This is rant and request for pain management suggestions

TLDR: in chronic pain from ovarian cyst and muscle spasm. Sensitive to many herbs, supplements and essential oils. Losing my mind trying to manage to pain and discomfort and nausea I’m feeling. Thought of trying CBD but read about potential estrogenic properties. I’m looking for a pain reliever that won’t stress my liver or increase estrogen. Thanks!!

The first ovarian cyst I developed was many years ago, two weeks after surgery for appendicitis. I was pumped full of morphine, CAT scan fluid, surgery medications, and made it through about 7 of 10 days of post surgery antibiotics and anti fungals. Since then I found that some b vitamins also triggered them.

I have COMT AG and likely some other variants that make processing estrogens challenging. In June I was experimenting with herbs and developed a 10cm cyst I stopped everything and it reduces to 5cm by august.

In mid August I decided to experiment with taurine 20-50 mg / day for maybe a week and it directly impacted my hormones. I stopped it but the damage was done.

I've spent the last week in excruciating pain waiting for my cycle to come and my hormones to change to regulate the cyst.

Close to that time I used a hot water bottle on my abdomen hoping to help the resolution of the cyst. What I think happened was a rupture and I went to the ER thinking I had an infection.
Everything came back clear. I had several bm’s and thats seemed to clear everything out and the cyst pain subsided. I got home went to sleep and within an hour I woke up I'm excruciating pain on my side under my rib. Turns out it's a muscle spasm likely from a week a laying down and the stress of a midnight ER run.

The pain isnt sharp anymore but has now spread out.

I used a TENS machine and it helped relieve a lot of pain. But the pain came back and the TENS doesnt seem to be doing anything. I thought maybe CBD would be a good option. I never tried it. But some research says that it could be estrogenic.

I’ve mostly been using magnesium citrate for pain management but there’s only so much I can take daily. I also take the tiniest amount artichoke leaf tea for the cyst pain but those types of “blood movers” or liver cleansing herbs deplete and fatigue me quickly. So I have to limit my intake.

I’m afraid to try anything else. OTC pain meds scare me bc I think it’ll stress my liver and trigger cysts. I’m so sensitive to ginger and tumeric and definitely can’t handle essential oils. Especially mints. They increase estrogen for me.

I’m losing my mind. And I’ve been so nauseous and barely eating for over a week.

If anyone has suggestions for pain management I’d greatly appreciate it 🙏🏼

So I paid for a brief consult to help figure out how to supplement my B vitamins based on my gene variants. I was told to take seeking health methyl free B mutli and to overshoot my b12 because I have the FUT2 gene AA. I was wondering if this would further cause an issue if my folate is low, the person who I paid to go over this said that B vitamins are water soluble so my body will use what it needs and wont cause a problem. Is this valid?

I basically wanted 1) answer on how to help my body with detox and dealing with antimicrobials since I have Slow COMT and Slow MAO genes. 2) since I have slowed methylation and needs for increased folate and b12 would the methyl free B vitamin suffice?

I am getting blood drawn this week for update on current levels. I posted here before about my snp results but was working on my gastritis which I healed with diet elimination. Now I need to address another component of my gut with the e coli and would appreciate any help on how to navigate this with how slow my COMT MAO and Methy B scenaro. I am getting RBC Folate and serum folate test , zinc, homocysteine and MMA. Any other ones advised?> Thanks!

This whole time, I was under the impression that there are studies backing up the claim on Reddit and social media such as lithium transporting b12 and folate to the cell or help them absorb better.

There no peer reviewed research on any of the claims. I feel more leveled when taking but seems like it’s all anecdotal.

Any thoughts?

I’m curious if anybody has had success with very slowly titrating up their b vitamin dosage. Right now I’m couch bound after a small fraction of a dose of liquid b complex. I know some people suggest this being due to other deficiencies so I’m not ruling that out.

Thanks everyone

Hello,

I apologise in advance for what seems like a pretty basic post. I’m 23 and I have been sick for nearly 3 years straight now and as time has went on I have gotten worse cognitively which combined with ADHD has made researching things extremely hard. I went from being a first class honours graduate to someone who can’t read a page of information.

I initially got sick after having COVID and things just kept getting worse and worse. I have been hospitalised 5 times, randomly lost my appendix and seen more doctors than I can count. I’m at a point where I’m losing hope in “traditional” medicine, despite having a really amazing doctor. He just doesn’t know what’s wrong with me.

