What are the side effects of the medicine Niacin

What are the side effects of the medicine Niacin

http://www.chacha.com/question/what-are-the-side-effects-of-the-medicine-niacin

Side Effects of Niacin are: Atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias, orthostasis, hypotension. Dyspepsia, vomiting, diarrhea, peptic ulceration, jaundice, abnormal liver function tests. Mild to severe cutaneous flushing, pruritu…

Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

Environmental Medicine is the answer to many diseases and chronic health problems-Why is it usually ignored ?

Q: The American Academy of Environmental Medicine was pioneered by a Chicago Allergist-board certified, more than 50 years ago.He has written several books re the impact of our environment-both food and air on human health.His name is Theron Randolph M.D. His research has been basically ignored by the mainstream medical establishment in favor of drugs.Why bother over what causes the disease–just try to squash symptoms-and forget about side-effects.In Canada-a doctor-Abram Hoffer PhD-M.D.also did groundbreaking research on schizophrenia with a simple vitanin-Niacin-as a preventative and even a cure for early onset M.I..As with Dr. Randolph-mainstream Medicine ignores his findings.One famous person-an actress-Margot Kidder was cured of her Bipolar with Orthomolecular Medicine.It is a shame that our culture based on greed propagates misleading information to benefit drug companies.Dr. Andrew Weil who also was a pioneer of Integrative Medicine ia also a true American hero……..v152

A: Hi Jennifer. Environmental medicine is extremely challenging. It requires an open mind, extensive training, and an involved patient. Most doctors find this approach too difficult. It is relatively easy to label a group of symptoms as ‘syndrome x’ and then write a prescription to mask the symptoms. Actually thinking about, investigating, and teaching the patient about the complex array of potential underlying CAUSES of ‘syndrome x’ is very, very hard.Medicine is driven by its unrecognized dogmatic belief in ‘medicines’ (vs diet/environment). Most physicians have literally NO training in dietary and environmental causes of ‘disease’. There is an old principle in medicine: “You don’t find what you don’t look for”. Docs don’t look for dietary or environmental causes of their patients symptoms. Since they ‘don’t look’, they never ‘see’ these correlations. Since they never ‘see’ these correlations, in their minds they ‘obviously do not exist’.Fortunately, there are a few medical docs with training in nutrition, environmental medicine, and functional medicine. Additionally, there are many good Chiropractors, Naturopathic Physicians, Certified Clinical Nutritionists, and other ‘alternative health care providers’ (interesting that ‘treating the cause’ is considered ‘alternative’ – that shows how dogmatic the drug treatment mentality really is) that are interested in these approaches.Best wishes.

My mom is currently taking Niaspan and Lipitor and I am wanting to try a more natural approach…?

Q: My mom is 68 years old and she has been on cholesterol medication for a few years now. I am afraid of the medications long term side effects my sister also had high cholesterol and was able to control it with a medicine called Cholestoff. My mom has a dr visit for blood work tomorrow and I was thinking that would be a good time to see if we could try it. I wanted to get her on the Cholestoff and maybe a vitamin B supplement to replace the Niaspan and some Garlic tablets. I am not sure if the Dr has her best interest in mind of if he is making a commission off the drugs he is prescribing because from my understanding the Niaspan is basically Niacin which is sold OTC but she is paying over 100.00 monthly after insurance and medicare. And also I thought the Lipitor was only to get her cholesterol under control but he said she would be on it for life. I don’t want her to take meds that end up messing something else up (like her liver) later on down the line if we can take care of it naturally with diet and natural things I just don’t know what the dr will say and I am wondering if any one else had similar experiences?First off I am not trying to experiment I am simply seeking other options/alternatives of treatment that will fully be discussed with her doctor I am not planning on doing anything without his approval. I am not experienced in dealing with the health problems of the elderly and am simply trying to broaden my horizons to improve her quality and length of life because I love her. She is the one always complaining about all the meds she has to take and I don’t want her on something that is going to make her take something else in the long run.

A: Couple problems. Lipitor is a drug called a statin. They’re very safe, very effective, an no they don’t do anything to the liver. The problem is that if you use a statin for a while, and then stop taking it your cholesterol will go back to where it was before. In short, they only work while you take them, and your body returns to homeostasis if you stop.It does strike me as kind of silly to pay that much for niacin. But what worries me is pulling her off the lipitor. Your mother is at an age where you’re going to have a lot of trouble doing any sort of dietary intervention, the metabolism of a 68 year old isn’t quite capable of changing cholesterol metabolism that much.