2000mcg Folic Acid?

[mum2daisypie]

Hi,
I understand that to sway blue its recommended to take 2000mcg of Folic Acid. Im a bit nervous about taking that amount. My Welman pre conception supps contains (amongst other things) 400mcg of Folic Acid, so do I need to take another 4 tablets of 400mcg folic acid as well as my general supplement?

I have a tub of Folic Acid which are 400mcg and it does state on there to take 1 per day?

Im confused (doesnt take much!)

[3girlsandme]

Hey there, I'm in the same boat as you. Taking 5 pills a day is freaking me out a bit, but I have early miscarriage (Chemical preg) problems so I'm nervous anyway. I also have the 400mcg bottle.

[bunnywabbit]

Hi, I'm new here and am confused about this too...

[Huds]

Snap

[atomic sagebrush]

Not that you guys should ever just take my word blindly but I do investigate everything I advise and always have a good reason for anything I suggest.

Women who have a history of repeat miscarriages or neural tube defects are told to take as much as 4000 to 5000 mcg (you guys don't need that much tho). 2000 is believed to be safe in the short term and lots of women TTC taking that much or more.

The boy diet (the sodium and green tea in particular, and those who are doing BSD and COT and ASG drinks) makes you excrete folic. Additionally there are genetic conditions where people need a lot more folic acid (Google MTHFR) and people don't know they have them until they start having second trimester miscarriages.

400 is the barest, barest minimum to take for women of reproductive age. My son got spina bifida when I was taking 800. 400 is NOT ENOUGH. If you get pg with twins it is REALLY not enough. Folic acid had been proven to prevent heart defects, cleft palate, neural tube defects, and may help prevent Down's.

You are actually not using most of the folic you take in - you pee most of it out. Taking the small doses several times a day assures your body of having what it needs and then it just get rid of the rest. So as a preventative measure, since it doesn't hurt and may help, everyone should take the folic acid.

This is the same amount advised by IG BTW.

[Sihaya]

It might be easier if you can find a Folic Acid supplement with a higher dose, like 800mcg or 1000mcg/pill. That way it doesn't feel like you're taking so much. I took 5000mcg of Folic Acid every day while I was TTC my second son, then reduced to 3000mcg after I got pregnant, and didn't go off of it until the middle of the third trimester. There were no negative health effects for me or my son for taking so much Folic Acid.

Remember that the HE diet is actually reducing the amount of Folic Acid that your body is able to absorb and use. So even though you need to take 2000mcg, it isn't all being used by your body.

EDIT: Cross-posted with Atomic. What she said!

[mum2daisypie]

Thanks Atomic! Its great to find someone who really knows their stuff :-)

I feel much better and will certainly be taking the 2000mcg from now on (glad Ive got a good supply in!)

[3girlsandme]

thanks ladies! I actually have had 4 miscarriages, 1 was a set of twins (An ectopic that ruptured and a normal implant that was lost too), then another followed that. those were between my 2 oldest girls. i just had back to back early losses in nov/dec of last year, let myself have one full cycle and now we're trying again. so i am definitely going to take atomic's advice with the extra folic acid, especially because i'm doing the green tea and high sodium "boy diet"! <3

[bunnywabbit]

Can I just check, is it best to take the minimum amount for your sway (1200 in my case) in pill form, then make the rest up from diet? Not too sure how to tell how much folic acid is in food as it isn't readily labelled in the UK.

Thanks again for your help

[atomic sagebrush]

The benefit to taking smaller doses more often is that the body can only use a small amount and excretes the rest (in that lovely day-glo yellow pee we have all noticed after taking it.) So by taking small doses several times a day, you ensure you've always got a steady supply if your body needs some for formulating a tiny baby body.

It is A PITA trying to take the super high doses for those of us who have to take 4000-5000...when I was taking the 4000 mcg I did take the 800 mcg pills a couple times a day because I could not remember to take the smaller pills that often. If you're taking a smaller dose then no worries, use the smaller ones 3-4-5 times a day.