Hey I just thought I would contribute a bit to this forum. So I think my illness (fatigue, inability to workout without getting a racing heart beat for days, depression) is more along the lines of chronic fatigue syndrome.

I went to a good doctor and he prescribed me a lot of things, but one of them was high dosage folic acid. My brain fog got extremely bad on the folic acid. I am part of a chronic fatigue syndrome forum and it has recently been agreed upon that folic acid definitely is bad for people with compromised immunity, which is definitely abundant in those with head injuries. It is agreed upon that methylfolate is a vital supplement for gut and brain health.

Ever since I switched to methylfolate my brain fog symptoms improved a lot. I take solgar metafolin 200mcg-400mcg a night. I really suggest anyone with pcs or fatigue etc to do the same, and avoid folic acid like the plague. This means not eating cereals with folic acid etc.

I know MarkinIdaho, you advised folic acid, and you are a big contributor on the forum. I am particularly interested in seeing if you were to switch to methylfolate, you would see a slight difference?

Folic acid is not needed in large doses. I do not take a large dose of it. In fact, I do not take an individual supplement of folic acid. I take the amount normally included in a B-100 complex and a multi-vitamin. I just checked. The total is 1200 mcgs. My blood test shows my folate levels to be optimum, basically, at the high end of the recommended blood level.

You posted <I am part of a chronic fatigue syndrome forum and it has recently been agreed upon that folic acid definitely is bad for people with compromised immunity, which is definitely abundant in those with head injuries. >

PCS subjects do not necessarily have compromised immune systems. Where did you get that information?

What do you mean by brain fog and what dose of folic acid did your doctor suggest?

That is interesting - Commercial bakers are now by law having to include Folic acid in bread in New Zealand.

very interesting, thanks for sharing. i think my brain fog also got worse when i added wheat germ to my breakfast in february. i ran out a couple weeks ago and actually have been starting to remember things a little better

Yeah, avoiding gluten has helped me slightly as well. Next up: Dairy. But dang I love my milk and yogurt! I probably won't ever give up dairy no matter what lol.

my memory seems to be better now, weird that the wheat germ had that effect

The suggestion that pcs subjects have compromised immune systems is more of a general statement that concussions can cause brain/gut axis infections. It is likely that head injuries cause inflammation which trigger viral or bacterial infections to replicate. This is not agreed upon yet, but logically makes sense and probably will be common knowledge in 100 years or so when doctors finally understand post head injury problems a lot more.

By brain fog, I mean slow thinking, inability to see clearly at long distances, inability to focus, inability to hold conversations with people due to trouble maintaining focus.

My doctor suggested 4000mcg of folic acid per day. Folic acid may be important for preventing birth defects or other physical problems, but for pure brain health I think methylfolate is far superior. People with PCS may have inflammatory conditions in their body that mess up the conversion process of folic acid to methylfolate.

Folic acid is not a natural chemical for humans. Folic acid is not present in a single food naturally. We eat food with folinic acid, which is then converted into its usable form methylfolate. So yeah, folic acid is not "natural" in any way.

I really just wanted to put it out there that there is no reason to take folic acid at all over folinic acid or methylfolate in my opinion.