Folic Acid 5mg

[Elle12345678]

I've read the previous posts on this but now starting to really scare myself with dreaded google searches. I had one round of IVF then got pregnant naturally. BMI 27.9. Age 41. My clinic prescribed 5mg of folic acid - which I took for the first 3 months, then stopped. Also been taking prenatal multi-vitamins throughout. Reading about it online now at 25 weeks and that is huge amount of folic acid and there are links to autism and slower brain development. I am freaking out ... why on earth was I prescribed so much? No history of miscarriage, but it is my first pregnancy. It's done now but any reassurance whether this can be negative would really help ...

I've been prescribed the same. I'm 40 and have a BMI over 30 so it's standard practice. You absorb less as you age and weight plays a part so they might have wanted to be cautious with you. As far as I know there are no side effects with taking too much, it's a B Vit so you can't store it, anything your body doesn't need or use just gets peed out at the end of the day. It's the fat soluable vitamins that build up and cause issues.

I have five dc with autism and three without. I took 5mg of folic acid in one pregnancy only and that dc does not have autism. I know that’s just my experience but I firmly believe the increased risk of autism is having a parent or grandparent with autism.

I was also 41 with BMI 28, although I had lost 10kg just prior to having the IVF. The consultant there mentioned I should have already been taking 5mg folic acid and seem surprised that no Dr had ever recommended it!

I had a previous MC, and another loss due to a chromosomal issue but not spina bifida and no family history.

Google can be scary and you really need to look at reputable, medical journals. Even then, the studies are often on a tiny amount of children and often not validated. Speak to your midwife or Dr, but I've never found any reliable, large scale studies to verify the claims.

I'm also taking 5mg, due to having a baby diagnosed with spina bifida in pregnancy. The prognosis was very poor and I had a TFMR. I don't think enough research has been done to prove a link with autism, (I couldn't see anything which suggests NHS agrees at least) but if there is, it's still better than the alternative. I second what PP said about speaking to your doctor or midwife for reassurance.

It's good you've been taking pregnancy vitamins, when I fell pregnant I took baby aspirin, pregnancy vitamins and an extra dose of folate. Folic acid is a synthetic version to folate so it would be better to get on that instead of folic acid . I had a healthy baby boy whose advances in his milestones for his age, I wouldn't believe everything you read online

I'm 32 and a bmi of 25 or so. My doctor recommended it for me also when going for advice on fertility and then once I got pregnant told me to keep taking it. I must say I really trust her she has been my doctor for 10 years and helped get my diagnosed with lymes disease when hospital told me I had just a virus. when I asked her about it she said that it is difficult to absorb for some people and based on my bloods I was one of them. I'm sure she wouldn't have prescribed it for me if she had any doubts. hope this reassures you a little