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Folic Acid, B12, And Leg Pain

MLB

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MLB Apprentice
MLB
Posted

I'm hoping someone has some insight to what might be going on with me. About a year ago, I was trying to get pregnant so my OB prescribed me a high dose folic acid supplement. After about a week of taking it, my legs hurt really bad, not really the muscles, more like deep inside them. It was keeping me awake at night. They also felt very weak. I quit the folic acid and I returned to normal within a few days. I've tried a couple more times and same thing happens each time. Most recently, I started taking a quality multivitamin my naturopath gave me to start healing my body and the same thing happened. Then I noticed that the multivitamin has high dose folic acid in it. Of course I've quit taking it and I am back to normal. So I went and had my b12 and folate levels checked and my b12 is 559 ("normal") and my folate is 20 ("a little high"). My doctors have no idea why this happens to me and have never heard of it. I thought I'd try all you knowledgeable folks. Any ideas?

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KristaleeJane Contributor
KristaleeJane
Posted

Hello

Hmmm this is very interesting. I had a similar situation with the leg pains deep inside my legs and they would always keep me up at night, now this was before I was diagnosed with celiac, since going gluten free I rarely get them and I also have been trying to get pregnant and am currently taking a high dose of folic acid and a prenatal. I have not had any of my levels checked, as most of my significant signs went away with the gluten free diet.

Normally I would think that taking vitamins would help with the leg cramps.

I have heard taking magnesium helps with muscle pains and I have been taking one, but I started it about the same time I went gluten free so It really could be either.

It really sounds strange to me that the folic acid could be causing you these symptoms, Have you ever had them before you started taking the folic acid?

Wish I had more to say on this

Good Luck

Krista

Lizz7711 Apprentice
Lizz7711
Posted

I can't at all tell you why this happens with you. But I think there are some principles to understand with the B vitamins. First of all, they are supposed to be in certain ratios together as they are naturally in food, so when you take one isolated at high doses, this can cause problems. In a multivitamin, they OUGHT to be in those ratios, but may not be. If I were you, I would stay away from any B-complex in vitamin form since you are somehow reacting to synthetic folate, absorbing it at too high of a rate. An alternative to that might be buying a multi that uses food as it's base, such as Mega-Foods, or Dr. Mercola

's multi to see if those work better for you. If you focus on eating foods that are high in the B vitamins, you should be ok because people don't usually ever have toxicity problems from FOOD. Then i'd take some of the other nutrients separately, i.e. vitamin C, D3, E, A, etc.

I have a similar problem with B6, although B6 is more known to cause toxiicity. At 100+ mg Hcl form, I get numbness in hands/feet, but if I take it in the P5P form, i'm ok. Our bodies and cells are just so complex and they really understand so little about how it all works together!

good luck :)

I'm hoping someone has some insight to what might be going on with me. About a year ago, I was trying to get pregnant so my OB prescribed me a high dose folic acid supplement. After about a week of taking it, my legs hurt really bad, not really the muscles, more like deep inside them. It was keeping me awake at night. They also felt very weak. I quit the folic acid and I returned to normal within a few days. I've tried a couple more times and same thing happens each time. Most recently, I started taking a quality multivitamin my naturopath gave me to start healing my body and the same thing happened. Then I noticed that the multivitamin has high dose folic acid in it. Of course I've quit taking it and I am back to normal. So I went and had my b12 and folate levels checked and my b12 is 559 ("normal") and my folate is 20 ("a little high"). My doctors have no idea why this happens to me and have never heard of it. I thought I'd try all you knowledgeable folks. Any ideas?
RiceGuy Collaborator
RiceGuy
Posted

My first thought is to suggest magnesium. It has helped me more than I ever would've imagined. A good B12 supplements might also help, no matter what your blood levels say. From what I've read, the body attempts to maintain blood B12 by drawing it from elsewhere in the body. However, do be certain to take the right kind, which is a methylcobalamin sublingual, and get about 3-5mg per day. You cannot overdose on B12, and there are no known side effects from taking even mega doses.

MLB Apprentice
MLB
Posted
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Thank you all so much for your replies. You've given more information and insight than I have been able to get from my doctors. :) I will try some of these suggestions.

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