I flush BIG time from niacin but I find that I can get a boost in my HDL which I need in addition to the huge LDL drop I get from Lipitor.

I found something that helps avoid the unbearable flushing.

I have ALWAYS flushed badly at 375 mg. immediate action niacin (3/4 of a 500 mg. tablet.) I take niacin ONLY on a full stomach and can then tolerate 125 mg with no flush. (On an empty stomach ANY amount is unbearable.)
Since my flushes usually last about 10-15 minutes, I figured that that amount of time was what it took to absorb, peak and eliminate or deactivate most of it.

Thus, yesterday I had a decent peortion of spaghetti and meatballs and 15 minutes later I took 125 mg quarter pill, a half hour later I took another and a half hour after that another...NO FLUSH AT ALL and a 375 mg. total!
Thus I am in effect giving myself a SLIGHT extended release formulation but probably no more than 90 minutes...far faster than even Niaspan so it should be pretty safe.

It is a bit of a pain in the asp (like Cleopatra) to do this timing, especially if I am running around outside, but I'll see if I can work something around this!

So here's something to help those who want to take immediate release niacin but not TOO immediate!:D

Guess what, it works.

I can take 125 mg. 10 minutes after a meal and another 125 mg. 20 minutes later and a third 20 minutes after that. Taking the 375 at once is impossibly flushy. I might try to squeeze the time frame tighter so that I don't have to be thinking niacin all day long.

I presume I'm getting MOST of the benefits of a single 375 mg. dose. :confused:

Lenin,

I am glad you are figuring out what is working--I can tell you what doesn't work for me :D The last two nights, I took my 1000 mg early on and with 325 mg asprin. About 2 hrs later I am laying in bed and the flushing begins--no big deal. Then, what has happened only a few times now, this intense itching on my arms/legs, that drives me just about out of my mind. I scratch the living heck out of my skin because it so intense. The only time I get it this bad is when I know I am dehydrated from doing a lot of exercise that day and failing to rehydrate properly (including, but not always, wine consumption).

From what I read, the benefits are greater from single high doses than from split multiple lower level doses.

I haven't experienced any of those side effects from Niacin (both non-flush and regular). I did however, get intense chills and the itching, like creepy crawlies the first month I was on Policosanol. I started taking that at bedtime, and don't notice any side effects.

Since I haven't noticed anything from the Niacin I'm starting to wonder if it's doing anything for me. I'm taking 500 mg per day, and this is the third month I've been taking it.

One of these days I have to get the nerve up to go back to the doc's I guess and get my cholesterol retested, but I swear he wants nothing to do with me if I don't agree to statins, which I have not changed my mind about at all. Anyone know of another way to get the blood tested, without it costing a fortune?

Cobalt,

Gosh, 2 hours later...I think the longest I have ever had to wait for a flush was 30 minutes. Usually 15 is more the ticket.
I may be getting more of a "quick hit" with my triple dosing than you are with a single dose because all the flushing is well and truly done 90 minutes after the first dose (and about 20 minutes after the last.)
Are you sure you aren't taking something of a "time-release" niacin...whether advertised as such or not. I'm assuming that the flush occurs at the blood peak of nictotinic acid.

momcat,
What is it that makes your current doctor cheaper than another you might go to? Is it an insurance thing?

I guess you might say that would be part of it. It's not the co-pay, it's all the other junk that I believe would be required. Truth is, he's the only GP I've seen for 19 years. For most of that time, I was on an HMO that wouldn't let me see anyone else, without changing my primary. And per that HMO I couldn't see anyone else for anything without getting a referral from him. That changed this year when I started a new job, and excised myself from my husband's coverage, and onto my own. My new coverage is a BCBS, and I can technically see anyone I want, without permission. But I have searched around and can't find any other doc's in this county that have Saturday or late hours. Which my current doc does. Not only Saturday regular hours, but Sunday too. I am the newbie at work and don't want to keep taking time off. It doesn't look good, let alone I need the time to visit with my daughter and grandaughter in Virginia. That's a full day's drive every time we go. I hate not being able to see them except a couple of times a year, given the Navy's scheduling.

It was my thought that maybe there was another way to get some blood work done, without having to go through all of the rigamarole of establishing service with another doc. But I don't know if that can be done, let alone how. Any ideas?

Cobalt,

Gosh, 2 hours later...I think the longest I have ever had to wait for a flush was 30 minutes. Usually 15 is more the ticket.
I may be getting more of a "quick hit" with my triple dosing than you are with a single dose because all the flushing is well and truly done 90 minutes after the first dose (and about 20 minutes after the last.)
Are you sure you aren't taking something of a "time-release" niacin...whether advertised as such or not. I'm assuming that the flush occurs at the blood peak of nictotinic acid.


Yikes, this just happened to me! Previously, I had taken my 500mg controlled release tablet and the flushing happened within about 15 minutes. Today, I took it with my midday meal and lo and behold, no flush. THEN, 2 hours later, on comes the flush and it's the worst EVER. All over me - hot and unbearably itchy. And instead of 60 minutes, it's lasted hours. It's been several hours and my face is still flushed. Plus, my heart's beating fast - 80-90 at rest, and with a few PACs too. That is quite abnormal for me. My resting heartrate has always been in the 50s. The heck with this!! I'm stopping this stuff till I can talk to my doctor. I'll start with the smallest possible "no-flush" dose and titrate up *very* slowly. Don't want another day like this one if I can possibly avoid it!

Gosh, I've been taking these same pills for 5 days now and I thought I was getting used to them. I wonder why it would suddenly hit me like a freight train today? Can niacin build up and accumulate in the body?

Wintergarden,

I think that an extended release, or slow release, or long acting niacin will always risk a protracted flush once it occurs. With immediate release plain nictotinic acid the stuff is aborbed quick, flushed and is finished. With any slow relkease, one the flush dosage is reached it STAYS there for a long time. I have enough trouble with quick flushes and the longest that I truly thought might KILL me lasted 20 minutes. Had it gone much longer, I think I'd have actually died from anxiety and fright!

Why is it worse some days...hard to say. Maybe JUST the right stuff in the stomach; maybe your "histamine stores" <to coin a phrase> were brim full. MAybe you were on the brink of an allergy reaction from pollen or something else and this pushed you over the edge.
I doubt you'll find out. it seems that sometimes we just FLUSH worse than at ather times.

If you want to avoid the LONG flush, I suggest titrating with REGULAR niacin...at least it's pretty predictable. I'd prefer to choose when the niacin hits my liver than to allow some vitamin company to make that decision.

Lenin,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you....been working on a presentation for San Antonio next week....

Anyway, yes, I am on Niaspan...and believe it or not it does take 2 hr to show up (sometimes less, sometimes more!) I joke with people that my metabolism is just too slow (too efficient?) and hangs on to everything too long, extracting too greatly--wonder if there are any studies linking those who "move things along" faster to less incidence of weight gain from the same amount of food ingested. Might explain partially the whole "metabolism" thing.

Oh, one more thing--I was not obeying the conventional advice of taking aspirin 30 min prior to niacin. Now that I started doing this the last few days, no more flush/itch reactions. I thought I could just get by taking it all at the same time (you know, that is the same mentality that contributed to my heart attack in the first place) ;)

Just in case I don't have time to write again, be back on the 17th.