Folate and B12

[Digger031145]

Does anyone know If low in range folate and B12 can make you feel anxious and jittery?

My folate is 4(3.5-20.5)

B12 is 400(150-883)

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Being under medicated for thyroid often results in feeling anxious and jittery

Bing under medicated also tends to lower vitamin levels

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

What are vitamin D and ferritin levels

Also most recent thyroid results?

TSH, Ft4 and Ft3?

Are you now Improving low B12 and folate by supplementing?

[Digger031145 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi SlowDrshonMy folate is 4(3.5-20.5)

B12 400(15.883)

VitD 111

Ferritin 102

I don’t supplement anything other than magnesium

Last thyroid test results

27/05/21

Hospital blood test

125mcgs Levo plus 15mcgs T3

Last dose 8.15am previous day

TSH <0.03

Ft4 14.9 (9-19) 59%

Ft3 3.9 ( 2.6-5.74) 41.40%

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Digger031145]

Do you normally split your T3 into 3 x 5mcg doses?

When on levothyroxine plus T3

Day before blood test you need to split dose T3 into 3 doses roughly 8 hours equal gaps and last 5mcg dose between 8-12 hours before test

Last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

If last dose T3 was 24 hours before test, your Ft3 result is false low result

[Digger031145 in reply to SlowDragon]

It was 24hrs before the test. I can’t take T3 past 3pm . I’ve tried it before and it doesn’t suit me

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Digger031145]

So you take 3 x 5mcg waking, noon and 3pm

Or 10mcg waking and 5mcg 3pm ?

Ideally on day before test you should make an exception and take last 5mcg at 8pm (assuming test at 8am)

[Digger031145 in reply to SlowDragon]

I take the Levo and 15mcgs T3 all together in the morning.When I first started with T3 I used to split it but found that taking it after 3pm was not good for me.

I don’t feel that I run out of steam by taking it just once a day.

I’m having folate and B12 tested tomorrow morning so I’ll have an up to date result.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Low folate and B12

supplementing a good quality daily vitamin B complex, one with folate in (not folic acid) may be beneficial.

This can help keep all B vitamins in balance and will help improve B12 levels too

Difference between folate and folic acid

chriskresser.com/folate-vs-...

B vitamins best taken after breakfast

Igennus Super B is good quality and cheap vitamin B complex. Contains folate. Full dose is two tablets per day. Many/most people may only need one tablet per day. Certainly only start on one per day (or even half tablet per day for first couple of weeks)

Thorne Basic B is another option that contain folate

IMPORTANT......If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before ALL BLOOD TESTS , as biotin can falsely affect test results

endo.confex.com/endo/2016en...

endocrinenews.endocrine.org...

Low B12 symptoms

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

With serum B12 result below 500, (Or active B12 below 70) recommended to be taking a B12 supplement as well as a B Complex (to balance all the B vitamins) initially for first 2-4 months, then once your serum B12 is over 500 (or Active B12 level has reached 70), stop the B12 and just carry on with the B Complex.

B12 sublingual lozenges

amazon.co.uk/Jarrow-Methylc...

cytoplan.co.uk/shop-by-prod...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Digger031145 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you very much SlowDragon

[humanbean]

My folate is 4(3.5-20.5)

B12 is 400(150-883)

Optimal for folate for many people is upper half of the reference range. With your range this would be approx 12 - 20. It is best to keep folate within range.

Your B12 result is a serum vitamin B12 test. (You can tell from the reference range). For the serum B12 test optimal varies according to source of the info :

1) 500+

2) Upper half of the range (516 - 883)

3) Top of range i.e. 883

4) 1000

Personally I try to keep my folate in the upper half of the range and my B12 at around 1000.

You could supplement a good quality B Complex, and this might raise your B12 and folate.

Two good ones often mentioned on the forum are

Thorne Research Basic B, full dose is 1 per day

Igennus Super B, full dose is 2 per day.

In order to raise your B12 and folate quite quickly, in addition to a good B Complex you could supplement with

Methylfolate 1000 mcg per day

Methylcobalamin 1000mcg per day

Once your folate and B12 are optimal you could stop taking the separate methylfolate and methylcobalamin and just take the B Complex.

Some people taking Igennus Super B drop their dose to 1 tablet per day once their B12 and folate are optimal.

[Digger031145 in reply to humanbean]

Two years ago my Active B12 was 102. Folate was 6.86

[humanbean in reply to Digger031145]

Folate was low then too.

Just because a result was good two years ago doesn't mean it will stay that way, sadly.

For people with a known health problem like thyroid disease, even if test results are good I would still suggest repeating testing once a year.

[Digger031145 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you humanbeanI have a test now booked for tomorrow morning at my surgery for B12 And folate

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Digger031145]

Ideally test vitamin D, folate, B12 once year minimum

Many/most patients on replacement thyroid hormones find they need to supplement virtually continuously to maintain optimal vitamin levels

[Digger031145 in reply to SlowDragon]

I do take Vit D and last result was 111

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Digger031145]

Vitamin D results is good

Do you also supplement magnesium?

Or vitamin K2?

[Digger031145 in reply to SlowDragon]

I do supplement with magnesium and my last test result was Serum .94 top of range 1.00I don’t take K2 as I’m not allowed to due to a rare blood condition

[humanbean in reply to Digger031145]

Magnesium testing is not really worth doing. Less than 1% of the body's magnesium is found in the bloodstream, and the body will prioritise keeping magnesium in the blood by stealing it from other body tissues. So, you can have good levels of magnesium in a blood test but still be very deficient.

If your kidneys function properly then they will excrete excess magnesium in urine.

As a result of all this, people on the forum will often supplement magnesium at a reasonable dose without ever testing, as long as their kidneys work.

If you want to know more about magnesium, you might want to take a look at this link:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Digger031145 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you . I’ve just sent you a message querying folate amount on the ingenious complex

[Digger031145 in reply to humanbean]

Human beanI’ve looked at the amounts in these ingenious tablets and the bottle is confusing as on one photo of the ingredients it shows

B12 900ug

Folate 400ug

On the other photo it states

B12 900mcgs

Folate 667mcgs

This is per 2 tablet serving.

Can you explain please as I am extremely sensitive to tablets and was thinking of starting off with 1 tablet a day to see how it goes

But with two different folate numbers I’m confused

Thank you

Rose

[humanbean in reply to Digger031145]

Could you give me links to the pictures you are looking at, please.

The manufacturer's page for Igennus Super B can be found here :

igennus.com/products/super-...

If you scroll down the page you find a section that starts with "Descriptions / Indications / Content" etc and further along you find "Nutrition". Click on "Nutrition".

Sometimes links will give the nutrient info per tablet and sometimes per serving. I would suggest always checking the maker's website, and the bottle (if you buy it). And bear in mind that maker's sometimes change their products.

In this case, per serving (per two tablets) it says the serving contains 400mcg folate.

[Digger031145 in reply to humanbean]

Here is the ingredients description. As you will see the amounts of folate differ.This is from the Amazon website

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