Folic Acid.

[MWB]

Is it medically & scientifically proven to reduce spina bifida in fetuses?

[sqad617]

Yes.

[mollykins]

Does it reduce the chances of getting it or just reduces the symptoms?

[sqad617]

molly ....I don't understand your question as you cannot have symptoms of spina bifida without the anatomical defect.

Folic acid, taken early in pregnacy REDUCES the risk of spina bifida and other spinal and neurological defects.

[blackietwo]

squad617 is correct.

[blackietwo]

there are no symptoms if you are expecting a child with neural tube defect. folic acid reduces the risk but does not omit it. urine tested in early pregnancy can detect it. alpha feta protein shows in your urine in increased amounts. large amounts are only detected in neural tube defects and multiple pregnancys eg twins further tests are then needed

[mollykins]

Its just that my symptoms aren't that bad - i think its just that i was lucky that the the operation was successful, as someone else that was born a few days before me, in the same ward, in is a wheelchair.

My neurologist says that i can do anything i want excpet deep sea diving because my shunt from hydrocefilis(probly spelt wrong) which many people get if they have spina bifida, means that i can't cope with the pressure of deep water. But my back does realy ache the next day if i've been playing hockey but if i can help it, i don't do hockey.

[sqad617]

Right....then you had spina bifida and secondary hydrocephalus and almost certainly a type of shunt,?Spitz Holter, and now have neurological signs and symptoms.

I assume that you are wondering if taking Folic Acid now, will reduce the symptoms of your residual neurological deficit................NO.

[blackietwo]

oh i thought you were asking about folic acid because you were expecting a baby. it only helps to reduce the risk of your baby developing defects whilst still in the womb.

[MWB]

Hi.

It's just the NZ government have decided not to put folic acid in all bread baked here.

The bakers's are happy though, apparently.

[sqad617]

MWB...seems a good decision to me, but sorry for the pregnant males...LOL

[MWB]

Pregnant...........................pauses.

[mollykins]

Yes i have a vp shunt. (don't ask me to spell it because i know what the word is roughly but have no idea how to spell it.)

I once confused a doctor in the xray department with the tube in my neck. I'd just come off holiday and had a braid in my hair. i had to have an xray and when it was developed, they saw this line down my neck and were confused. and they kept holding it up to me to see where it was a decided it was the wrong shape/place for the braid. (they couldnt see the shunt because the xray was only of my neck and chest.) then after a few minutes of wondering, i said i have a tube in my neck from a shunt could that be it? But the docotr had never heard of it else he would have probly thought of it before or maybe they're rare so he didn't think of it.

[sqad617]

molly....quite interesting...VP is ventriculoperitoneal shunt. It drains the excess CSF from your brain to the peritoneal cavity in your stomach from where it is absorbed.

For your interest:

A common pediatric shunt is the Spitz-Holter shunt. It is a tiny one-way valve that releases controlled amounts of CSF from the brain to the heart. Spitz refers to the American neurosurgeon Eugene B. Spitz. Holter refers to the designer of the valve, John Holter, who was unable to save his son Casey from hydrocephalus, but his design, the Spitz-Holter valve/shunt, has helped millions around the world since the late 1950s.

[mollykins]

By the way, the braid did have a shiny probly metalic bit in it and thats why he thought it was that.