Quote:
Originally posted by phd_1993:
I am thinking of taking about 200 gms/day over the counter niacin. What do you say about this? Any kind of risks? I have heard that flushing due to niacin will decrease if we take asprin. So, what do YOU feel ....? Also how much blood glucose levels will increase if I take 200 mg/day niacin. Can I take over the counter 200 mg NIACIN instead of niaspan with out so called flusing? |
The minimum therapeutic dose is 1500 mg, I thought? I have seen reports of flushing with as little as 50 mg. I would be hesitant to start taking large doses of niacin without letting your physician know, or without requesting a prescription. The reason I say this is that in my case, 1500 mg led to an elevated ALT, and total bilirubin (direct and indirect) in my hepatic panel.
When I was taking 1500 mg Niaspan, my fasting glucose was 91. Prior to starting Niacin, and after I had lost a substantial amount of weight, my glucose was 77 mg/dL. The net gain was about 14 mg/dL in my case, which is in line with what I saw published in a manuscript involving a study that listed (from memory) increases of 9 mg/dL on average, but I can't recall what the dose of Niacin was to effect that.
Good luck with it if you go this route. Niacin helped me tremendously with increasing HDL-C and particle sizes of both LDL-C and HDL-C.
niacin: 200 mg/day 
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