Alka seltzer symptoms and conditions

I was in hospital for 16 days - no food no water - had flagyl and levaquin in IV form - i had pancreatitis - my gall bladder is fine - they did every test imaginable to me and gave no reason for the sudden flare-up of pancreatitis - i do not drink at all - my hubby is 27 years into his recovery = the meds made me feel really weird - like my tongue was dissolving like alka seltzer - my tongue was coated totally green- i kept vomiting and feeling so exhausted but i could not sleep - how can they fda approve drugs like this?

No Need to Experience the Flushing of Niaspan !!!!
NOT an allergic reaction OR a "cardiac" reaction,.. it IS temporary & it is PROSTAGLANDIN !! Try this,...
Not a big deal. ~90% of ALL patients can tolerate Niaspan / ER-niacin
1-2 gms/day,.. IF,.. the prescriber knows a few tricks. Dr. Wm. Castelli, he uses plain ole crystalline niacin AND Niaspan. 40 years ago, ALL they had was IR-Immediate Release aka plain ole crystalline niacin,.. 3-4 gms a day MONO therapy. The patients FORGET THE ASPIRIN which prevents the flush. If you forget to take an aspirin AT LEAST 30 min before dosing,.. FLUSH! Taking with the dose is too late. SOLUTION 40 YEARS AGO?
Alka-Seltzer ; that`s a 325 mg of AQUEOUS aspirin, no need to take sooner,.. wash down the niacin with that. AFTER,.. you eat 3 TBS applesausce whil waiting for the ALKA-SELTZER tablet to dissolve. Use just enough water to swallow pill, so you get all of the 325 mg aspipirin in the ALKA-SELTZER. 90% of patients get through the 'rough' 1st 2-4 weeks & stick with it after. IT IS THE ONLY DRUG WITH AN FDA INDICATION TO HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO REVERSE CAD, REGRESSION.
Remember; hot drinks, alcohol, spicy food less than 2-3 hrs prior to Niaspan is a NO-NO !!
Take care,.. ...be well... Steve the Lipid Guy

The flushing is tolreable. The itching is intolerable. I'd rather have heart surgery than suffer with that infernal itching. My cardiologist believes the severe itching is unrelated to the Niaspan because the reaction has only occured twice since I started taking the medication 6 months ago. I disagree. It seems to me the itching is caused by the Niaspan, together with some other unknown factor. There may be something to the "spicy food" suggestion posted by others. Last night, I ate a bunch of hot peppers an hour or so before taking the Niaspan. I woke at 3 am, with a mild hot flash, followed by the dreaded itching. Pure torment! My chest, back and legs were bright red. A cold shower helped a little. On the first occasion, two months ago, Benedril help some, but relief did not begin for over an hour after taking it. (Take at least two tablets!) But last night, I didn't mess around with Benedril. Instead, I took two codine tablets I had left over from surgery. Relief! If you are suffering from this terrible side-effect, may God be with you!

I have been taking 1g Niaspan for about 2 years for cholesterol. Here are the things that I have found that increase or decrease side effects:
1. Taking an 81mg asprin 30 min before reduces flush. 350mg doesn't do any better than 81mg.
2. Energetic excercise (30 min on stationary bike or treadmill, cardio, weight training) especially after taking niaspan, reduces side effects.
3. Drinking alcohol as much as 12 hours before taking niaspan greatly increases side effects.
4. Eating fatty foods before taking niaspan increases side effects.
5. Drink a large amount of water (16 - 32 ounces) with niaspan dose.

The alcohol and fatty food items may be realated to and affect liver function, which can be affected by niaspan. Alcohol is also a major contributor to triglycerides. If you are trying to lower your cholesterol, leave the beer and booze alone.

T.R.

After taking Niacin for several years, I have the itching problem and my legs started to weep. Has this happened to anyone else? Eating beef seems to maximize the itching. JT

OMG! Tonight is my second night on Niaspan. I took the aspirin beforehand etc.. I am experiencing severe itching. I'm about to cut off my fingernails, I'm itching so badly. As I type, one foot is rubbing the other - I ITCH EVERYWHERE AND CAN'T KEEP FROM SCRATCHING!!! And it won't stop! I tried taking 2 benadryl about a half hour ago, and thus far no relief. If it continues to worsen I'll call the "ask a nurse" line to see if I should go in to poison control or the hospital. This is crazy!

