Folate deficiency

[fluffypuffy]

I have been feeling rubbish for a long time now (5+ years). I had a blood test and my folate levels were 2.5 (normal is 3).

So started taking prescribed 5mg folic acid. I feel instantly better. I'm sleeping well, no headaches or weak feeling. My cognitive ability has returned and I'm feeling more alert.

My GP has said that I should take the 5mg for 6 weeks then drop to 400ug. That's more than 12x less. I'm scared that this won't be enough. DH and I want to try for a baby soon and I'm scared that my baby might be at risk if I'm deficient. Also, now I feel better, I've realised how ill I was. I don't want to feel like that again.

I'm going back to my gp but does anyone have an advice or experience with this? Is that normal advice?

Not an expert but:

If you've built up your levels and then lower the dose and continue to take a maintenance dose of 400iu daily I don't think your levels would necessarily drop back down to what they were or put your baby at risk. You'd still be supplementing something and 400iu is the RDA.

If your symptoms did return you could just increase your dose and it doesn't have to be prescribed either, you can buy higher dose methylfolate (natural, bio-available form) supplements for cheap on Amazon. Folic acid is the artificial form of folate I understand.

Increasing your intake of dark, leafy greens and other folate containing foods will naturally increase your levels too.

By the way, did you get your B12 checked? Never have one or the other tested. Have both. They work in tandem and supplementing to correct a deficiency in one can mask a deficiency in the other.

Thank you so much for replying. That all makes sense. I'm going to ask my gp for another bloodtest once I've been on the lower dose for 6 weeks. I didn't know about the other supplement, I'll look into that.

Yes for the b12, my gp tested me for everything including thyroid, b12, iron, folate. I had read about that but I'm 6 weeks in and still feeling so much better.