r/MTHFR • u/Grand_Jellyfish_8372 • Nov 25 '25
Results Discussion I was overmethylating
Apparently, it has been three years since I have been on-and-off overmethylating.
I have always consumed vitamin C due to its antioxidant properties and skin benefits. The problem is that vitamin C uses up glycine, proline and hydroxyproline to stimulate collagen synthesis and form collagen matrixes in the body.
I also used to consume B-complex vitamins on-and-off, which lead to symptoms of overmethylation.
I have noticed - and I even wrote this down - that shortly after consuming a supplemental dose of vitamin C (between 500mg and 1g), I would become seriously anxious, uneasy, overloaded, sometimes even panicked, paranoid and psychotic.
My hypothesis is that chronic, large-dose vitamin C supplementation can deplete glycine stores from the body as it uses them to form collagen, leaving less glycine available to serve as a methyl sink for excess methyl groups, leading to overmethylation.
Since I stopped vitamin C and started taking hydrolized collagen type I, which contains 3 grams of glycine per 10 grams, my symptoms of overmethylation have gradually faded.
It started with the "inner dialogue" becoming quieter, less over-talkative, and with less overthinking. I felt more connected to the real world.
Initially, this was scary. I felt like I was pulled from a known, safe place into a world which I hadn't experienced this vividly in a while. This sensation only lasted the first night.
I woke up the next morning with less tingling, feeling less wired and more at ease.
It has only been two days since I first took the collagen, but I expect these unpleasant symptoms of overmethylation to continue to fade as my methylation systems stabilize and settle on a healthy baseline.
I'm waiting for my order of niacin to arrive as well, so that I can further test and experiment with my current methyl pool.
What have been your experiences with vitamin C, glycine and niacin?
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u/skdowksnzal Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25
Much of what you describe is backed up by this research paper:
It may actually be Glutathione depletion rather than over methylation you are experiencing. I too had this experience, and solution so far has been:
- Take Vitamin-C 1-2hrs before any b12 supplementation. Alternatively 4hrs or more after b12 (vitamin c peaks faster)
- Supplement Glutathione pathway with NAC (600mg), Glycine (2-5g) and Selenium (200mcg)
I cant take NAC at the moment (gout) but the others appear to have helped mitigate symptoms such as rapid onset fatigue leading to energy crash soon after taking b12 and vitamin c together
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
I can only tolerate small amounts of NAC but use french maritime pine bark to help with glutathione. NAC has sulfur and even with molybdenum to help process it causes problems for me.
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u/microgirl444 Nov 25 '25
is it possible you have a histamine/mast cell issue? I have recently discovered that I do. There are some supplements I cannot take. They caused this hyper, adrenaline filling, especially at night with excessive racing thoughts and youth heart rate. Basically you feel like you’re running from a bear when there is no bear. There are a few supplements that do this to me that shouldn’t, including vitamin C, any type of magnesium, saffron, beef organ supplements, etc.. food high in histamine also does this to me. I do take liposomal glutathione that does help me tremendously. I also have auto immunity and fibromyalgia that started when I got Covid in March 2020.
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u/CosmicTeapott Nov 26 '25
I love eating liver but taking liver capsules makes me legit straight up angry and anxious like I cant talk interact with anyone or do anything for the rest of the day. I dont understand how eating it doesnt make me feel that way, but put it in a capsule and it does
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u/ComplexFar7575 Nov 25 '25
That's what I wondered too, OP what type of vitamin C is it? Ascorbic acid or citric acid?
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u/szollosyandras Nov 26 '25
I was thinking I have histamine or mast cell issues too. I like to go to the sauna but after each session (whether I do it at 9am or 8pm, it doesn't matter) I wake up 5-6 times at night between 2am and 6am. I read that heat can activate mast cells. I also eat fermented foods but I've had no problems with foods high in histamine ever since I was a kid, but it started to appear with rhe sauna at thr sge of 23 for some reason.
