The FDA suspended manufacture of leucovorin (folinic acid) due to quality issues in early March and since then, I've been off it and doing rather poorly. Supposedly production has resumed, but I've only been able to get one bottle. It's lasted about a week. Since folinic acid has become key in a number of chemotherapies, its availability may remain limited for a while.
Now that I'm back on it, it's like somebody turned on the vitamin D spigot again. The results have been so dramatic it prompted me to dig deeper. It turns out regulatory T-cells have folic acid receptors [PMID 17613255] and certain autoimmune patients and low-functioning autistics [PMID 18461502] generate autoantibodies against folic acid receptors - quite possibly as the aftereffect of clearing out a viral infection or a cancer that trained B-cells to target the receptor.
If these folic acid receptor antibodies are numerous enough, they can block entry of folic acid into the central nervous system. The receptor is necessary for folic acid to cross the blood-brain barrier. A patient with normal serum folic acid levels might actually be deficient in the CNS which would only show up in a tap - a procedure doctors rarely perform.
It also turns out that low folic acid levels lead to higher vitamin D3 catabolism [PMID 19450178] so if the CNS is deficient in folic acid, vitamin D3 isn't going to function properly - leading to a drop in redox capacity (e.g., low glutathione)/metals detoxification/neurogenesis, loss of antiviral functions/cathelicidin, increased cancer risk and probably autoimmune issues as well. But it's going to be invisible to anybody checking strict serum levels. It makes me wonder if certain vital infections don't deliberately stir up anti-folic acid receptor antibodies to block the antiviral effects of vitamin D3 within the nervous system itself.
The upside, though, is that supplementing with folinic acid shots or a high dose oral folic acid seems to restore CNS levels [PMID 19260931]. Folic acid per se may stimulate Tregs even if patients don't have a deficiency (which probably accounts for why tumors use folic acid and are vulnerable to these antibodies). This may mean folic acid is a good general treatment for autoimmune disorders.
Serum folic acid in general can be affected by autoimmune diseases. In Celiac disease, the levels of transglutaminase antibodies seem inversely correlated to serum folic acid levels [PMID 15861017, 17190764]. Given how a serum drop would affect body-wide vitamin D3 levels and the chemopreventative role of D3, this may be one reason bowel cancer risk goes up in some of these autoimmune diseases. Since estrogen helps stimulate expression of the VDR, this may be a set of factors explaining why bowel cancer is more common in men [PMID 19450178].
These folate receptor antibodies may be a cause of subfertility risk in women [PMID 18950755]. They have been associated with high milk consumption [PMID 19282368] and a milk-free diet can help reduce the autoantibodies [PMID 18355335]. Given the role opioids play regulating antibody production in B-cells [PMID 18387505], I have to wonder if this cross-reaction to folate receptors caused by consuming cow's milk might stem from the molecular similarities between the casein in milk and opioids.
Given that my folinic acid supply will be sporadic for a while, does anybody know where I can find an inexpensive, high dose folate supplement - somewhere on the order of 10mg a day?
> The FDA suspended manufacture of leucovorin (folinic acid) due to > quality issues in early March and since then, I've been off it and doing > rather poorly. Supposedly production has resumed, but I've only been > able to get one bottle. It's lasted about a week. Since folinic acid > has become key in a number of chemotherapies, its availability may > remain limited for a while.
[snip] > It also turns out that low folic acid levels lead to higher vitamin D3 > catabolism [PMID 19450178] so if the CNS is deficient in folic acid, > vitamin D3 isn't going to function properly - leading to a drop in redox > capacity (e.g., low glutathione)/metals detoxification/neurogenesis, > loss of antiviral functions/cathelicidin, increased cancer risk and > probably autoimmune issues as well. But it's going to be invisible to > anybody checking strict serum levels. It makes me wonder if certain > vital infections don't deliberately stir up anti-folic acid receptor > antibodies to block the antiviral effects of vitamin D3 within the > nervous system itself.
[snip] > Given that my folinic acid supply will be sporadic for a while, does > anybody know where I can find an inexpensive, high dose folate > supplement - somewhere on the order of 10mg a day?
. I don't, but I'll pass along a little about what I've found about vitamin metabolism lately. Vitamin B12 works together with a biochemical produced from folic acid for some purposes. This suggests that it may be worthwhile checking if the methylcobalamin form of vitamin B12 (the only form able to enter the brain, and normally produced in a few steps from the cyanocobalamin form normally used for vitamin B12 supplements in the US) offers you any help in using folic acid or folinic acid more efficiently, and therefore decreasing the amount you need.
Although methylcobalamin is available as a supplement, some people have enough trouble absorbing any form of vitamin B12 that they need it delivered as injections. Since it's the normal form of vitamin B12 supplements in Japan, looking for a Japanese vitamin company may help.
I believe I've seen the brand name Methyl-B12 as one possibility.
Some information on vitamin B9, usually taken in the folic acid form if you don't get enough from the folic acid added to most bread:
Vitamin D3 is closer to the form of vitamin D that the body actually uses than the vitamin D2 form often used for vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D is better absorbed if taken along with some oil; therefore the forms of vitamin D3 already dissolved in oil are especially active.
