I have dealt with OCD, anxiety and depression my whole life and tried many different antidepressants. A year ago I got off the meds because I was experiencing extreme fatigue to the point that I was falling asleep at stoplights. They also didn’t seem to be working well and I had tried many different meds prescribed by many different doctors over many different years. I have also tried therapy for the last ten years and tried different therapists

Once I decided to get off the meds, I proceeded to see a ton of drs all year long and had lots of expensive/extensive bloodwork done. They all had different ideas (most contradicting each other). I can send the 30 plus pages of bloodwork to anyone who wants to take a look. I had low T (total – not free, low vit C, low LDH and aluminum as well as past epsteing barr.

At this point I am not feeling too bad other than awful anxiety and depression. I saw a psychiatrist last month who recommended Pristiq and Deplin. I wanted to wait on the Pristiq but have started the Deplin. I didn’t want to start down the med route again. I may have to, but I am scared to and don’t want to end up in the fatigue boat as well as all of the side effects that made me get off them in the first place. In researching the deplin, someone had mentioned the a1298c. That sounded familiar so I looked at my bloodwork and googled. I am positive for 2 copies of the a1298c mutation. I am homozygous for a1298c mutation and negative (normal) for the c677T mutation in the mthfr gene.

I just want to make sure that I am not doing anything detrimental and that I am doing the best that I can do. The Deplin is 15mg. I have been taking it for 2 weeks and don’t feel any different. Is this normal?

I am making healthy choices to try and fight this as well as therapy which never works for me. The only thing that I am taking is Vitamin D, Cod liver, spirulina and the Deplin. I am occaissonally taking Ativan when I need it.

Is it ok that I am taking that Deplin? Will it help me? Should I be taking or NOT taking anything else? Should I get periodic bloodwork to check my liver or anything else? Should I be conscious with anything else because of this mutation? Is there anything else that I should be doing/taking or not taking/avoiding? Is my anxiety related to this at all? Is it ok to take deplin? Can I drink moderately (couple of glasses of wine a week?)

My main concerns are that I am doing everything I can do and not doing anything that will cause me harm. I also need to take a break from all this testing/supplementing/focusing on my health. It has been a draining year and I need a bit of a break (mentally and financially) I can’t heal my gut, get off gluten, do chelation and such all at once. I have to break it down into small manageable pieces.

One of the things that overwhelms me is that you need to take supplement x. When you do that you need to take these to balance that. You then need to do this and that and check this and that. I want to get off that boat for a while and focus on healthy eating/meditation/cardio/therapy.

I do have methylcobalamin injections that a doctor gave me. Should I be taking that? How much/how often? I am always confused by B vitamins in general. Can you take too much? Are they all water soluble and you just pee out any excess? Should I be taking Niacin?

Thank you in advance for any help that you can offer me. I apologize for the long msage. Please let me know if you have any questions or need to know any of my levels.

How is your vitamin D level? I'm sure you had a CBC, TSH test as well. How is your thyroid? Vitamin D, although some people see it as snake oil in terms of mental health, correlates with so many different nutrients, vitamins, minerals.

I have some concern about a doctor prescribing Pristiq to someone who has anxiety. It's basically effexor with a new name, an SNRI that is extremely difficult to get off of.

I am concerned about the use of the Deplin without anything else. Deplin is methylfolate (B9) and 15mg is a very high dose of one B vitamin. If you don't want to take a bunch of vitamins, they do have a coenzyme form of B Complex somewhere. It is the activated form of the B vitamins (including Dibencozide - b12)

Minerals like selenium, zinc, and magnesium can be beneficial. Probiotics..... the whole nine yards. I don't know if you want to go down that road again with all the supplements.

I joined this forum so I could respond to you, as you sound like me of a few years ago. So I have a couple more questions and you can PM me if you want.

1. How is your sleep patterns? How long do you sleep for? How long until you get out of bed once you have woken up? The reason I'm asking this is
that it sounds like you need a neurologist.

2. What other psychiatric medication have you tried? SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, etc

3. Do you have a journal to write down day to day thoughts, track if you are getting better or worse?

4. What supplements have you tried?

5. Do you know what kind of depression you have? Bi-polar 2, Seasonal, Major Recurring, Major with and without psychotic

6. How much do you want to improve? Does your OCD impair the will to improve?

I would recommend sticking to one thing for the next month. Set a goal. Meditate more. If possible, try yoga. Stay away from alcohol. Rebounding effects of ethanol can be stronger in depressed patients w/ ocd

I'll be here to help

Maninashed,

Thank you for your reply earlier this year. I don't know how I missed it. I don't see an option to PM you, so I hope that you receive this message.

I am still suffering. I have spent the last year addressing things other than methylation. I saw a therapist for all of 2014. It wasn't helping, so I switched to a different therapist and have been seeing her since October. I didn't think of it at the time, but I think that my coming off of 4 different psych drugs at once (under docs supervision) February of the previous year (2013) screwed me up. I never thought that medication withdrawal could manifest itself 8-9 months later, but apparently it can/does. There are entire websites devoted to it.

In response to your questions:

My D is perfect. It is about 70. I take 5000iu a day of D3 and 1 tbs of carlson cod liver oil. My thyroid and CBC, TSH are fine

I took the Deplin for a couple weeks before I knew about Mehtylation. I was also taking B12 shots (methylcobalamin) around that time. I think that I might have had an adverse reaction, but it was hard to tell. I was already having a hard time around that time and then my cat died and some other stuff so it was hard to say. I discontinued the Deplin as soon as I found out about methylation. I spent the year trying to research and deal with that, but it is so complicated and there aren't many doctors who deal with it. I had genetic testing done and spoke to a couple of specialists.

I take Chelated Magnesium daily.

1)Sleep is fine. Post ssri, my constant fatigue is gone. I usually get 8-10 hours of sleep. I occasionally wake. I usually wake up and hop right out of bed. It isn't as bad as 8-9 months ago when I would wake up in terror and be wide awake. I think that post ssri my am cortisol levels were probably through the roof. I can sleep in a bit if I let myself.

Why do you think that I need a Neurologist?

2)I have used Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Luvox, amphetamine salts, ritalin, prozac, lamictal, risperidone, xanax, adderall, ativan

3)I don't keep a formal journal, but I monitor

4) I have tried a ton. I currently take d3, cod liver and carlson chelated magnesium. This year I have tried Holy Basil, Rhodiola, Gaba, Lavendar, Passionflower among others. I am giving Inositol a chance as of 2 days ago.

5)Depression - Therapists have said that I have GAD, OCD, ADHD, Dysthmia and Bipolar 2. Not all of them agree on all of those.

Thank you again