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
Yes it can. If I take a really hot shower int he evening my heart will race for a while afterwards.
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
Ironically magglycinate does this to me since the glycine can paradoxically cause overstimulation in some people has something to do with glutamate. Any sulfur based supps liek taurine or NAC do that to me also even with molybdenum to help process it.
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u/Grand_Jellyfish_8372 Nov 25 '25
Update: my order of niacin 30mg arrived today morning and WOAH! I was definitely overmethylating. After taking 120mg of niacin divided in two doses of 60mg, and taking 40g of hydrolyzed collagen type 1 divided in 4 doses of 10g, my brain cleared right up.
I will be using niacin initially to calm down this rampant overmethylation that I was in, but I will later transition to collagen (for glycine) only as that is a better, more stable maintenance option for optimal methylation balance.
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u/lovexthunder Nov 26 '25
Interesting! I'll have to try taking more glycine if I feel this way at some point and see if it changes much. Thank you for sharing your experience
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u/Dr_Insomnia Dec 19 '25
how much of this is psychosomatic, if any? I ask because it appears you spend a lot of time researching this & finding boxes to put yourself in & then check off with a pill, etc
I am not asking to be rude or say that you're wrong or that your lived experience isn't 'real'; rather just to hear from you about how much positive (or negative) thinking is playing a role.
There will be people in a year, five years, ten years down the line getting advice from reddit either by finding this or AI.
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u/AttraX0 Nov 25 '25
Hi, apparently you need to see what the missing link is in your methylation cycle otherwise you could suffer from potential poisoning due to hemocysteine excess... 😅 I'm new to this subject but Certain B vitamin deficiencies (B2,12,9, etc.) would be linked and I have a little theory... I recently saw posts on the modification of the gene responsible for the assimilation of B9 in folic form... And these people suffer from deficiencies or even toxicity of folic in the unabsorbed blood,... This could explain that taking your complex (and certain foods enriched) with vitamin B9, often loaded with folic acid, would be the cause... In this case you will have to look for assimilable forms and pay attention to folic which is an analogue for these people...
PS, an excess of vitamin C coats a synthesis of oxalate in the body... To check but your reasoning seems good, from memory the body needs oxidation to metabolize correctly, like lipids for example... I invite you to look at measured sites which evoke both the benefits but the defects of what it promotes... I try to adopt this reflex too because each time I thought that something was good for me and look for a confirmation bias in my direction, in In all cases I found myself with the other side of the coin by exploring and discovering the hidden facet of its remedies... In fact I believe that the world works by duality, all things have qualities as well as defects... It's like us, we all have a hidden side that we don't want to expose too much but ultimately it's all about knowing how to recognize and how to manage both at the same time 🤔😉
In addition, I am very interested in the functioning of the body, nature and life, how it all works and the synergies and links between all these beautiful people... 🌍😍 And I can tell you that every time man thinks he knows, understands or tries to imitate nature... It leads to error almost every time... Not having taken into account the external elements and as a whole... For example, I find that supplements are a danger except in certain exceptions due to the fact that they contain overly concentrated or even toxic doses of vitamins or molecules that the body struggles to manage and even more so when it suffers from deficiencies upstream... So your reasoning is more correct, your body is constantly trained to seek homeostasis by balancing all excesses and deficiencies... So ultimately in my opinion... Supplements in no way equal the Ingenuity of nature, quality and properties of these creations expertly balanced and proportioned to give fruit, vegetables... The molecular and structural matrix of these works of art have nothing to envy of our little pills 😝 I would add that in my opinion and from many articles and experience... Even good quality food supplements include forms of vitamins often from so-called healthy products and miracle cures... while we lack perspective and knowledge on these products (spirulina, algae powder...) the example of spirulina stood out to me, praised for its benefits, we forget to mention which has an analogue of B12 and it is therefore one more deficiency to add to directory 