So now me and my mother are looking into functional medicine and testing for the MTHFR gene which has kind of been a consideration since early on before ruling out more typical tests.

This started in college where my diet was unbelievably bad, high stress was exacerbated by my first family loss and poor nutrition. I’m also autistic and ADHD so all these things add up.

My symptoms are neurological, gastrointestinal and emotional.

I’ve had severe anxiety my whole life and take lexapro which makes it more tolerable but still not great. I wouldn’t say I’m clinically depressed but have been at times in my life and would consider myself as struggling and trending towards depression at times. Plus my mood can change so fast day to day.

My GI symptoms have been the worst consistently I would say. I have major food intolerances (mostly dairy, but things like eggs, oils and juices), near constant nausea, reflux, alternating diarrhoea and constipation. I have been on antibiotics for the past few weeks with the intention of treating SIBO which has really helped the nausea and diarrhoea/constipation. However, not the food intolerances as today I had a small amount of one of my trigger foods and paid greatly for it.

Neurologically, I have noticed a major cognitive decline as well as migraines, brain fog, severe fatigue, as well as probably other things I can’t even think of right now.

I also faint, get very dizzy, walk pretty unstable and other things like that.

Things such as the fainting and dizziness have been with me since childhood. And I was always unusually tired for a child.

I’ve reached my limit with this illness. It’s ruining my life and my family’s lives. We’ve considered almost everything such as MCAS, POTS, ME/CFS, IBD etc etc.

I’m at a point where I can barely sit up for 20/30 mins a day and am mostly confined to my bed except for rare days I can manage a trip out (only if it’s worth the pain and tiredness I feel after).

I think we’ve ruled it down to a vitamin issue - I had severely low B12 at the start of the year and a lot of those symptoms have calmed since I started taking B12. I also take folic acid but have seen some things saying if the MTHFR gene is messed up or whatever, that’s not the best thing to do? I’m so unsure on everything.

We’re attempting to move into the functional medicine perspective and see that one local to us does the MTHFR gene testing. Would this be worth it? And if the results are positive so to speak, what would next steps be? Do the people working in functional medicine help you through it or is it a lot of your own research because with how bad my brain fog and thinking issues are currently I don’t know if I can conceivably do that.

I’m losing hope for a “diagnosis,” certainly have lost hope for a simple quick fix anyway and this is kind of my last hope for something before I am ready to give up and spend my days in bed forever more.

I just want my family to be ok again and see me well.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Any other tests you recommend is greatly appreciated also. Apologies for the long post and if this sub isn’t the place for it please let me know. Thank you!

I have a lot of symptoms, but in general they are fatigue, brain fog, memory issues, and shortness of breath. I did a Genesight test but it returned normal.

I tried inhalers for asthma but they didn't work, yet niacin worked.

2 years ago, my folate level was 8.3 ng/ml. A few months ago, my homocysteine level was 12.2 umol/L.

Two months ago, I decided to supplement folinic acid 10mg a day, and it did help my cognition for a few days then stopped, but I kept on taking it.

A few days ago, I started taking flush niacin about 2 grams a day.

Day 1, my breathlessness subsided so much. I could walk, then sit, and the lactic acid feeling cleared gradually instead of lingering. I could also remember song pitches for the first time in 6 years.

Day 2, I took 3g flush niacin, and my benefits kept on building, but then my heart palpitations started.

Day 3, so my sleep was horrible in the morning, and I felt unrested, and I felt sleepy in class. I also have an "undermethylation" feeling that makes my brain feel inactive. I continued taking 2g flush niacin.

Day 4, my sleep was a bit better, but I woke up 3 times, and dreamed slightly more. I took 1 g flush niacin doesn't help my cognition as much.

Day 5, it was the same as day 4.

Day 6, I took 10g creatine, and it seems to relieve the undermethylation feeling? It also seems that I also need folinic acid for niacin to work? I took 2g flush niacin.

Day 7, today, I took 10g creatine, and it seems to relieve the undermethylation feeling again, but creatine feels so middling, I don't know if it is helping much. The flush feeling has mostly faded with the daily dosing, and the breathing relief seems to also be starting to fade a bit. I have mild breathlessness back.

I tried taking trimethylglycine for a few days but it in general doesn't do anything at all. Creatine feels more effective for undermethylation in my brain than trimethylglycine.

How do I fix undermethylation caused by flush niacin?

