Deplin, medical food?

[Debbie MA]

Has anyone heard about/used Deplin?

http://www.deplin.com/

It’s folic acid in its most readily absorbable form and is capable of passing the blood-brain barrier. The technical name for it is L-methylfolate (MTHF) and it’s available only by prescription and is classified as medical food (??). It is being marketed as an augmentation to antidepressants to increase effectiveness of the medication. My son’s therapist has been using it stand-alone to treat depression and has seen improvement in 15 of 15 patients. I wonder, since it’s used to augment ADs, if it would be activating for some.

I found this

http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071225/msgs/803728.html

Anyway, just passing the information along in case it’s helpful for anyone.

 

[Josie]

My daughter was prescribed this by her first Lyme doctor. He said he had friends of patients coming in and asking for it. He said patients either loved it or it did nothing for them.

I never gave it to my daughter because I was concerned about the doseage being over the Upper Limit for folate for children and I wanted to ask her regular psychiatrist about it. I did some research on it and I think they are fortifying foods with L-methylfolate in Europe so it seems like it would be relatively safe. I was just nervous because it was so new and this doctor wasn't a psychiatrist. I didn't find much online from people who had used it.

He was also going to use it without an SSRI.

It sounds very interesting to me. Has your son tried it?

This doctor also said if it didn't work for my daughter that my husband and I could try it. I haven't done that either.

We have switched doctors since then and her new doctor doesn't know about Deplin so we are not going to give it to her.