Does folate deficiency affect vagus nerve function?

[Ippodrom47]

If you have poorly functioning methylation, everything becomes a problem, especially your liver‘s detoxification and gallbladder function.

Hi! Really need your help here. My homocysteine (non-fasting, I did it on purpose to catch myself in an "off" feeling 3 hours after a meal) is 13.6 (range 5-15), which is, as I understand, not ideal but no too horrible either. I will retest my fasting serum folate in the nearest future.
Can I still have bad methylation despite having normal homocysteine?
Also, and most important. Can poor methylation be responsible for the following:
- inability to eat rice on a regular basis due to arsenic toxicity (get terrible brain fog, dizziness and white spots on nails);
- feeling very bad on days when air pollution is high. When there's visible smog, I instantly get irritable, moody, lightheaded and fatigued.
- being unable to eat high amounts of high oxalate foods. Buckwheat used to be my staple but now it knocks me off for a couple hours.
- feeling better after a blood draw. Even one 5 ml vial is good, but several of those are even better. I'm instantly more energetic, don't have brain fog and feel fine for a day or two.
It's like there's something in my blood that the body has a hard time getting rid of and getting a blood draw reduces this burden. As I understand it, methylation equals detox and without fixing my folate I won't resolve my issues. Edit: it's not iron (hemochromatosis) although I do have a single mutation. My transferrin saturation and ferritin are both fine.

 

[chimdp]

Hi! Really need your help here. My homocysteine (non-fasting, I did it on purpose to catch myself in an "off" feeling 3 hours after a meal) is 13.6 (range 5-15), which is, as I understand, not ideal but no too horrible either. I will retest my fasting serum folate in the nearest future.
Can I still have bad methylation despite having normal homocysteine?
Also, and most important. Can poor methylation be responsible for the following:
- inability to eat rice on a regular basis due to arsenic toxicity (get terrible brain fog, dizziness and white spots on nails);
- feeling very bad on days when air pollution is high. When there's visible smog, I instantly get irritable, moody, lightheaded and fatigued.
- being unable to eat high amounts of high oxalate foods. Buckwheat used to be my staple but now it knocks me off for a couple hours.
- feeling better after a blood draw. Even one 5 ml vial is good, but several of those are even better. I'm instantly more energetic, don't have brain fog and feel fine for a day or two.
It's like there's something in my blood that the body has a hard time getting rid of and getting a blood draw reduces this burden. As I understand it, methylation equals detox and without fixing my folate I won't resolve my issues. Edit: it's not iron (hemochromatosis) although I do have a single mutation. My transferrin saturation and ferritin are both fine.

I think others have already made some suggestions on the biochemistry aspect of things to look into with B-Vitamins. The other big question is what is your local environment like? Where do you live? How much sun do you get/how much time outdoors? What is your EMF exposure like (cell phones, wifi, exposure to electrical circuits in your house that expose you to higher alien magnetic and electric fields, etc.)? Are you rising and going to bed with the sun? how much artificial light are you exposed to?

Many "genetic" issues like MTHFR become non-issues when your body isn't exposed to EMF and other inflammatory things.

 

[youngsinatra]

Hi! Really need your help here. My homocysteine (non-fasting, I did it on purpose to catch myself in an "off" feeling 3 hours after a meal) is 13.6 (range 5-15), which is, as I understand, not ideal but no too horrible either. I will retest my fasting serum folate in the nearest future.
Can I still have bad methylation despite having normal homocysteine?
Also, and most important. Can poor methylation be responsible for the following:
- inability to eat rice on a regular basis due to arsenic toxicity (get terrible brain fog, dizziness and white spots on nails);
- feeling very bad on days when air pollution is high. When there's visible smog, I instantly get irritable, moody, lightheaded and fatigued.
- being unable to eat high amounts of high oxalate foods. Buckwheat used to be my staple but now it knocks me off for a couple hours.
- feeling better after a blood draw. Even one 5 ml vial is good, but several of those are even better. I'm instantly more energetic, don't have brain fog and feel fine for a day or two.
It's like there's something in my blood that the body has a hard time getting rid of and getting a blood draw reduces this burden. As I understand it, methylation equals detox and without fixing my folate I won't resolve my issues. Edit: it's not iron (hemochromatosis) although I do have a single mutation. My transferrin saturation and ferritin are both fine.

I think it’s possible. There a multiple things that lower homocysteine. B6 directly lowers homocysteine, not by recycling it back to SAMe via B12/B9 but by breaking it down. Betaine/choline can recycle homocysteine to SAMe as an alternative when B12/B9 cycle is not functioning correctly.

In the end, I cannot tell for sure. I presented you my thoughts and experience and you need to decide whether it makes sense and whether you want to experiment.

 

[youngsinatra]

 

[martybyrde]

Check out Chris Masterjohn’s article about B2 as the real key to folate issues/methylation. Folate and B12 make me depressive and feel horrible almost instantly, but B2 makes me so resilient and “normal” in spite of my chemical sensitivities due to my MCAS. B2 might help you.

B2 is really good stuff and probably all you need, maybe B12 in some cases but the form really does matter

 

[youngsinatra]

B2 is really good stuff and probably all you need, maybe B12 in some cases but the form really does matter

B2 normalizes the folate „activation“ so to say even though thats the wrong terminology. If dietary folate is low, it would still not fix the issue.

You can see where B2 is involved in the graphic I posted beforehand. (On the left cycle)

 

[methylenewhite]

- feeling better after a blood draw. Even one 5 ml vial is good, but several of those are even better. I'm instantly more energetic, don't have brain fog and feel fine for a day or two.

Serum iron, ferritin, transferrin and WBC could possibly help to understand it.

 

[Peater]

Check out Chris Masterjohn’s article about B2 as the real key to folate issues/methylation. Folate and B12 make me depressive and feel horrible almost instantly, but B2 makes me so resilient and “normal” in spite of my chemical sensitivities due to my MCAS. B2 might help you.

I came here to post this, but i thank you OP for starting this thread as I am recently starting to think I have an issue other than purely nutritional. Vagus nerve is an interesting area to look into.

 

[martybyrde]

You’re right, dietary folate is necessary.
With riboflavin you should be able to have good MTHFR function. Orange juice + low dose B2

This may be unique to me but I have an issue with really low B12 so I need to take some adenosylcobalamin to maintain levels when I take B2

 

[ecstatichamster]

I think folic acid is dangerous. But folate is necessary. I had my blood levels tested and it was solid just with dietary sources.

 

[Ippodrom47]

I had my blood levels tested and it was solid just with dietary sources.

I had very nice levels of folate without any supplements before getting vitamin A/b-carotene toxicity, and now I can't normally have leafy greens.

 

[youngsinatra]

I had very nice levels of folate without any supplements before getting vitamin A/b-carotene toxicity, and now I can't normally have leafy greens.

Vitamin A toxicity contributes to a lot of methylation irregularities. It causes B9/B12 deficiency, causes hypomethylation (up to 100%) and overactivates GNMT (leading to glycine wasting)

 

[youngsinatra]

Vitamin B12 & Folate (Folic Acid) Depleted By Vitamin A – Nutrition Detective – Research Forum

(Collection of scientific articles)

Vitamin A and its derivatives induce hepatic glycine N-methyltransferase and hypomethylation of DNA in rats - PubMed

Regulation of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and the SAM/S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) ratio by the key cytosolic enzyme glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) is essential in optimizing methyl group supply and subsequent functioning of methyltransferase enzymes. Therefore, inappropriate activation of...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[martybyrde]

I figured I’d ask in this thread but I’ve read that Adenosylcobalamin can convert into the other forms of B12 if necessary. Does anyone know anything about this? I can’t find a reference for it but maybe someone has some information on it

 

[Ippodrom47]

My recent folate blood test showed 3.3 (up from 2.7 in July), range 3-17. Technically, I'm in the range but as I understand the normal folate levels should be at least twice my current ones.

 

[youngsinatra]

My recent folate blood test showed 3.3 (up from 2.7 in July), range 3-17. Technically, I'm in the range but as I understand the normal folate levels should be at least twice my current ones.

Correct.

 

[Ippodrom47]

Correct.

Do you happen to know if it's possible to have an mthfr mutation (comt +/-), low folate levels (normal b12) and be overmethylated at the same time? Thanks again.

 

[youngsinatra]

Do you happen to know if it's possible to have an mthfr mutation (comt +/-), low folate levels (normal b12) and be overmethylated at the same time? Thanks again.

Definitely. Folate deficiency, whether it’s direct deficient dietary folate intake OR a functional deficiency caused by MTHFR, can cause overactivation of GNMT, which wastes a lot of glycine.

Glycine is the endogenous universal methyl buffer.

Folate deficiency caused overmethylation in myself. Supplemental glycine helped me in the adjustment phase, as it can be tricky to take methylfolate if you have long-standing folate deficiency and depleted glycine stores, as it may overwhelm the system, that is so adjusted to low folate status.

 

[youngsinatra]

View: https://youtu.be/SRrbfphJvNE

 

[Ippodrom47]

Thanks! However, if I'm cautious about taking methyl supplements, can I slowly increase my lentils/legumes intake? Will this approach give my body some time to adjust? If the only risk is busting my ****, I think I can take it. Also, I've heard about the methyl trap which seems to be the most undesirable methylation issue, won't I be running any risk of acquiring that?
Also also, on an unrelated note,do you happen to know if mushrooms can give a person PFS?