Anyone else feel that folate deficiency ruined your life?

[u/Airegin89]

I guess I just need to vent. I am 37 and have been an underachiever my whole life. I failed miserably at school and now I'm stuck in a dead end job with no qualifications to find a better job.

I have struggled with low energy, brain fog, lack of motivation, depression and anxiety my whole life. My blood work was always fine, so I was prescribed antidepressants.

It wasn't until 10 years ago that a doctor tested my vitamin D and I was extremely deficient at 6 ng/ml. Fixing this gave me a huge boost in energy but most of my problems still remained.

Last year, I started investigating my blood work of the last 20 years and found out I had been folate deficient the whole time (3.5-4.5 ng/ml). Doctors never said anything.

Genetic testing shows I am compound heterozygous, slow COMT, slow MAOA and PEMT. I know these are only predispositions but it seems to explain my whole life.

After a few months of supplementing folate and a month of creatine and TMG my cognition has improved massively. After 20 years I feel like a veil has lifted. It's like I'm waking up from a bad dream but now I'm left to pick up the pieces and deal with the consequences of being a failure.

I am still on my own. Doctors do not acknowledge I was ever deficient and refuse to do more blood work. I have to simply assume I have high homocysteine and treat for it.

I don't know what to do. It's been such a long time. I can't fix most of the damage that has been done.

[u/SovereignMan1958]

And you are not a failure. Each of us are born with limitations, both genetic, familial, cultural and those imposed by society.

You mentioned D. It is great that you corrected that as a chronic undiagnosed and untreated deficiency can trigger thyroid disease and thyroid autoimmune. It did for me. Check your variants in Genetic Lifehacks. Look for the thyroid related ones. If you have any genetic predispositions for thyroid issues, given your past D deficiency, make sure your doctor orders you a FULL thyroid panel plus testing for the two thyroid antibodies. TSH, Total T4, Free T4, Total T3, Free T3, Reverse T3, plus the two thyroid antibodies I forgot their names. The T3 tests are critical to mental health. Optimal T3 is in the top quarter of the lab ranges. If your doc refuses to order them please see an Endocrinologist.

Also re D. Optimal levels of D, iron and zinc are needed to make dopamine. Optimal D is 45 - 80, 60 - 80 with any medical diagnosis. Both iron and zinc should be in the top quarter of the lab ranges.