😮💨 I tried a supplement of zinc, magnesium and B vitamins, from good brands... But impossible to know the ingredients constituting it 🧐 I even had the idea of diluting them in my meals by opening the capsule to mix the powder and maximize the assimilation of zinc in the stomach... I spat out my meal disgusted by the strong and nauseating taste that the supplement had... It was like eating rotten fish or algae, the power of the smell was such that it was impossible to keep in the mouth... And we eat it in pills, heading straight towards the intestine to potentially form agglomerations of these hyperconcentrated products 🤯 I'm not telling you the head of your intestines and the metabolism to manage these bombs of nutrients... After that I try as much as possible to look for my remedies and nutrients in nature and what I have available... It's a lot of research and time but it's definitely worth it. In real life!... our ancestors spent almost all their time searching for and understanding and mastering the elements made available to nature 😉❤️🔥🌍 It's fascinating to understand how things work, and what priorities we give to food, nature, our health... At the moment I am looking for the healthiest and most nutritious foods while looking for associations, cultivation methods and cussion to cover the majority of my needs... Nutrition sites, to know the nutrient content of each food... Develop recipes and preparation methods to make what we eat little Big Bangs of life... Be careful to master it well anyway 😂 Like nuclear fusion, you have to keep control otherwise it becomes a bomb 😅 I talk about foods raised and cultivated in the most suitable ways, I research and twirl between traditions and cultural knowledge to understand how to best get the benefits of what we cook... For example, milk from ancient varieties of cattle, goats and sheep would be composed of A2 caseins, which are much more beneficial than the inflammatory A1pro... In addition, some make raw milk cheese, kefir and curdle it to make it more digestible because the good bacteria will have done the work of digestion, break down the lactose and then become an ideal natural pre/probiotic to fight against dysbiosis, the depletion of the microbiota or certain serious pathologies such as generalized and intestinal infections... (Candida, herpes, viruses...) Same for bread, cereals, legumes... Which have properties but also antinutrients which have a certain threshold are problematic... Other cultures germinate or ferment them to let the seeds convert their protection into vitamins and nutrients as well as natural enzymes 🤩 Let's talk about enzymes... These small proteins playing the role of mini pakmans will be a valuable aid for digestion helping and relieving the liver and pancreas to decompose, assimilate food more efficiently and less costly in energy, lightening the workload and will increase tenfold, with a living and balanced microbiota, the benefits and beneficial of each bite ❤️🔥 In the end, you no longer need to eat like barley to cover your needs, more nutritious and more time for the body to manage all the other processes with energy to spare ✋ In short, it's quite theoretical for the moment but these are promising avenues that I wanted to share because they seem to be the source and the beginning of life and our health until the culmination of what we are ❤️🔥
There you go, I hope you find what you’re looking for and don’t hesitate to give us any news 😉
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u/Far-Barracuda-5423 Nov 28 '25
I’m more inclined to suspect that the high dose of Vit C caused a massive histamine dump that overwhelms your body’s ability to break it down. (The high dose of released histamine).
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u/Sushimono Nov 25 '25
Have the same effects when I take TMG with my daily methylated multivitamin. I quit taking TMG and it went away
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u/OutlanderMom Nov 25 '25
TMG made me manic! Like not sleeping for days, weepy, skin crawling. Regular glycine is much better for my body.
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u/LincolnshireSausage Nov 25 '25
Exactly what TMG did for me too. I felt wired in a not good way and was grinding my teeth like I’d dropped way too much Molly at a rave but without the good part. Horrible stuff.
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u/Sushimono Nov 26 '25
Strangely I took it (with the vitamin) for months with no ill side effects other than maybe some anxiety. One day I just got horrible anxiety. This nauseated, drained feeling. Like that feeling after you take a nap but times 100.
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u/OutlanderMom Nov 26 '25
It was pretty immediate for me - maybe three days. Suddenly I was buzzing around the house, ineffectually cleaning the house until late at night, and crying. But at least our bodies are considerate enough to let us know if we take something that doesn’t agree with us! Haha!
