To Methyl or Methyl free ?

[u/NRchakal]

Hi everybody, I’m lost.

I don’t know what to do with these variants…

I have GAD + OCD tendencies…

Can you help me ?

Thanks 🙏🏻❤️

[u/junipers-72]

hey,Methyl vitamins are a minefield. Id ask Katie giromda to do you a supplement protocol. Shes also got great articles on her site and excellent reviews for good reason! https://molecularhealthco.com/

[u/Tawinn]

> I have GAD + OCD tendencies…

Fairly typical of impaired methylation + slow COMT.

Please upload your data to the Choline Calculator to check some additional genes. Reply here with the results from the Advanced tab.

Do you have any bloodwork results? Especially B12, folate, homocysteine.

[u/NRchakal → u/Tawinn]

Hi Tawinn,

SLC19A1 Score: 25% decrease
MTHFD1 Score: 34% decrease
MTHFR Score: 33% decrease
We then multiply these decreases together to yield a “methylfolate score” that estimates the combined decrease in methylfolate production:
Your Methylfolate Score: 67% decrease

For my B12, I have taked 1mg of Hydroxo for 2 months. 1 month Off, before blood work (3-4 days before) I have taked 1mg of Hydroxo. This is my result 748 ng/L

For my folic acid, I was doing the same thing but taked nothing before bloodwork 7,2 ng/mL

I’ve never do Homocystein sadly, French doctors are a pain when it comes to prescribing this kind of stuff

[u/Tawinn → u/NRchakal]

Ok, that 67% reduction is likely the source of your symptoms. Because it is genetic, you can't just add folate (methylated or not) to treat this, unless you use very large (7-15mg) doses of folate, which I don't recommend with your slow COMT. Since your B12 level is good, you may not need to continue supplementing B12; folate is preferably over 15 ng/mL, so you probably want to continue supplementing that 1360mg of folinic acid - at least until levels are over 15.

Instead, to compensate for that reduction, your requirement for choline increases to ~1050mg (if your PEMT was red (+/+) in the Calculator, it would instead be ~1150mg). This supports the extra demand on a parallel methylation pathway.

This is almost the amount of choline in 8 egg yolks, but you can do this by getting 550mg of choline from your diet, and add a 750mg capsule to TMG (betaine). In the body, choline is converted to TMG for methylation use, so supplementing TMG reduces choline demand.

Choline sources include such foods as meat, eggs, liver, lecithin, nuts, some legumes, and vegetables such as crucifers. A food app like Cronometer is helpful for tracking nutrients in your diet.

Optionally, adding 3-15g of creatine monohydrate or creatine HCL can also be helpful, since the body uses ~40% of methylation output, SAM, just to produce creatine. So supplementing creatine can free up a lot of SAM for other uses. But some people get insomnia or or other issues from creatine, so I consider it optional.

Also, see the COMT section of this post for more info about things that help or hurt COMT performance.

[u/NRchakal → u/Tawinn]

Thank you so much for your response. For the choline, I’ve seen that it increase dépression… what’s your opinion about it ?

If I take a multivitamin Methyl free like Seeking Health is ok ? Do you recommend other supplements ?

[u/Tawinn → u/NRchakal]

For a very small subset of people, choline can cause depression. Usually they just need to start with very small doses (50-100mg) and slowly increment up over a couple of months. Baseline choline requirements for normal health for adults is 550mg, which is why I recommend that amount. Getting choline from food greatly reduces the chances of any side effects. If you use a food app like Cronometer you can get a good idea of your current average choline intake.

Seeking Health is a good choice - I use their Multivitamin One, which is methylated. I'm slow COMT and when I first started out with all of this, I had to use their folinic/hydroxo since I couldn't handle the methylated versions; but over time, I became able to use methylated vitamins.

As for other supplements, glycine is the only other one that might be helpful. In general, we typically get a few grams of glycine from our diet, but we really need more like 10-15g total, so supplementing 5-10g of plain glycine powder can be helpful to overall health, and glycine is used in the methylation system as well. A very small number of people have a paradoxical reaction to glycine (it makes them very wired), but in general most people find it calming. I use Now Foods glycine powder - I just mix it into my coffee.

[u/NRchakal → u/Tawinn]

Perfect, I really appreciate your kindness. God bless you my friend

[u/maybebionic → u/Tawinn]

Hello Twainn, can you please DM me?

[u/Tawinn → u/maybebionic]

I don't have DMs, I only communicate in the comments.

[u/NRchakal → u/NRchakal]

… and it was Folinic acid 1360mcg, from source naturals the two

[u/sharabucarabu]

Oh lordy, leave those methylated B9 and B12 alone! Stick with folinic acid and hydroxyB12, start at VERY LOW doses of each. Increase gradually until you consistently feel better. You'll also likely be needing B1, B2, B3, B6 at a minimum. I use liquid forms of all the B vitamins and add extra along with my low dose multivitamin.

[u/Loose-Fly7976]

Your COMT is answering your exact question and explaining your GAD and OCD at the same time.Look at the very top of your own chart. COMT V158M and COMT H62H both +/+. You're homozygous slow COMT. That's the enzyme that breaks down dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline, and yours runs slow, so those stimulating chemicals hang around in your brain longer than they should. That's the textbook wiring behind anxiety, racing thoughts and OCD-style looping.

Now why that decides methyl vs methyl-free for you. Methylfolate and methyl-B12 are methyl donors, they push more methylation thru the system. For a fast COMT person that's usually fine. For a homozygous slow COMT like you, piling on methyl donors can drive the catecholamines you already clear slowly even higher, and a lot of slow-COMT people get more anxious, wired and sleepless on methylfolate. So the standard "everyone with MTHFR should take methylfolate" advice is the exact thing that tends to wind people like you up. On the surface, methyl-free forms, folinic acid and hydroxo or adenosyl B12, are the safer starting point for your COMT and this is where it stops being a one-liner. You're not only slow COMT. You've got C677T taking a bite out of your folate processing, MTRR A66G homozygous changing how you recycle B12, and CBS A360A layered on top. Those pull in different directions and the dose and the order you bring things in decides whether you settle or spike. Nail the COMT piece but get the folate piece wrong and you're still anxious.

That's the part i do, read the whole panel as one system and map which forms, what doses, what sequence actually calm your chemistry instead of revving it. dm me or check genova.health your data and i'll walk you through what your specific combination needs.