9 Replies

Are folic acid 5mg tablets usually given to people with celiac disease when they first have it? or are they only given if you have iron and b vitamin deficiency?

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9 Replies

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Clutter7 years ago

Roberts3,

Folic acid is prescribed to correct folate (B9) deficiency.

As far as I'm aware there is no treatment for coeliac disease other than 100% avoidance of gluten.

in reply to Clutter7 years ago

Yeah but would a person with coeliac disease get given these to begin with? I got prescribed and have to ring them tomorrow but I'm not sure why I'm having them

Clutter in reply to 7 years ago

Roberts3,

No, the only reason to prescribe folic acid is to correct folate deficiency.

in reply to Clutter7 years ago

I've read some things online that say they sometimes do? as it causes iron deficiency and you need the vitamin B2

Clutter in reply to 7 years ago

Roberts3,

Folic acid treats folate (B9) deficiency.

Iron is the treatment for iron deficiency.

Riboflavin (B2) is the treatment for B2 deficiency.

in reply to Clutter7 years ago

It says in my leaflet with the tablets that they provide me with Iron and B vitamins that were lost?

Clutter in reply to 7 years ago

Roberts3,

Folic Acid belongs to the vitamin B group. Folic Acid tablets may be used:

to treat:

folate deficiency anaemia caused by poor diet, poor absorption of food (such as in coeliac disease or a digestive disorder called sprue) or increased use of folate in the body (as in pregnancy)

to prevent:

folate deficiency caused by some medicines (e.g. those used to treat epilepsy such as phenytoin, phenobarbital and primidone)

folate deficiency caused by long-term red blood cell damage or kidney dialysis

neural tube defects in babies (e.g. spina bifida), where women are at risk of having an affected child.

medicines.org.uk/emc/medici...

gantsdacier7 years ago

As Clutter said, folic acid is folate and is prescribed to correct a deficiency in that.

However, people with coeliac who have just been diagnosed have usually been suffering with coeliac issues due to eating gluten, and malabsorption is a big problem so chances are you have a folate deficiency. Many people diagnosed with coeliac are anaemic and have or have had nutritional deficiencies because they have been unable to absorb the nutrients from what they're eating