Folic Acid And Hallucination . I Had Been Taking 5mg

Posted on Sun, 19 Apr 2020

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 Answered on

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Question : Folic acid and hallucination. I had been taking 5mg folic acid due to low levels in a blood test, 3 years post chemotherapy. I took the first 2 packets, then couldn't find the 3rd packet for my last 28 days, but after a few weeks I found the packet yesterday, and started taking again. Last night I started seeing things that were not there, just mild, for example had to rewind the tv twice because I saw a monkey, and another time a sweet potato, just randomly. When I went to bed I had incredibly vivid dreams, I actually woke my wife to tell her about the dreams as normally I don't remember dreams at all, it's been years. Just seems to be a coincidence with the folic acid 5mg? I also take 30mg Citalopram and 80mg Propanalol, have been on these for 3 years.

Follow up: Dr. Sudhir Kumar (5 hours later)

I am prone to migrane headaches, but Propanalol held keep this under control, and I have a large archnid cyst, behind my right eye, but had a cyst scan a few years ago and was told it should be nothing to worry about. I have also been getting more frequent headaches over the last month. Sorry, just trying to give a bit of background.

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (23 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Folic acid does not cause hallucinations.

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for posting your query.

I am Dr Sudhir Kumar, Neurologist, and I would try my best to help you.

I have noted your clinical details. Based on this, folic acid does not seem to be the cause of hallucinations. Folic acid is a water soluble vitamin and if any excess is taken, it is excreted via urine. In any case, you have not taken any excess dose of folic acid.

So, the question still remains why you got the visual hallucinations. Citalopram is known to cause abnormal dreams as well as hallucinations. If symptoms recur, you may try to reduce the dose of citalopram or consult your psychiatrist.

I hope my answer helps. Please get back if you have any follow up queries or if you require any additional information.

Wishing you good health,

Dr Sudhir Kumar MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist
Apollo Hospitals, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX
Click on this link to ask me a DIRECT QUERY: http://bit.ly/Dr-Sudhir-kumar
My BLOG: http://bestneurodoctor.blogspot.in

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar