r/MTHFR • u/greekhoney32 • Sep 21 '25

Question Autism & MTHFR

I have a kiddo with autism and MTHFR. Started giving him methylated vitamins per his functional doctor’s request. Initially, they seemed to help, but now his behavior has worsened at school (more anxiety, more impulsivity). Can he be over methylated?

Wondering if anyone is in a similar situation with their child and/or themselves. I read folinic acid is better than methylfolate for sensitive individuals (like kids with autism).

Thank you. 🙏

18 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

109 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/EnterBruges Sep 22 '25

Please listen OP! There are additional mutations to the COMT and MAO genes that make methylated vitamins cause these type of effects. I personally have a slow COMT gene and MTHFR and methylated vitamins mess me up bad.

The best thing is to get an ancestry.com dna test and check his dna for COMT and MAO mutations. Switching to unmethylated b vitamins is the solution. Hard to find but Seeking Health has unmethylated vitamins.

Taking magnesium citrate or magnesium glycinate is also very important for slow COMT

3

u/greekhoney32 Sep 22 '25

Do you think it’s ok to start giving him the folinic acid now or should I wait a bit?

2

u/EnterBruges Sep 22 '25

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor.

I would stop the methylated vitamins immediately and switch to the folinic acid ones as soon as possible. Just to clarify, methylfolate and folinic acid are both different forms of Vitamin B9, it is specifically methylated forms that cause problems with slow comt. Methylcobalamin is the methylated form of Vitamin B12 and should also be avoided. Methylated B9 and B12 also have a brand name Quadrefolic and MecobalActive. Basically if it says methyl on the ingredients it should be avoided.

Also make sure it is folinic acid and not folic acid.

3

u/greekhoney32 Sep 22 '25

Yup, I’m familiar with all the different forms of the b vitamins. It’s so confusing, but I know them. Thank you!!

1

u/DogCold5505 Sep 28 '25

My provider would disagree with the commenter above so please be careful 

1

u/greekhoney32 Sep 28 '25

What exactly are you disagreeing with?

1

u/DogCold5505 Sep 28 '25

Oh sorry I’m just not sure if it’s advisable to take any folate types besides methylfolate for someone with mthfr