Effect of folic acid, methyl folate, zinc and vitamin B6

During the course of several multivitamin tablets and capsules, I observed the effects of few components such as folic acid, methylfolate, zinc and vitamin B6. Actually, these effects are observed when these compounds are taken along with a multivitamin tablet/capsule. Those multivitamin tablet/capsule contain less than daily recommended value of folic acid, zinc and vitamin B6.

When taken alone, zinc 15 mg gives sleepiness and dullness. In contrast, when zinc and vitamin B6 (at least 6 mg) are combined, it gives opposite effect. With this combination, sometimes I don't feel sleepy even around 1.30 am. But If I lie down on bed, I used to get good sleep and complete sleep. Even if it is a 6 hrs sleep, after getting up, even though I still feel the same tiredness and inertia, I don't get the feeling of "not slept enough". Earlier, I used to get "not slept enough....need to sleep for long hours to make up the loss" feeling, if i sleep less than 8 or 9 hours. Because of this feeling, I used to sleep for 8-10 hours during the weekends and 7-9 hours during the weekdays. with zinc and B6 combination, I never worried about sleep debt. Some afternoons, I felt sleepy. But, no urge to lie down and sleep. Earlier, many times I used to go to house and sleep from office. Those times, simply I could not control my sleepiness.

Zinc, when taken alone or in combination gives good muscle flexibility and endurance to sustain 45 minutes of pedaling in cross trainer. However, zinc taken at night disturbs the sleep and the next day I used to feel sleepy. Zinc also heals the skin bruises and scratches fast. My skin around the hand finger nails used to peel off after getting scratched while inserting into my back pant pocket. After taking zinc, simply I don't get this. 

Compound	Effect	Remarks
Folic acid	2.5 mg of folic acid gives energy and feelings of pleasure. When listening to music, it gives a very good feeling of intense happiness (just one level below mild euphoria )
Methylfolate	3.75 mg of methylfolate gives mainly enhancement of serotonergic function leading to dullness and sleepiness. On prolonged administration more than 2 weeks, it gives stabilized mood and energy.
Zinc	15 mg of zinc + vitamin C 250 mg Positive effects ·         good energy and positive mood, ·         reduced day time sleepiness (not completely abolishing but to some extent), ·         feeling of completed sleep ·         Healing of skin scratches and bruises ·         No gasping for breath while exercising, while climbing stairs and while talking Negative effects profuse sweating, pronounced stuttering, reduced fluency, non-stutterable pause, slightly reduced motivation, significantly reduced concentration and focus, reduced libido and erections. 7.5 mg – 10 mg of zinc in the form of aminochelate All the above effects in reduced intensity (dose-dependent reduction) with improved speech fluency and reduced stuttering but still mild non-stutterable pause is there	Without the zinc, I used to feel sleepy and lethargic with any multivitamin combination. After I observed non-stutterable pause, I stopped taking zinc. The next day, great improvement in energy, mood and almost nil non-stutterable pause was observed. I googled and found that Zinc can induce Parkinson's like syndrome in animal models by causing death of striatal dopaminergic neurons. Minocycline Rescues from Zinc-Induced Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Neurodegeneration: Biochemical and Molecular Interventions.
Vitamin B6 / Pyridoxine HCl	1-5 mg gives moderate energy, focus and concentration. 5-10 mg gives optimum energy, focus and concentration. Above 10 mg gives profuse sweating, sleepiness, reduced loudness of speech and little anxiety due to pronounced stuttering

My Probable Conditions and Possible Treatment Options

Based on the observations and interventions I had so far, I may have one or more of the conditions below:


Also, I took the online tests at http://www.gethelpfordepression.info and based on my scores also I may have one or more of the following conditions.

1. Mild Autism - (Impairment of social skills)
2. ADD - characterized by occasional periods of intense focus followed by inability to focus and concentrate
3. Overmethylation
4. Genetic mutations - MTHFR/Methionine synthase/CBS
5. Chronic fatigue syndrome
6. Damage to prefrontal cortex
7. Demyelination disorders
8. Pyroluria
9. Dopamine deficiency
10. Testosterone deficiency (This may be the root cause of all problems)

Also, I took the online tests at http://www.gethelpfordepression.info and based on my scores also I may have one or more of the following conditions (indicated with red background)

S. No.	Condition	Score	Remarks
1	Serotonin deficiency	6	moderately low level of serotonin.
2	GABA deficiency	5	severely low level of GABA
3	Dopamine deficiency	6	severely low level of dopamine
4	Acetylcholine deficiency	3	moderately low level of acetylcholine
5	Pyroluria test	21	anyone who scores 15 or more should be tested for pyroluria
6	Histadelia, (undermethylation)	7	anyone who scores less than 10 probably doesn't have histadelia
7	Histapenia, (overmethylation)	11	anyone who scores 10 or more should be tested for histapenia
8	Hypothyroidism test	8	anyone who scores between 8 and 11 may have moderately low thyroid function
9	Fatty acid imbalance test	31	a score of more than 10 is very suggestive of fatty acid imbalance.
10	Trans fatty acid intake	2	a score of up to 4 is not bad
11	omega-3 fatty acid intake section	12	a score between 10 and 20 shows that you have a reasonable intake of omega 3. However a score of more than 20 would be ideal
12	Sugar Addiction (Unstable blood sugar) test	31	anyone who scores more than 12 may have a problem with blood sugar instability
13	Food intolerance test	41	strongly suggestive of problems relating to food intolerance
14	Adrenal fatigue test	168	severe adrenal fatigue
15	Addison’s disease test	18	According to Dr James L. Wilson, anyone who scores more than 12 should look at the following questions. The areas on my body listed below have become bluish-black in color: Inside of lips, mouth Vagina Around nipples I have frequent unexplained diarrhea I have increased darkening around the bony areas, at folds in my skin, scars and creases of my joints I have light coloured patches on my skin where the skin has lost its usual color I easily become dehydrated I have fainting spells (I don’t have any of these symptoms)
16	Candida test	159	almost certainly have yeast-connected health  problems

