Folic Acid 5mg and weird side effects

[Lifeislikeaboxofmatches]

Posting here for traffic, sorry for the long post but dont want to drip feed it..

I was prescribed folic acid 5mg daily for deficiency following DD2's arrival

The deficiency symptoms were bloody horrible (slurring words, exhausted and disorientated, ringing ears, tingly hands etc) and the tablets made me feel much better for about a month

Then all these weird side effects started, I thought menopause was kicking in;
• period every 2 weeks
• very heavy bleeding
• hot flushes
• excessive sweating that smelled awful
• unable to sleep
• irritability / anxiety, like reeeally bad, rage without reason
• nausea, wind, cramps, heartburn

Had a blood test and scan which ruled out menopause / fibroids / cysts etc, so now they're going down the route of sticking cameras in places I'd prefer they didnt. Just waiting for an appointment

In the meantime I've stopped the folic acid, and all the menopause-type symptoms disappeared almost overnight. Periods back to normal, smelly sweating stopped, mood improved. I can only assume it was the high doses of folic acid that was causing it?

Cant find anything on the interweb about these side effects, just NHS info on upset stomach, and USA info on anxiety / mood swings. My pharmacist and the lady who did my scan had never heard of these menopause-type side effects either

So my question is, has anyone else suffered weird side effects from taking these tablets, and what were your symptoms? Did you get advice / support from any medical professionals? Are there any medical professionals out there who've heard of this before?

TIA and thanks for reading! :)

I only took them while pregnant and didn't get symptoms. I've read that some people can't process folic acid normally and have to have the methylated version. Could it be that?

@Confusedddddddd oh that's interesting thank you, do you have any links to info? Feel like I'm just looking in the same places over and over

Op the tablet form made me feel so unwell in pregnancy I stopped taking it and made a plan to make sure I got the relevant amount through my food , lots of corn flakes and food with folic acid. It was a pain to plan and I had to keep an eye on it but the food form didn't make me unwell at so it was worth it for me.

@Sweetvalleyhigh1234 thank you for the reply, DP also suggested I try fortified foods instead, so thats 2 votes for corn flakes!

🤣👏👏👏👏🥰

You may need methylfolate (bioavailable form) instead of folic acid (synthetic form) (plus cofactors) - google ‘MTHFR’ (my IVF clinic tested me for this).

mthfr.net/preventing-methylfolate-side-effects/2014/11/26/

You should also avoid fortified foods as they will also make you unwell. Green veg won’t as they contain the natural bioavailable version.

I really like the biocare methylfolate drops and the methylated b12 drops.

@Wednesdaysotherchild thats really helpful thank you!

I get awful side effects from taking folic acid supplements too.

Nausea
Constipation
Depressive episodes
Night sweats
Really heavy periods and awful cramps.

I switched to getting enough through diet, eggs, leafy greens etc, really easy to hit the recommended daily allowance, but you just have to plan.

Ah sorry to hear that, but reassuring to know someone else has had the same issues

Never would have thought it could have such a massive impact, I've never been in such a mess!

There really should be more awareness of this in medical professionals, they had DP and I worried sick for months about a possible cancer diagnosis, and god knows how much taxpayer money the NHS has just wasted on all these appointments and tests I've had. All of which could have gone to ladies who really do need them 🤦🏻‍♀️

But thats a whole other thread...

Thanks again!