> I don't, but I'll pass along a little about what I've found about vitamin > metabolism lately. Vitamin B12 works together with a biochemical > produced from folic acid for some purposes.
I've been taking magnesium, methyl-B12 and folinic acid shots together for several years now, since I read a paper on homocysteine blocking GABAergic transmission. Once I read the paper, it seemed the right combination to throw against my neuropathy and it worked quite well. All of the methylators I tried from SAMe to TMG worked well too, so that reinforced my decision.
> Vitamin D3 is closer to the form of vitamin D that the body > actually uses than the vitamin D2 form often used for vitamin D > supplements. Vitamin D is better absorbed if taken along with > some oil; therefore the forms of vitamin D3 already dissolved > in oil are especially active.
I've been taking D3 for a while too. It was only when I went off folinic acid that the D3 became ineffective.
You're talking about your immune system working against you.
Curious thing, there. For a little over a year, I had been hearing about low-dose Naltrexone, and quite frankly not believing it. My clinical background caused me to be disdainful of a product with essentially no clinical trials.
You all know how misleading anecdotal evidence can be. But a woman that was pretty much written off as having only a few months to live told me how the Naltrexone had given her a second chance, and I attributed her surge to the sort of thing very common before death. I didn't tell her she was deluding herself, but I told a friend to be ready for a funeral.
Perhaps I was wrong. Low dose Naltrexone is being prescribed by doctors all over the place, and a serious clinical trial showed it helped a small group of women with fibromyalgia. I've seen stories by people with Crohn's, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, other autoimmune issues, several varieties of cancer.
But those are purely academic till you see someone getting better from lung cancer.
I'm impressed. It's not a cure, it just helps the body's immune processes be more appropriately directed, and that would be a good thing to have on board for celiac, Crohn's, carcinoma, or so many other conditions that depend on the immune system to do its job by distinguishing its targets better.
But I'm not trying to sell something, don't know or care if you do any research on it, don't care if you decide it is or isn't for you or someone you know. But I do care that the protocol isn't even being mentioned. Well, it is, but not much. I'm mentioning it. Just for the purpose of inviting people to do some checking on it. Your research, your choice, my invitation to look at a "can't hurt, might help" thing.
> The FDA suspended manufacture of leucovorin (folinic acid) due to > quality issues in early March and since then, I've been off it and doing > rather poorly. Supposedly production has resumed, but I've only been > able to get one bottle. It's lasted about a week. Since folinic acid > has become key in a number of chemotherapies, its availability may > remain limited for a while.
> Now that I'm back on it, it's like somebody turned on the vitamin D > spigot again. The results have been so dramatic it prompted me to dig > deeper. It turns out regulatory T-cells have folic acid receptors [PMID > 17613255] and certain autoimmune patients and low-functioning autistics > [PMID 18461502] generate autoantibodies against folic acid receptors - > quite possibly as the aftereffect of clearing out a viral infection or a > cancer that trained B-cells to target the receptor.
> If these folic acid receptor antibodies are numerous enough, they can > block entry of folic acid into the central nervous system. The receptor > is necessary for folic acid to cross the blood-brain barrier. A patient > with normal serum folic acid levels might actually be deficient in the > CNS which would only show up in a tap - a procedure doctors rarely > perform.
> It also turns out that low folic acid levels lead to higher vitamin D3 > catabolism [PMID 19450178] so if the CNS is deficient in folic acid, > vitamin D3 isn't going to function properly - leading to a drop in redox > capacity (e.g., low glutathione)/metals detoxification/neurogenesis, > loss of antiviral functions/cathelicidin, increased cancer risk and > probably autoimmune issues as well. But it's going to be invisible to > anybody checking strict serum levels. It makes me wonder if certain > vital infections don't deliberately stir up anti-folic acid receptor > antibodies to block the antiviral effects of vitamin D3 within the > nervous system itself.
> The upside, though, is that supplementing with folinic acid shots or a > high dose oral folic acid seems to restore CNS levels [PMID 19260931]. > Folic acid per se may stimulate Tregs even if patients don't have a > deficiency (which probably accounts for why tumors use folic acid and > are vulnerable to these antibodies). This may mean folic acid is a good > general treatment for autoimmune disorders.
> Serum folic acid in general can be affected by autoimmune diseases. In > Celiac disease, the levels of transglutaminase antibodies seem inversely > correlated to serum folic acid levels [PMID 15861017, 17190764]. Given > how a serum drop would affect body-wide vitamin D3 levels and the > chemopreventative role of D3, this may be one reason bowel cancer risk > goes up in some of these autoimmune diseases. Since estrogen helps > stimulate expression of the VDR, this may be a set of factors explaining > why bowel cancer is more common in men [PMID 19450178].
> These folate receptor antibodies may be a cause of subfertility risk in > women [PMID 18950755]. They have been associated with high milk > consumption [PMID 19282368] and a milk-free diet can help reduce the > autoantibodies [PMID 18355335]. Given the role opioids play regulating > antibody production in B-cells [PMID 18387505], I have to wonder if this > cross-reaction to folate receptors caused by consuming cow's milk might > stem from the molecular similarities between the casein in milk and > opioids.
> Given that my folinic acid supply will be sporadic for a while, does > anybody know where I can find an inexpensive, high dose folate > supplement - somewhere on the order of 10mg a day?
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