High dose folic acid 5mgs

[Rrrr123]

Hi
I'm so worried, please help. I am having the worst panic attacks and feel so worried I feel sick with worry. Please help me feel reassured.
I sadly had 2 miscarriages 2 years ago, I'm 38. My consultant advised having high dose 5mgs at least 1 month before and 3 months whilst pregnant. I haven't got pregnant so continued taking the high dose folic acid for when I am pregnant but now I worry I've taken for too long. The consultant said I didn't need to take for that long but I have incase I got pregnant. So worried plse help xx

@mooninmiss Were you taking continually for 23 months without a break? How long pre pregnancy too? X

@Rrrr123, yes I’ve been taking the 5mgs of folic acid continuously with no break. I took it for 3 months before we actively began ttc, then for the 16 months ttc, and now I’m 31 weeks pregnant and still taking it.

@Moominmisss congratulations. Me too re taking it for a long time. I thought I was the only one. Are you taking a pregnacare too? Did you have any other reasons apart from miscarriage to take? Mine was only for miscarriage x

@Moominmiss I forgot to ask are you under NHS too? Its confusing as it seems not all consultants recommend x

No I’m not taking pregnacare or anything. From the start I just took the folic acid and a separate high dose vitamin d. My midwife said I could choose a pregnancy multi vitamin to take as well but I just stuck with the vit d.

I’m under the nhs. Both my consultant and midwife are more than happy with what I’m taking and there’s never been any mention of stopping it.

If you're really so anxious about taking folic acid, switch it up to Folate. Folate is the natural form your body can use straight away, but basically the same thing & it's water soluble, so you just wee out any excess.

Folic Acid should be fine, but as your clearly worrying anyway, you might as well change to folate.

Thanks for the message @Blxo94 How long were you taking before getting pregnant plse? X

@thecapitalsunited thanks for your comments. Are you under NHS too? Did you take continually whilst trying to conceive? X

@Rrrr123 Yes, I’m under the NHS. I’ve been taking 5mg folic acid plus Pregnacare daily from October 2017. My midwife was really pleased that I’d been taking it while TTC and has advised that I continue until the end of my pregnancy. I’m due in January 2022 so by the end I’ll have been on it for well over 4 years. I’ve been very healthy in that time. If I hadn’t fallen pregnant I’d probably have taken it until menopause just in case a little miracle happened!

Congratulations. When I told my consultant I had been trying for a year to conceive so took the high dose folic acid every day, he said I only needed it 1 month pre conceiving but how would I know I would conceive and then I read too much high dose folic acid can cause issues if taken for a long time so I got so scared x

But that would be impossible to know when to start because babies don’t go to plan. Excess folic acid should just be peed out in a healthy body so you’ll be absolutely fine. Just with correct levels of that vitamin in your system!

@thecapitalsunited that's what I thought. I think I got more worried as mine was only prescribed for miscarriage and not high bmi or illness other than miscarriage. It's confusing as diff consultants do and don't agree with high dose folic acid it seems. Do you know others on long term high dose folic acid too? Xx

I'm on high dose folic acid because of recurrent mcs.

I took it for months before conceiving my daughter with no word from my GP, it would be tricky for me to time one month before because my cycles are all over the place!

@Rrrr123 I’ve not heard of anyone, no. But I don’t have many friends! I have no idea if my folate levels were actually low - the advice is just to take it if you fall into this bracket because you’re more likely to have low levels. I eat a good diet with a lot of folate containing foods so my levels were probably ok. I don’t think there would be such broad recommendations if excess folate would cause any problems long term.

Sorry re your miscarriages too. How long have you taken it for continually too? Are you on pregnacare too? X

@KitchenLemon Sorry re your miscarriages too. How long have you taken it for continually too pre getting pregnant? Were you on pregnacare too? Was yours only for miscarriage not for other reasons? X

@Rrrr123 so I was on it probably about 8 months before falling pregnant with my daughter. My GP said he was prescribing it to me because of the miscarriages and although my BMI is a little high that wasn't mentioned.
I personally don't take pregnacare because it makes me ill, so I take separate vitamins but I've never been told I can't IYSWIM