I Overdosed on Niacin Yesterday

bob_nestor wrote:

jesseannie wrote:
Current research has shown Niacin in any dosage has not shown to be beneficial for lowering cholesterol or protecting your heart. My cardiologist told me to stop taking it.

Niacin used to be the go-to treatment doctors prescribed for lowering cholesterol and it may or may not have some benefits. I'm always suspicious about "current research" especially when it comes to things involving health and medicine. In my own research I've concluded that most of this "current research" really just follows the money. As one of my doctors once told me, my test results today would have all been considered normal for a man of my age 20 years ago; they're not considered normal now and I'm a good candidate for drug therapy because they have the drugs to drive the test results.

One should also do their research on the prescription drugs they are taking paying close attention to the known/published side effects. I was surprised to find that most of the new complains and symptoms I was telling my doctor about for years were all known side effects of one drug he had me on. I was able to find a homeopathic solution to the original problem and eventually got off the prescribed drug and now my other symptoms are dissipating as well.

Amen. You and I think similarly. Further research on my part also brought out that high cholesterol is normal for some people and messing with it by trying to bring it down may actually be harmful. BTW, I wasn't taking niacin for cholesterol lowering, but for other reasons I deemed beneficial. I think one reason I took the 500 mg dose was that I was using a flush free version of the same dosage. Further investigation of that type of "niacin" revealed it wasn't really niacin. Furthermore, some flushing is desirable when using the real stuff because it's doing what it's supposed to do, dilating the blood vessels. My mistake was not starting with a lower dose and gradually working up. Lesson learned!