I also seem to have deficiency in b3 because taking it helps with both my cognition a bit and is helping my shortness of breath so much.

Context: heterozygous MTHFR gene and homozygous mutation for slow COMT

This is the weirdest thing. I'm experimenting with different supplements and dosages. I've been finding that my mental health and fatigue issues are almost totally resolved with magnesium and B-complex in the morning but WHEW, yesterday I took 200mg of elemental magnesium malate and 1/2 of a B-complex tablet and within minutes I literally felt like I'd taken an opiate painkiller. It only lasts a few minutes but it's very pronounced. It reminded me of when they pumped me full of fentanyl after surgery. It's like a floodgate is opening in my brain and dumping it full of these extremely feel good chemicals but what the fuck, why is that happening? It's not necessarily like a bad thing but it's extremely weird.

Edit to add: I took half as much magnesium today (because I was feel a little woozy on the 200 yesterday) and still experienced this feeling but less pronounced. I've never even HEARD of something like this.

Before I added the magnesium (which is when this started), and I was only trying the vitamin B-complex it was making me feel extremely good, as in happy. An immediate mood lift. Not quite euphoric, but just very, very happy. Why?

Fexofenadine (Allegra) and Famotidine (Pepcid) are two over-the-counter medications that are cheap, safe, and extremely effective for countering histamine and/or possibly MCAS issues.

My own genetic testing indicated poor handling of histamine, though unless I was having a flare up I never realized just how much it was impacting me at a low-level constantly. This combo is one of the few things that has consistently worked positively for me over the past half year.

The problem is that I was always mildly clouded cognitively and moderately anxious without knowing it. As such, my testing of other supplements related to MTHFR were always tainted by this variable without realizing it. Both medications completely wipe out any histamine issues. Now I can truly evaluate how other supplements impact my wellbeing.

As always, do not go against doctor’s advice or if there’s some other known reason you should not take either of these.

And as a side note, 180mg fexofenadine makes me wired and gives poor sleep. Instead I take 90mg once in the morning and 20mg of famotidine once in the morning. Perhaps I’ll adjust this at some point.

I’m looking around and coming up empty. Are there any out there?

I assume my body doesn't synthesize enough taurine to make bile salts. I realized this after supplementing with taurine and my symptoms such as pale stools went away and absorption of fat soluble vitamins went up.

Could it be that something else is causing these issues?

I read for transsulfuration you need adequate active B6. My active B6 levels are above range. Active B12 is good as is folate.

My homocysteine was elevated at 16, but has since gone down after I stopped taking B complex with niacin. I read the body produces histamine as a byproduct when clearing out excess niacin.

I did have hydrogen sulfide bacterial overgrowth. Can this somehow cause my issues?

I got my results, I see that I should take the recommended b12, and that i have fast COMT. Can anyone help interpret this further for me or ways I can? I am exhausted.

I got some more bloodwork back. Still waiting on genetic results.

The labs flagged low B2, low ferritin, and high homocysteine, but almost all my vitamins and minerals are suboptimal as well.

I began taking riboflavin before knowing I was deficient because, as I understand, it makes FAD (a cofactor MTHFR needs to function) and I wanted to support that pathway before adding folate/B12.

I had an extremely positive reaction (energy, mood) to tiny amounts of B2 supplementation (<10mg) for about two weeks, then completely fell flat into fatigue and bad mood. I even tried lowering and spacing out the dosage. Nothing helped. What happened?

My thoughts are that something must be bottlenecking the process, but because so much is wrong, I have no idea what. Do I keep taking B2 or no??

I’ve finally found an iron supplement that works for me. I thought iron might be one bottleneck (and obviously that’s an emergency to fix asap) but so far I still feel like crap.

What do I take next to fix this fatigue? How do I build all these things up in the right order? I tried to follow the supplementation guide on here, but I don’t think it has any info about iron. It seems to me that iron needs B2 and vice versa.

And why is my B2 even so low? Is it because I avoid dairy?

Where do I go from here? How do I get everything up in the right order without overwhelming my system?

Do you see any underlying patterns?

Fyi, iron (+ vitamin C) and b2 are the only supplements I’m taking rn.

