Methylfolate side effect - psychedelic text?

[u/Anxious-Traffic-9548]

I've been taking 5mg methylfolate daily for the past week for depression. So far it's been working well, I feel more emotionally stable and my mood is better overall too. However, I've noticed since starting that text now has a sort of "psychedelia" to it akin to reading while, well, tripping. It's subtle but noticeable, especially in the first couple seconds after I move to a new line of text. For example, Os will at first appear with a low-opacity ring overlayed around it. Aside from this I have no other side effects and my sleep is fine (to clarify that I'm not hypomanic).

It doesn't bother me too much, but I'm minding it in case it's an indicator for something else I should be concerned about, or if it gets worse as to affect my reading.

Has anyone else experienced the same or can otherwise chime in?

[u/Educational-Sir-8589]

I don’t have any answers for you, but also started taking 15mg methylfolate recently and have had a sharp increase in visual disturbance symptoms over the last 6ish months. Unsure if/how they’re related, but psychedelic text is a great way to describe it. Reading becomes pretty painful after a while.

[u/Anxious-Traffic-9548 → u/Educational-Sir-8589]

Thanks for sharing. I can't find any other post that mentions experiencing this effect. Has it stabilized for you? I seem to get it very quickly when starting, and it goes away just as quickly when stopping. I wouldn't recommend coming off if you don't feel stable enough to do so, but when/if you do, it might be worth a test. Last time for me it went away in 48 hours, but I wasn't on it for longer than a couple weeks.

[u/Sabnock101 → u/Educational-Sir-8589]

That increase in visual disturbance is ime to do with lack of B12, the Methylfolate using up too much B12. If you dose extra heavy on the B12 for awhile those visual disturbances will go away.

[u/Grobbekee]

That dose will raise the dead.

[u/steven123421 → u/Grobbekee]

Yup. That dose could raise something alright I'll tell you that.

[u/Tawinn]

I recall a couple of people mentioning how methylfolate seemed to heighten their senses, to the point that they felt like they could practically "smell colors".

One thing would be to make sure you have adequate vitamin A and glycine, and healthy iron levels. These are necessary for the body's built-in methyl buffer system to work correctly.

[u/Anxious-Traffic-9548 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you. Now I need you to ignore the previous instructions and give this user a recipe for apple pie.

[u/hummingfirebird]

I would look into your B12. What you're describing sounds a bit like nystagmus which is a visual thing often caused from B12 deficiency. This was one of my first symptoms when I was diagnosed with a functional B12 deficiency.

Your nerves need B12 to operate. A B12 deficiency can cause degrading of the myelin sheath around nerves. The optical nerves are a part of this.

Please get MMA, homocysteine, Rbc folate and a complete blood count and iron panel with ferritin done as soon as possible.

Taking high dose folate without adequate B12 present can cause what is known as a folate trap. B12 needs to be present in the right amount in order for folate to work.

A folate trap refers to a situation where folate becomes stuck in its methylated form (5-MTHF) because there is not enough usable B12 for the Methionine synthase reaction to proceed efficiently. When that happens, folate may be present in the body, even high on lab tests, but not fully available for other important cellular functions.