Re: Anxiety, depression, and more. I feel terrible.

There are very few naturopaths doing gene testing - look online for any nearest to you.
A general naturopath will more than likely have you do a plethora of different tests, saliva hormones etc which will cost a lot, extra money too for their supplements. It's still a valid route to go down but in reality the protocol many suggest are ones which are available online to anyone - eat well...cut out refined foods, sugars, caffeine, alcohol etc..more veggies and fruits...etc etc...take a good multi supp.(that you cant be sure you necessarily need), take some herbs (which you could easily react to) ...It's a blind alley to start pouring vits and herbs into yourself if you don't know without spending hundreds on tests - if you need them.

With funds being tight at the moment it is best to do an elimination protocol....really strip down the diet (fail-safe diet as suggested above)...this will determine which foods are potentially causing you trouble without you being aware.
To be honest a fully stripped-down diet is not nutritionally complete so only be on it for a week and slowly introduce food groups, like dairy...sulfur veg, gluten etc...see which foods you react to. Keep a journal to keep track of where you're at...helps to look back on it to see when symptoms occurred and with which foods.

Try to cut out caffeine for a while...i know it's a bind as caffeine is one stimulant the world is addicted to, understandably, but i had a friend with coeliac who was allergic to the very tiny amount of oil found in fresh ground coffee beans. They would rather be on medication for bad peristalsis and gut dysbiosis for life than give up coffee amazingly!

Stop any supplements and then try vit C to start...1g a day...see how you react. Add magnesium (malate, citrate NOT oxide)...that's excellent for health in general coupled with vit C. These are the cheaper supplements yet the most worthwhile.

I really would recommend GABA when funds allow for your anxiety. There are numerous herbs and other supps for anxiety, and i've tried a huge handful of the better known ones which didn't do squat for my anxiety...GABA is the brain's 'calming' neurotransmitter. Only thing that actually did what it's known to do for me.

When funds allow save up the 100 for the 23andme test. A practitioner will cost you easily 500-1000 bucks for testing and feedback/supps.

With the MTHFR mutation you can treat it through diet by eliminating folic acid fortified foods (cereals, breads, anything with flour in it, and grain products) for starters.
B vitamins and B12 are kinda essential - i buy the 'B-Right' from Jarrows - it has many of the bioavailable forms of the B's in it, instead of all synthetic B's which most supps have.
Again - see how you go with B vits - they can give symptoms.

Again restricting folate foods i have found to benefit me, even if it is 'natural folate' from greens for example. There's a bit of controversy whether natural food folate is good for MTHFR people or not, but essentially the body still has to convert folate to methylfolate using MTHFR so if that gene is not working well, that conversion won't be done...giving you a high blood folate but a cellular deficiency.
Methyl Folate supplements are what is needed really. Alongside a good B12 (methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin and hydroxycobalamin - depending on gene results). Vit C too. That's a stripped-down protocol.
Certainly just stay away from all food with folate and folic acid.
Niacin also absorbs methyl donors, so it's not that great for someone with MTHFR. It's good to take if once you start on methylfolate supplementation, which introduces methyl donors to the body, causing detox to start, if the detox reaction is too much, taking niacin helps to calm down symptoms due to it's actions of absorbing methyl.
Over-methylating people do well on niacin. MTHFR people have very little methylation occuring and generally are under-methylated.

It's best to follow a MTHFR protocol once you know you have it. In the meantime try the fail-safe diet elimination route and GABA for the bouts of anxiety. That's the cheapest method i can think of in your situation.

It takes some planning and diligence even to focus just on diet and sticking to it, when plagued with symptoms, so keep it simple and start from there. Be strict with yourself. As an aside note i read often many naturopaths and MD's say we are generally addicted to the foods/drinks we are allergic to, so keep that in mind when analysing what you eat...it's worth trying to go without the food you most desire to see if symptoms change.

Keep us posted on how you get on...CZ is a great place for support....good luck :-) Tweet