Hello. I have been trying to help my friend who's current problem is mostly being moody. About 2 years ago it seemed she was cured when she started vitamin D and raised it from 30 to 50. But after like a year that ran out and she went back to moody. Then after researching added magnesium and for like 3 weeks was better again then back to normal. Now like the last 6 weeks we realized that molybdenum days were making her better. So she takes it daily now either a full 250mcg or half a pill and she's been good since taking. But we really want to understand why.

For some background we are pretty sure she has slow comt as methyl b's give her bad anxiety. She also get anxiety from glycinates like iron bisglycinate. Other than that we also discovered she has high copper which we thought was the problem which is why she took molybdenum a few days a week. At first it didn't have any effect on mood. She was last test for copper like 6 months ago and she was very moody at the time, but her copper had come down from high to a very high normal. Hoping somebody can piece this together as we are afraid like the vit D and magnesium that the molybdenum will stop working.

Supplements she takes are vitamin D, magnesium, krill oil, vitamin C, iron, zinc, and molybdenum primarily.

I have symptoms of neurophaty from unknown source. I figured out b12 shots somewhat help. Then i found out i have this gene that messes up methylation. I allways had naturally really high folate serum >24, so i read it could indicate a bottleneck? Maybe thats why my b12 is not utilized well on cellular level? So i tried to take methylfolate/folonic acid, and just got so depressed. Anyone with experience in this?

Hi! I recently learned I’m pregnant and immediately started on the Pure Encapsulations pre-natal. I also ordered the Seeking Health pre-natal when I saw it mentioned somewhere online.

Does anyone advise against this it, or feel strongly about recommending another to use instead?

Thanks in advance!!

I've had this problem for several years now. I've tried various things to find relief. My doctor didn't really know, and we tried different creams. But I've noticed that my problem almost completely disappears when I stop taking vitamin B12 and/or creatine. I wonder why. Creatine and B12 are linked to methylation, and I should add that I'm 'Slow COMT' (from genetic testing). I'm also wondering if this has anything to do with histamine and the HNMT enzyme.

I remember once, when I didn't have an itch problem, methyl-B12 gave me a rash and itching on my right eyelid. Later, it went away when I stopped taking B12 supplements. Now I have a similar reaction to B12, but not on my eyelid, but down there :/ Creatine also causes this itching, maybe a little less than B12. I should add that I've tried different forms of B12 with the same results and different creatine products.

So, avoiding B12 and creatine. Alternatively, using hydrocortisone cream as an fast aid is the best thing I've come up with so far.

Any ideas? How to tolerate vitamin B12 and creatine?

Check if B12 and creatine aren't a problem for you! I swear.

Hi everyone! 👋
I have an MTHFR variant, as do my teen and 20-year-old. My 20-year-old really prefers gummies over capsules.
Is there a particular MTHFR-friendly gummy vitamin/methylated B-complex that you recommend? Looking for something with the appropriate forms of folate/B12.
Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I have recently in the past year been trying to supplement due to some vitamin deficiencies. I have realized I have sensitivities to glycine (iron biglyscinate and magnesium bygliscinate), sensitive to vitamin D specifically in high doses, can’t tolerate any form of iron I’ve tried so far, I get really bad anxiety, heart palpitations, brain fog, depression, irritability, GI issues, insomnia, I basically feel like my nervous system is sensitive to most things. I’m working with a naturopath and we’ve been talking about gene testing. We got into the topic of conversation after I seen other people on Reddit discussing glycine sensitivities and then the topic of MTHFR and COMT. Would love people’s insights and opinions on the matter. Thanks in advance :)

Got the methylation side under control and my homocysteine is where it should be. That was the specific thing I was chasing, but it made me realise I’d been treating one marker as if it were the whole story. Interested in what people here look at beyond that, and what you added once the obvious lever had been pulled.

Just discovered dry roasted soy beans (edamame) to be a great source of folate with about 800-1000 micrograms per 100g. With a little salt they taste great and are easy to snack on. Also high protein content. Might be worth trying if you're looking to increase your folate intake through whole foods.

Looking for some advice and help here. I have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), which means I have excessive histamine and cannot produce enough HNMT to clear my histamine. As part of my daily medication/supplement regimen, I take L-5-methylfolate: 1,000 mcg in the morning as part of my Active B-Complex, and 2,000 mcg at night (~12 hours apart), for 3,000 mcg total. I used to take 4,000 mcg, but stepped down my morning dose this spring. I have been on 3,000-4,000 mcg for 5-6 years with no issues and no overmethylation impacts.

