3 ms·

One might be the MTHFR mutation. I forget the percentage, but a dizzying amount of westerners suffer from it - and it basically always gets misdiagnosed as depr

One might be the MTHFR mutation. I forget the percentage, but a dizzying amount of westerners suffer from it - and it basically always gets misdiagnosed as depression. Supplementing with B12 helps, to a degree (you're providing more input to a broken machine), but you can supplement 5-MTHF (methylfolate) to get what the mutation inhibits your body from producing. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326181 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326181

Aurornis 3y ago
> One might be the MTHFR mutation. I forget the percentage, but a dizzying amount of westerners suffer from it - and it basically always gets misdiagnosed as depression. MTHFR has been hijacked by alternative medicine and exaggerated into an "explains everything" diagnosis. The first red flag is that MTHFR pushers use it to explain ever vague disorder under the sun: Depression, anxiety, stomach issues, being tired, being unhappy, inflammation, etc. If you name it, chances are someone on an alternative health board will spring up and suggest MTHFR as a narrative, or other variations on the theme ("methylation", etc.) The second red flag is when they moved to diagnosis anyone with any mutation, including heterozygous people, as "having it". This isn't backed by evidence and was purely an attempt to stretch the diagnosis to cover more people, Internet MTHFR and "methylation" advice is generally terrible. Don't buy into it. You can actually test for high homocysteine levels in the blood, but most MTHFR proponents skip that step and just assume they "have it" and that B12 and Methylfolate will solve all of their problems (they don't). Alternative medicine has stepped in to provide endless articles, podcasts, and paid advice about supplements to add to deal with MTHFR, which of course never work because MTFHR isn't the root cause of all of their symptoms. It's terrible.

Aurornis 3y ago

> One might be the MTHFR mutation. I forget the percentage, but a dizzying amount of westerners suffer from it - and it basically always gets misdiagnosed as depression. MTHFR has been hijacked by alternative medicine and exaggerated into an "explains everything" diagnosis. The first red flag is that MTHFR pushers use it to explain ever vague disorder under the sun: Depression, anxiety, stomach issues, being tired, being unhappy, inflammation, etc. If you name it, chances are someone on an alternative health board will spring up and suggest MTHFR as a narrative, or other variations on the theme ("methylation", etc.) The second red flag is when they moved to diagnosis anyone with any mutation, including heterozygous people, as "having it". This isn't backed by evidence and was purely an attempt to stretch the diagnosis to cover more people, Internet MTHFR and "methylation" advice is generally terrible. Don't buy into it. You can actually test for high homocysteine levels in the blood, but most MTHFR proponents skip that step and just assume they "have it" and that B12 and Methylfolate will solve all of their problems (they don't). Alternative medicine has stepped in to provide endless articles, podcasts, and paid advice about supplements to add to deal with MTHFR, which of course never work because MTFHR isn't the root cause of all of their symptoms. It's terrible.