Methylation:
Dd's bottom teeth are turning in, and I believe I have a slight tongue tie. This prompted me to request a MTHFR gene test from my doctor as a prenatal screening test. It was covered by insurance.

I have one copy of C677T and one copy of A1298C. This means I need double folate and that folic acid is bad for me. The BHMT "backdoor" reaction will be very helpful to keep the methylation cycle spinning.

Transsulfuration:

The CBS gene is like a slider for how fast the transsulfuration process goes, and so for much meat (methionine) you should eat (I think). I've been listening closely to my body for the past year+, and it is telling me loud and clear that meat is good for me. So I'm pretty confident that I don't have to worry that my CBS is working too fast.

I believe my dopamine levels are low. I have trouble focusing on anything other than this :), and I believe my prolactin levels are high. Dopamine inhibits prolactin, and I've always had a plentiful milk supply. Vitamin D is necessary to make dopamine, and I tested low on a blood test for 25(OH)D back in December.

Glucuronidation:

I've had many rounds of antibiotics in my life, and one last month. I was born by C-section, to a mom who was not breastfed herself. In other words, I have no reason to believe my gut bacteria are all friendly. I bet that beta-glucuronidase is an issue for me.

I get enough protein, so I'm just assuming my amino acid conjugation detox pathway is fine and I'm ignoring it.

Acetylation:
This pathway uses coenzyme A, thiamine and vitamin C. I've been supplementing massive doses of pantothenic acid (precursor to coA) with good results. I think I'm relying heavily on this pathway. I'm going to continue supporting it, but hope that my reliance on it disappears.

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Planned interventions:
Methylation:
-dietary folate
-folapro
-methyl B12
-B6
-betaine
-phosphatidylcholine
-phosphatidylserine

Transsulfuration:
-magnesium
-B6

Acetylation:
-continue with mega doses of B5
-replace B complex with thiamine

Dopamine:
-improve vitamin D status with a UVB lamp, then reassess.

Glucuronidation
:
-probiotics (water kefir, sauerkraut, introduce goat milk kefir?)
-calcium D-glucurate

I want to implement all this, then reassess the situation and see how it's going.
There's been a change in plans.

My symptoms are primarily mental, and a little bit digestive.
Dd's symptoms are mostly digestive, and some pee issues. There are behavior things too, but they can largely be explained by tummy aches, etc.

When I started adding folate to my diet (it had been pretty low before, we'd eliminated most rich folate sources), the next day I had a particularly low moment. My explanation is this:

My dopamine is low. Adding folate turned up the methyl cycle, creating more methyl groups. COMT requires methyl groups to inactivate dopamine. So in effect, I got better at breaking down what little dopamine I had to work with. And that made for a not happy Shannon. So now I'm looking at what is needed to create dopamine. Tyrosine (check), BH4 (likely low), and vitamin D (tested low at the beginning of winter). So I'm now operating on the assumption that my low vitamin D is a main reason why my dopamine is so low. And I need to raise that before I can speed up the methyl cycle with folate.

I've also been going over in my head which pathways are responsible for this food mess we're in. From what I can come up with, my own detox pathways weren't in all that bad of shape, but the allergy elimination diet created some issues. Dd on the other hand, must have a worse set of genes, detox-wise. My mild folate deficiency is a much bigger deal to her, and she's in greater need of methyl groups. Since that's the top of the chain, it puts her in a not-so-good place, detox wise. That's why her food reactions are way more intense than mine, and why hers are more physical while mine are more mental? It's a theory, anyway.

New plan:

Me: Intensive UVB exposure to raise my vitamin D levels. As they get higher, start over with the original plan.

Dd: Don't avoid UVB exposure, but don't specifically make it a goal. Increase her vitamin D more through being outside on nice days and through my milk as my status improves. Offer her folate-rich foods and watch for the eczema on her face to go away.
I looked into getting an UVB light. Apparently, you need a written prescription from an MD. There are UVB lights for some reptiles also. Which basically serve the same purpose. They are not cheap. Did you find some info about the amount of "suntan" exposure you are supposed to need from the tanning spa? Frequency, duration?

It is all interesting, as we worshiped the sun as kids and spent hours laying in the sun...

Pat
I actually got my doctor to write a prescription for me :) Since I had the low vit D test and it was January, it wasn't too much to ask for. the prescription lamp is something like 35% UVB, and according to the site I bought it from, tanning bed lights are about 5% UVB. Since skin color and such is so variable, I think it's really a guess and check sort of system.

It felt so good, and the warm was still with me, half an hour later in the rain :)
Shannon,

do you already have the lamp? Was it expensive? My vit. D level is really low. I'm wondering if my doctor would rx one too.

Carren
I ordered this one a couple of days ago and it should be here in the next couple days. We're hoping that insurance covers it - with a prescription, 'durable medical equipment' is supposed to be covered 90%
Ok gotcha. I just asked on the dopamine video than if increasing mehtylation could actually make things worse, and from what you are saying here, the answer is yes, that is what happened to you when you supp'd with folate.

ETA: Oh, okay, so it's not that you then don't want to increase methylation. You still want to increase methylation, it's just that you want to fix the first process first, the production of regular levels of dopamine. Is that correct? There's part of me that says that, well, maybe the methyl groups are low for that particular reason because that is how their particular body is designed to deal with the low dopamine. Like you said, someone could have low dopamine and not have any bad effects from that, if their methyl groups and COMT are low. However, maybe that's not really true because if we are low in vitamin D it is a result of our modern diet and society, not "just how an individual's body is". I am talking out loud here and answering my own questions I guess! But feel free to correct me!
That's totally on track with what I'm thinking.

I've actually been in awe of my genetics today :) I have MTHFR mutations which should cause a buildup of homocysteine. But I don't have that because I think I have a CBS upregulation (fast transsulfuration). Fast transsulfuration makes lots of ammonia, which can be bad news when combined with the BH4 deficiency caused by one of the MTHFR mutations. But since I have the other MTHFR mutation, my methyl cycle goes slower, and so I'm not breaking down the dopamine quickly. And so my net result (I think) is plenty of methyl groups for what my body needs and open other detox pathways. And a propensity for low dopamine that can be overcome by tweaking my diet a bit. Cool, huh?

Dd is another story...
Yes, that's actually very cool. SO what that leads to then is... how to know which things that at first appear to veer from normal, might actually be your own body's way of compensating for another difference?

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