Also, following are the supplements which gave me increased energy and good mood at different times. So, I need to re look into these supplements and combine them in an effective manner to avoid the side effects.

S. No.	Supplement	Positive effects	Negative effects	Remarks
1	Folic acid 2.5 mg, b.i.d. (morning and night) alone and in combination with multivitamin tablets	Increased energy, good mood, Increased ability to concentrate and remain in a task	Mild stuttering	The effect of folic acid is always apparent clearly. The effect is observable after 2-3 doses and disappears after 24 hours of stopping the dose. Suggesting a folic acid deficiency OR some error in the metabolic pathway of folate. Need to do genetic testing to identify any deficiency in MTHFR, methionine synthase and MTRR and plasma homocysteine and methyl malonic acid
2	Methyl folate 3.75 mg b.i.d. (morning and night) alone and in combination with multivitamin tablets	Increased energy, good mood, Increased ability to concentrate and remain in a task, development of super confidence feeling (grandiosity)	Mild stuttering but manageable	Suggesting a folic acid deficiency OR some error in the metabolic pathway of folate. Need to do genetic testing to identify any deficiency in MTHFR, methionine synthase and MTRR and plasma homocysteine and methyl malonic acid
3	Calcium around 300 mg – 500 mg b.i.d. (morning and evening) from Magcalzinc tablets and from Amul low fat milk	Increased energy, good mood, good interest to engage in conversations		This needs to be confirmed by taking calcium supplements alone preferably a calcium phosphate. Probably, the increased calcium levels may favour the release of neurotransmitters.
4	Phosphorous around 400 mg – 500 mg b.i.d. (morning and evening) from Amul low fat milk	Increased energy, good mood, good interest to engage in conversations		This needs to be confirmed by taking calcium supplements alone preferably in the form of calcium phosphate. Probably, the increased phosphorous levels may favour the formation of more ATP.
5	Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine HCl) 5 - 10 mg o.d. OR b.i.d. either alone or in combination with other multivitamin tablets	Very mild increase in energy, prevents headache	Increased stuttering, Increased daytime sleepiness	Suggesting increased serotonergic neurotransmission indirectly indicating near normal serotonergic system.
6	Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) 5 mcg – 15 mcg in the form of multivitamin tablets	No apparent observable effect	No apparent observable effect	May be some error in the cobalamin metabolic pathway
7	Methylcobalamin 250 mg b.i.d. OR o.d.	Able to sleep continuously without breaks, able to get up early in the morning with “completed my sleep” feeling, vivid dreams, No significant daytime sleepiness	Mild stuttering	May be some error in the cobalamin metabolic pathway. Need to do genetic testing to identify any deficiency in MTHFR, methionine synthase and MTRR and plasma homocysteine and methyl malonic acid
8	Zinc 15 mg o.d. alone (Biozinc – amino chelated zinc) and in combination with other multivitamin tablets/capsules	Faster wound healing, No easy bruising of skin (No peeling of skin at nail joints), No white spots on nails, disappearance of black pigmented rough skin spot at the nose joints, Faster acne healing and reduction in acne, Mild increase in focus and concentration	After few doses, lethargy and slowness of body movements started, slowness of body movements progressed with continuation of doses, stopped after stopping the dose	Suggesting zinc deficiency but may need reduced daily intake (< 15 mg). Need to test for plasma zinc levels.
9	Phosphatidylcholine 100 – 300 mg, o.d. OR b.i.d. alone or in combination with other multivitamin tablets	Increased working memory (can do multitasking very faster), reduced perception of stress	Sometimes, tight chest spasms occurred, mild stuttering	Suggesting reduced cholinergic neurotransmission
10	Vitamin D3 65000 IU, once in a week OR once in a month	No dropping of mood even when stressed, No muscle pains	Increased stuttering for first few days only	Vitamin D3 deficiency is confirmed in lab testing.
11	Vitamin D3 1000 – 2000 IU o.d. in combination with multivitamin tablets/capsules	No dropping of mood even when stressed, No muscle pains	Increased stuttering, incomplete sleep in night especially when taken at night, sleep debt occurring after few days, increased daytime sleepiness, reduced motivation	Not sure how to take vitamin D3 without getting side effects.
12	Ginger (Milk extract of ginger – skinless ginger cuttings are added to milk and boiled. This milk is used for making tea and coffee.) This type of ginger tea or coffee is consumed two times a day, in morning and evening.	Increased libido, slightly increased fluency of speech, good body warmth	Increased sleepiness, mild diarrhoea sometimes, increased stuttering sometime	Suggesting testosterone deficiency. Need to test for total and free testosterone, SHBG levels