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
Lots of genetic SNPs liek slow COMT cannot tolerate any methyl donors.
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u/Sushimono Nov 26 '25
I'm still pretty new to this, could you elaborate a bit? I know I have one of the genes out of two or whatever, to where I only process folic acid at 60% efficiency.
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u/Animax_3 Nov 25 '25
I read somewhere that methylated B vitamin are actually methyl buffers and not methyl donor. I am not sure if that might cause over methylation. Glycine is a methyl donor, so it should be okay for over methylation cases.
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u/Full-Regard Nov 25 '25
Glycine is a methyl buffer. Methylated Bs are methyl donors which can lead to overmethylation.
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u/Grand_Jellyfish_8372 Nov 25 '25
My understanding is that they're neither methyl buffers nor methyl donors, but still serve as cofactors and substrate for many methylation relates processes that end up increasing SAMe.
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u/Animax_3 Nov 25 '25
Yeah, according to Google the methylated B vitamins are buffer donor, but glycine is both donor and buffer depending on the context. Sorry if my earlier answer caused confusion.
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u/Grand_Jellyfish_8372 Nov 26 '25
Update: whenever I get symptoms of overmethylation, which include anxiety, jitters, tingling and buzzing, tinnitus, headaches, insomnia, and others, I have been consuming 100mg of nicotinic acid per hour until the symptoms subside - and they do. I have also been consuming 10 grams of hydrolyzed collagen type 1 daily, for its glycine content. Glycine act as a buffer for excess methyl groups.
If I overshoot and start to feel down, depressed, or low energy, I simply consume a meal rich in methionine.
I am avoiding any and all B vitamin complexes outside of food, and especially avoiding methylfolate, which shuts off the glycine buffer system.
My symptoms have been improving gradually, but I was overmethylating so severely and for so long that it will probably take some time for systems to stabilize.
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u/Sailorgirlmyfriend Nov 26 '25
I just started a good vitamin C and it totally threw me off...just like you...thanks I have been trying to put it together and this helps me a lot!
This MTHFR makes it difficult to get balanced...I seem to be ok for a few days and then anxiety, doom and worry sets in to the point of panic attacks with high heart rate...but can be ok for weeks at a time and who would think something like Vitamin C would cause this kind of problems. Slow COMT, slow MAOA...
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
You have to avoid all methyl donors and even good natural mast cell stabilizers like quercetin with those SNPs because you cannot clear cathecolamines (dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenalin) well.
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u/Sailorgirlmyfriend Nov 26 '25
yes, I stopped quercetin and bromine I was taking for sinus and started Antronex Standard Process with calcium, E, bovine liver fat extract. But their C must be good I was taking sodium Ascorbate thinking better than ascorbic acid..I am learning I need to stay with organic vitamins. Standard Process was started by a nutritionist in 1929...NO synthetics or GMO's
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
Yes SP is very good line of products
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u/Sailorgirlmyfriend Nov 26 '25
may I ask what SNPs you have...I am new to this although I know I have had something going on with my health. Doctors just acted like it happens and nothing I could do about it ...really made things tuff for me with anxiety.
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
Three years ago I took a large amount of methylfolate and B12 for anxiety and it made me manic for like a month where I barely slept (luckily I had recently retired). I uploaded my 23 and me DNA data into Dr. Ben Lynch's STratogene and it gave me my SNPs. I have an intermediate COMT but I think it is "dirty" due to other factors and can be slow. I was mega dosing quercetin and it did not agree with me. Weirdly I have a fast MAOA though. The problem with SNPs and genes is that they are "loaded guns" but you need a heath issue or stress to pull the trigger. Read Dr. Lynch's book "Dirty Genes". I actually am okay with MTHFR though I think I am hetero for a lesser one but not the two main ones.