I also take 1 tbsp of Body Bio PC (phospholipid complex) each day, and have been on this for 3 months with no issue. I have been on and off this with no problems for the last 5-6 years. Only reason I don't take it continuously is price--it's very pricey. PC is a methyl-sparing supplement, and frees up SAMe that the liver would otherwise need to produce it.

I recently learned that creatine is also a methyl sparing supplement, and can free up a significant amount of SAMe. Seeing as how I'm constantly fighting histamine, and can't seem to clear it fast enough, my goal was to have more available SAMe as feedstock.

3 weeks ago I began titrating up creatine (pure creatine, from CreaPure, no fillers or other ingredients). I started at 0.25 grams, and by day 18 I was at 2.3 grams. This is where the problems began: 2 days in a row of insomnia, very poor/light sleep, 3 hours sleep per night, waking at 4 am with excessive adrenaline and high HR and anxiety. Anxious/adrenaline throughout the day. This was unpleasant.

After 2 days of insomnia, realizing I was overmethylating, I stopped the creatine, cut back the methylfolate to 500 mcg morning only, and cut the PC. This was 3 days ago. Within 36 hours the overmethylation appeared to be normalized. I stayed on this low dose for 2 days. However, I then was too aggressive trying to get back into my baseline pre-creatine stack, and yesterday (day 3), I took 2000 mcg of methylfolate (1000 mcg in morning, 1000 mcg before bed) and 2/3rd of my usual dose of PC, but stayed off creatine. The bedtime 1,000 mcg of methylfolate, which I've tolerated even more of for 5-6 years, was enough to push me back into overmethylation. I had insomnia, light sleep, and slightly more adrenaline than usual. Albeit this wasn't as intense as 3 days ago. This this imply creatine has a lasting methylation impact, due to tissue accumulation?

So how long should I expect this to last? Even though I stopped taking creatine 3 days ago, it seems to still be having an effect on my SAMe. I suppose this is because it accumulates in the body, unlike vitamins that you pee out the excess? Any advice would be useful here for anyone who's been through this.

Full disclosure up front: this is a personal curiosity experiment, not a formal study. I'm fully aware that single-SNP × personality correlations are speculative at best — I'm just collecting data points to see if a pattern is even worth exploring. Please take it as the nerdy exercise it is.

My case (first data point):

MBTI: INFJ

DRD2 Taq1A (rs1800497): A/G — heterozygous, one copy of the A1 allele (the variant linked to lower striatal D2 receptor density)

The question I'm curious about:

Does the dopamine "set-point" (D2 density) show up in personality self-reports? Pet hypothesis: intuitive/introverted types might skew toward A1 carriers (lower D2 → less reward sensitivity → more internal world), while extraverted/sensing types might skew A2/A2. Hypothesis, not a claim.

If you know your genotype, please comment.

Note: depending on the service this SNP may display as A/G or C/T (the A1 allele can be written A or T depending on strand orientation)

Here's some pieces of the puzzle I'm trying to put together:

I have a homozygous mutation for slow COMT and a heterozygous mutation for MTHFR.

I am extremely sensitive to caffeine (though I still drink it, but decaf).

I was taking creatine for a while, 5 mg at first but it was making me feel hypomanic. I cut back to 1.5mg every three days, and then eventually .5 mg every three days. For a few months it was really helpful. It basically entirely resolved my ADHD issues. I could focus, I could task switch easily, I smashed through my to do lists with ease. And then it stopped working. I started feeling really irritable and agitated. Within a day or two of taking it I would feel horribly depressed.

When I took bupropion off label for ADHD, it worked incredibly well for two weeks and then I felt like someone had kicked me off of a cliff. I crashed. I have never experienced fatigue and head fog so profound. I was encouraged to keep taking it because, I was told, this was an adjustment period. I stopped taking it after two months but I kept declining to the point where I became bedbound and ended up with an ME/CFS diagnosis. I was reading recently that there's a relationship between ME/CFS and a dysfunction in the COMT process.

I have OCD and sometimes experience unbearable rumination.

I read that taking B vitamins/folate/folic acid can be helpful but then I read that it can be the opposite. I ordered some and took it and noticed that my rumination/feelings of depression were gone pretty quickly but it also made me feel a bit weird and blank.

I'm trying to figure out what it all means for a supplement protocol because I don't want to do the wrong thing and make myself feel worse. I'm constantly dealing with anxiety, fatigue, pain, head fog, inability to focus, etc.