methylation issues and vitamin/mineral question

This won't solve your problem, but it might be a good place to start:

• Jarrow B-right - We take 1 a day, but some people can do 2 a day (no one in my family can), some people have to take half tablet a day or less. You might want to start with just a tiny bit. Some people can't tolerate any folates at all - their bodies go into overdrive, so be careful.
  
• a good multi-mineral: we use Thorne's picmins, but there are others on the market. Avoid anything that has more than just minerals in it. Some brands think they're helping by adding stuff. They're not helping - they're adding things you could react to.
  
• some cheap B2, split into 25mg doses. Take 1 and see how long it takes before you excrete the excess (your pee will turn a colour like 'Dutch Boy Chartreuse') - if it doesn't happen the first time you need to go about an hour after taking the stuff, you could well be deficient. Your MTR/MTRR and MTHFR and so many other processes in your body will have trouble without enough B2.
  

Have some potassium on hand - you can eat bananas, drink coconut water etc - but food isn't enough for some people. We mix 1 tspn of potassium gluconate into coconut water. You know if it works - you instantly feel better (even if you need more). It's a big problem when people jump into B-vitamins, kickstart their bodies into gear, and cause a sudden potassium need. The symptoms can be awful and life-threatening.

You also need to get enough magnesium - we do Epsom salt footbaths.

We use with what we can get on iherb to avoid the insane postage costs for anything shipped to Australia.

MTR/MTRR - you need the real stuff (methylB12). Avoid cyanoB12 like the plague. HydroxyB12 might be bad too. My son needs high-dose methylB12 and adenosylB12 separately, but it's getting pretty technical once you start messing with that sort of thing.

MTHFR - you are technically compound heterozygous, which can be a bad deal. Just avoid folic acid and stick with the methylfolate.

You have other issues, too, from your 23andme results on your other post, but most are heterozygous other than a couple I have no knowledge of - e.g. that ASL gene (does something with ammonia).

Traveler, I posted my methylations snp's under the thread 'methylation issues and need help' thread. It is pretty darn long.....lol.

Patty

ccc-better, thank you for putting all that work into your post. So, taking Jarrow's B-right in small doses will be ok then. I will order potassium gluconate. Is it OK to use coconut milk? I am assuming that is OK.

Right now I am only taking magnesium citrate 400 mg daily. How much are you and your family taking?

How much Methyl B12 do you take and where do you get yours. I had previously taken 5,000 mcg daily. I see that your son needs higher doses and is also taking adenosyl B12 which I have not heard of. How much methyl folate do you suggest to start with? Are you seeing someone to work on your methylation issues? If not, was it all trial and error with you and your family?

Blessings for you and your family.

Patty

Post Edited (summer16) : 4/29/2017 5:26:22 PM (GMT-6)

Here's a few things in response to your questions.

Is it OK to use coconut milk? [as a source of potassium] No. You actually need coconut water if you are going to use it for potassium. It's cheaper just to mix the potassium gluconate powder into water, juice, or even our special methylation milkshake (milk + cocoa + d-ribose + potassium gluconate)

magnesium citrate 400 mg daily - How much are you and your family taking? We just do a handful of Epsom salts in a hot footbath (with a pinch of borax and a dropperful each of eucalyptus oil and tea tree oil.

The thing with magnesium is use the form that works for you. It can be trial and error. The only thing everyone seems to agree on is that magnesium oxide (the form in most cheap supplements) is poorly absorbed.

B12 Now that's a long story. We started on a high-dose B12 experiment at the start of last year. It's not for everyone. You have to be prepared to do a lot of reading and be very good at listening to your body to do it. For example, we forgot the B12 yesterday morning, and my son's body 'ran out' last night. He said he could feel things slowing down and had to top up about midnight.

What is adenosyl B12? It's a different form of B12. The two most useful for our bodies are methylB12 and adenosylB12. In theory, the adenosylB12 is a storage form that gets shunted into the mitochondria in your cells and stays there. Another theory (unproven) also says it is a powerful antioxidant. The second theory explains my son's continued need for it. MethylB12 is the one we all know about - it's used in the methylation cycle right at the point it intersects with the folate cycle. That's why folate and B12 interact with each other a bit.

How much B12 do we need? We use the oils from b12oils.com - a squirt of the adenosyl/methylB12 mix and 2 squirts of the methylB12 mix. They're slow release and therefore less challenging to your body. You'll need to get the folate separately. Make sure it is L-methylfolate - the form in the Solgar tablets for example. Tablets are better, too, because they are easier to split.

If you really want to get into all this methylation stuff, there's a megathread on the Phoenix Rising forum. You should at least read the first two posts in that thread because it summarises what we did. The only difference is the B12 oils came out after that thread started, and we switched to the oils once we'd built up the B12 sublingual dose.