Im currently pregnant and have been type 1 for 20 years. Can anyone tell me what a proper amount of folic acid to take is? Ive looked it up online and get all sorts of different answers. I just dont want to take too much and am not sure if that would be bad if i did. Currently taking a prenatal with 600mg and a folate supplement with 1000mg. Is 1600mg too much??
Thank you Joe, i will do that once i see her for my next appointment. I was just curious of what other type 1 women were taking when they were pregnant
that’s great news - I wouldn’t normally answer (i’m unqualified) but I know how important this is - when my wife was pregnant we discussed this and were given a “patient portal” to talk to the doctors and it worked really well… Honestly, you can ask your doctor’s office and have the doctor call you. there’s a lot of “do’s” and “don’t s” out there and its better safe than sorry. good luck on this exciting time!
Thank you Joe! So my main reason i guess for asking this is because my OB gyn prescribed me an additional folic acid supplement, since im diabetic she said, and when i picked it up from pharmacy i noticed it was 1000 mg and thought that was a bit much since im already taking the prenatal with 600 mg. Shes out of the office until next week so i suppose i could call and ask my endocrinologist, too. Is your wife type 1 as well? The doctor portal sounds awesome, though im sure they would be annoyed with me and all of my questions after about a day haha
I am a T1D and 23 weeks pregnant. I am personally choosing to take 1800 mg of folic acid. Is it the right answer? Not sure. I chose to do this based on a pregnancy/diabetes book I read. In it, the author talked about how new, recent studies showed that diabetics needed more than the recommended amount of folic acid. 2000 mg sounds familiar, but I wasn’t able to find a supplement to get exactly 2000 on top of my prenatal. I hope I’m making sense! I am definitely not anywhere close to being in the medical field, but I thought I’d chime in since this is something I’m doing as well!
Thank you Holly! I was really curious to know if anyone else had taken this much during pregnancy since ive read that you should only take 800 max. This helps me alot, thank you! Im also going to ask my doctor about it again when i see her next
No it’s just me. I am sure her supplements included folic and that it was important. Good luck!
I am more than likely significantly older than you. However, I have had 3 successful pregnancies but albeit at another time. I did have a top notch diabetologist that had his pregnant women wear pumps when they were virtually unheard of (34 years ago) and a top notch high risk obstetrician. In those days they had you take a prenatal vitamin the same as other pregnant women. There were no supplemental folic acid suggestions at that time, but I do understand the reasoning is to decrease the risk of neural tube defects. But too much folic acid can interfere with other B vitamins. That being said, I would wait until your OB returns and in the mean time take your prenatal vitamin and eat a healthy balanced diet that includes folic vitamin rich foods.