Low folic acid levels!

[Mumtobe1994]

Hi there! So I’m currently just over 5 weeks pregnant (yet to see midwife, confirmed by doctor though!).. I went to see the doctor and requested bloods to be taken as I had a folic acid deficiency pre pregnancy earlier in the year.. found out today I still have the deficiency so I’m being prescribed with high levels of folic acid.

Has anyone on here had this issue with low folic acid and had issues with their pregnancies or babies once born or am I freaking out for no reason and the chances of defects or miscarriage is low? Super worried and I don’t see the midwife for my first appointment for another 5 weeks.. first pregnancy and can tell what the entire motherhood experience is going to be like worry wise if I can’t stop worrying already 🙃

Hi! I was wondering how your pregnancy progressed.

I had low folate levels (4.2ug/l) at the beginning of July and was prescribed high strength vitamins (5mg folic acid). I just discovered I am pregnant again, and I am worried I have not built up enough in my system to avoid any NTDs.

I hope you get to see this message.

Are you taking folic acid or methylfolate? Folic acid is synthetic and has to be broken down into meythlfolate in order to be used by your body - some people's bodies cannot do this at all or struggle to. You can buy mythlfolate, it is the biologically active form of folate and easier for your body to absorb.

Hi Karmitsa - congrats on your pregnancy!
I took a folic acid tablet daily throughout my whole pregnancy and I am currently sitting with my 16 week old perfectly healthy baby boy in my arms 🥰

Em3392 I’m not sure what that is but I was given a folic acid tablet on prescription by my doctor and was all good 😁

@Mumtobe1994 Congratulations!!!! So glad your little one is thriving xxx

Thank you for responding to me! I am going to do another pregnancy test and if it comes positive (today would have been the first day of period) I will call my GP to discuss further action. Ideally to have another test done and continue taking my high strength vitamins through pregnancy. I had to terminate my pregnancy last year for other reasons and this is bringing back bad memories and stress 😔

@em3392 i am taking the tablet prescribed by GP. I will ask about the benefits of biodegradable.

thank you both so much for responding.

@Karmitsa aw thank you!! Honestly if it’s just the folic acid I wouldn’t worry as didn’t cause any issues for me at all - I panicked upto the 20 week scan they’d find something wrong and it wasn’t needed.. I feel like it’s natural to worry though! Hope you’re okay! Xx

@Karmitsa @Mumtobe1994 this thread is interesting to me as ive just discovered that a medication I was on until 3 weeks pre conception suppresses folate and people who get pregnant on it are recommended to take the hiher dose folic acid for 3 months before conception.

I also didn't realise you were supposed to take folic acid before pregnancy so only started on 400 ug at 4+3 when I found out. I'm now at 8 weeks and my folate is 7.7 ug/l but that's with a month of supplements ( i know because of thyroid blood tests i have).

I reckon at conception levels might have been around 4 ug/l (which is what they were when I was last tested in 2016- I was already on the medication that suppresses it) or even lower. I know that's too low for pregnancy and now really worried about neural tube defects.

Don't have a midwife yet but trying to get clarity from the doctor if I need to start the high dose stuff or if there's no point. I wish they'd told me about the suppressing medication when I said I was trying to conceive but I guess they weren't looking at my medication record 😕

Reassurance from anyone who had low folate at conception-6 weeks very welcomed please! 🙏