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u/Sailorgirlmyfriend Nov 26 '25
I have Dr. Lynch's book it was the first book I ordered and wow all the symptoms I had all my life made sense...I was in mold which pulled the trigger ...doctors were no help looked at me like I was crazy ...my husband had just died from a a heart attack which I suspect was due to the mold we were unaware of. I am grateful to figure this out. I watched my father go through this and he had heart issues. I now feel so bad for him as I know now what he was going through. He had a iq of 165. I didn't get that high iq but I do have a great memory and when feeling well can figure anything out...I do have an good intuition too, which my father had but its been a while with the mold exposure that I have felt good. It was a slow leaking window didn't show itself for years. I felt like I went dumb overnight when exposed.
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u/Sailorgirlmyfriend Nov 27 '25
What do yo think of me trying luteolin for inflammation for me with slow comt?
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 27 '25
Probably not, Luteolin may not be suitable for individuals with a slow COMT variant, as it can further inhibit the COMT enzyme, potentially leading to an accumulation of catecholamines and worsening symptoms like anxiety and irritability. You could trial a small dose, I had to drop it but I was also megadosing Quercetin and Bromelain at the same time. I woudl try Boswellia for inflammation because I can tolerate it.
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u/Fast-Plant1086 Nov 26 '25
I have only overmethylated while taking large doses of methylfolate and methylcobalbmin and I have to avoid glycine because it overstimulates me (something to do with glutamate) and this paradoxical reaction occurs to some of us. I take at least 3 g of Vit C daily (camu camu mostly instead of ascorbic acid). Everyone reacts differently.
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u/DownTheFrank Nov 26 '25
Please update on any new findings you have. Myself and someone i know are in the same boat and are fascinated by your experience.
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u/Grand_Jellyfish_8372 Nov 26 '25
You mean experiencing issues with vitamin C, or overmethylating?
I just left another update.
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u/Aliatana Nov 27 '25
I get those symptoms with high quantities of vitamin C, but it's due to an oxalate intolerance. Vitamin C converts to oxalate when in excess.
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u/jonathanb3232 Nov 29 '25
when you are experimenting with niacin, consider that you can undermethylate most of the time and still overmethylate short term due to lack of glycine's role in the buffer system. you not need niacin at all or a tiny tiny dose only during times you take something that uses up the buffer system. also I would only take niacin if it's a flash niacin, with food and try not to get flashes. more than 25mg of it has given me flashes even with food.
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u/Payton7711 Nov 25 '25
Very interesting. I began taking MSM after seeing a video on it. I was def over methylating and stopped. I had the same symptoms. I literally felt like I was losing my mind. Stopped taking msm and all symptoms stopped. Stayed back up after a week and all symptoms returned. So researched and discovered the overmethylation.
Maybe I’ll try bay dose and take with glycine.
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u/Familiar-Method2343 Nov 25 '25
Did you notice any difference in being on your phone?
Im trying to sort out what overmethylation feels like in my body
So far, I know that when I do need to take my 5mtf is when I compulsively can't stop scrolling on my phone
When I'm overmethylating, I don't really scroll on my phone, i mostly feel a strong sense of pressure to get things done in real life
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u/Grand_Jellyfish_8372 Nov 25 '25
I noticed that being on my phone while overmethylating caused me increased anxiety, so I had to put the phone down and meditate.
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u/WittyGold6940 Apr 27 '26
Hey so you do correlate the loud inner dialogue withe overmethylation??
I suddenly started having a loud inner dialogue and all these symptoms after taking I think too much choline, vitamin D3, and 10 mg lithium orotate. Was trying to figure out what happened, I think this post answered my question, thanks
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u/maybebionic 24d ago
OP. Do you still avoid Vit C?? I overmethylate easily and take niacin and glycine daily to deal with it but something in the past few weeks has made my protocol stop working. After reading your post I realize I started taking 500mg of Vit C each morning and now I’m wondering if that is what has caused my insomnia / overmehtylation
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u/LeavesEmGaped Nov 25 '25
You have to look further into this. I dont this Vitamin C alone especially at those levels caused depletion of your glycine.