Pots, or postural orthostatic tachycardia, is a complex condition which often appears in people with MTHFR gene variances, so in this post we explore possible links between MTHFR and POTS.

MTHFR is one of those topics that can send parents down a rabbit hole very quickly. A child has anxiety, allergies, ADHD symptoms, food sensitivities, a tongue-tie, a sacral dimple, or a “sugar bug” vein between the eyes, and suddenly the internet says: “It’s MTHFR.” While it may be MTHFR, the truth is far more nuanced and definitely less scary.

Two human figures made of glowing wires and neor representing Norepinephrine and methylation. Norepinephrine is both a neurotransmitter in the brain and a hormone in the body, and more importantly, symptoms of low or high norepinephrine could tell us something about methylation patterns.

If you’ve been exploring your genetics, you may already be familiar with the MTHFR gene and its role in methylation. But if you also carry a slow MAOA variant, it adds an entirely different layer—one that directly impacts mood, stress response, and neurotransmitter balance. MTHFR and slow MAOA must be optimized together to avoid making symptoms worse.

If you've been feeling off lately, struggling with unexplained fatigue, mood swings, or other hormone imbalances, you might be wondering if there’s a deeper cause. One possibility that often goes unnoticed is an MTHFR gene mutation, because MTHFR symptoms in females can present differently than they do in males.

Vitamin B6 supports brain function, helps produce neurotransmitters, and assists in red blood cell formation. Because of these benefits, some people take supplements in doses far exceeding the recommended daily allowance (RDA), hoping to improve mood, reduce anxiety, or manage neuropathic pain. The RDA for adults is about 1.3 to 2 mg per day, but some supplements provide doses of 50 mg or more, sometimes reaching several hundred milligrams daily.

Sleep anxiety is the nightmare scenario where fearing that you won't get good sleep causes you to not get good sleep.

We blame neurotransmitters for everything, and try to use them to fix every mental health disorder in the book, but should we? Depression must be low serotonin, and anxiety must be too low or too high norepinephrine. But this view has its limits, and more and more research is confirming that neurological inflammation may be as important or even more important than neurotransmitter levels.

Neuroplasticity is part of the way your brain learns what is important to you. The pathways between neurons that you use most frequently get strengthened and prioritized because they matter to you. Your brain just assumes that the things you think about and do with your brain frequently are the things that are helping to keep you alive and functioning. Not the things that are making your life miserable, like negative self-talk or catastrophizing.