Niacin Side Effects - High Cholesterol Message Board

starship · 07-25-2006, 08:51 PM

I bought some regular niacin tablets 100 mg. Within twenty minutes, I experienced flushing.

My face was red as a beet and my arms, hands and neck looked like I had a really bad rash. It itched a little too. Is this an allergic reaction or is this a normal flush? It went away after 45 minutes. Will be holding off taking any more till I see my doctor in august. I am desperate to lower my cholesterol numbers since I cannot take statins. Thanks.

ARIZONA73 · 07-25-2006, 09:11 PM

It's a harmless reaction, but is quite common. I've had the same experience, and I've been taking niacin for 20 years. Maybe I'm a little different than most people, but I never seemed to mind the flush. But it gets better after a while, once you've gotten used to it. After a while, you shouldn't feel it nearly as much. In fact, most of the time I hardly feel anything at all.

Lenin · 07-26-2006, 06:01 AM

starship,

That's a normal flush for me too and about what I'd get with 100 mg. When I tried 500 mg. I got angioedema which is swollen lips, tongue, eyelids that can sometimes cause throat closure and suffocation. It scared me to death.

There is only one route you can go with niacin and that's to try some of the slow release preparations either called long-acting, or extended release, or even inositol hexanicotinate (sp?)
Consider 500 mg. the bare minimum for any beneficial effect on cholesterol.

I like something called SLO-NIACIN by Upsher-Smith but that's because I find it often in a sale bin in one of my fave bargain stores. Even with the slow release formulations, taking it with some aspirin and last thing at night help prevent the slight flushing that might occur.

Some pundits say that you can start with a tiny dose of "regular" niacin and work your way up with time. After many tries at this, I have found it to be completely untrue.

uneamie · 07-26-2006, 12:02 PM

Instead of doing the Niacin why not try "Red Yeast Rice", "flaxseed oil" or 1200 mgs of "fish oil" tablets. I do a combo of "fish oil", 6oz of red wine per evening, and 600 mgs of Red Yeast Rice tablets and my LDL came down dramaticly. My HDL increased and my Tri's went down as well. All in all I did very good using this combination of suppliments.

If you choose to take the Red Yeast Rice then you must also take at least 300 mgs of COQ10 enzyme because Red Yeast Rice is considered a "natural statin" and depletes this enzyme from your body. The end result can be "myopathy" which is damage to your muscles and heart.
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Good luck to you.

mattsmom32 · 07-27-2006, 08:23 PM

My doc told me to take an aspirin 1/2 hour before taking the Niacin and it would help with the flushing. It did!