Iam taking 500 mg only - today I awoke with terrible red rash on upper left leg and lower right - - does NOT itch or burn - just there - has ANYONE had a rash while taking niaspan??? need answers!

I take 325mg before going to bed and I take 2000mg of Niaspan. I also each a small bowl of Total cereal. This combination seems to really help because I used to get terrible flushing and itching but haven't since adding the bowl of Total at night.

I take my Niaspan at bedtime, having taken an 81 mg. asprin tablet about a half hour prior. I stil will awaken sometimes about 4-5 hours later and, well, if you're googling niacin flush, you know the rest. Then, because I HAVE to scratch, even though it's not exactly an itch, my skin then feels raw. After about a half hour I will typically get up and walk to the kitchen on the cold tile floors in bare feet and drink something cold - just a few sips and get some damp paper towels to blot whatever burns the most. This seems to help some. At least, I usually then go to sleep, but maybe after a half hour to 45 minutes, the flush was about to remediate itself anyway. Who knows!

1500mg/day for 2 yrs now and it's been a lonnnnng road with this flushing and itching. The typical avoidance foods, hot showers, spicy foods..etc..all help to aoid the side effects. However, if you still get that flushing/itching effect, take some antihistamine medication. Benedryl works, although it will make you drowsy, but it's worth it ! It relieves the itching !

Why does this happen ? it's NOT niacitic poisoning like some on this site suggest. Niaspan causes vasodilation of your the blood vessels in your skin. This causes your mast cell to increase thus triggering a production of histamine in your skin receptors. This is what causes the unbearable itching to occur. It is completely harmless, however, it can be un-bearable at times when the flushing/itching become severe. So taking an ANTI-histamine works well. Time on the medication helps. Reducing the dosage may help as well, however, you will most likely see a drop in your HDL levels by 5-7% for every 500mg drop in dosage.

Hang in there, hopefully big Pharm will come up with a new drug to increase HDL.. I know they are working on it as we speak, but may take a few more years.

I take 1500 mg. Niaspan about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before going to bed. My Dr. advised me to take it with apple juice. My low fat snack and low dose aspirin is 30 minutes prior to taking niaspan/apple juice. As long as I follow this routine there is very little flushing. If I take niaspan sooner than 30 minites I have medium flushing for about 45 minutes.

At 2000mg I got such bad itching that I almost stopped taking it. I reduced my intake to 1500mg and al things considered, I won't be going back to 2000mg.

HAVE BEEN TAKING NIASPAN 500MG FOR ABOUT TWO AND ONE HALF WEEKS. TAKE IT BEFORE GOING TO BED THEN TWO HOURS LATER I AM AWAKEN BY BURNING OVER MY WHOLE BODY. THE LENGTH OF TIME VARIES. I ALSO TAKE TOPROL FOR RAPID HEART BUT BELIEVE THIS MEDICINE IS KEEPING MY HEART RATE UP, I WILL AWAKEN WITH MY HEART BEATING OUT OF MY CHEST. WOULD IT BE WISE TO DISCONTINUE USING NIASPAN? WENDELL PAYTON

I have been taking Ni aspa n for 9 months now. My Dr. started me at 500 mg. after I mo. increased to 1OOO mg. then after 2 more mos. 1500 mg.

I am alright when I take 500mg of Niaspan at bed time but if I increase it to 1000 or as my Dr wants 1500, I have a severe reaction. It does not happen right away but about 4 hours after I take it. The itching is unbearable. I was told that over the counter items like Benedril(sp) would help but it takes a long time if it does help. I do not get these reactions every night, sometimes once or twice a week. I was told to take an aspirin or Advil before taking the niaspan and that seems to lesson the attack. I will say when I took the 1000mg it doubled my HDL(good) cholesterol but I don't think the unbearable itching is worth it. I have been told by my Alergy Doctor that there is something to take to prevent the attacks but he could not remember what it was. He did say that it is not an alergic reaction but a cardiac reaction. I wish I could find the remedy because it has helped raise my HDL dramatically.

Just recently, my pharmacist re-filled my Synthroid prescription with a substitute (Levothroid). After taking it for about a week, I started to have AWFUL stomach pains. I was constantly nauseous. I asked my doctor and he said it was probably just acid indigestion and to take some over the counter remedies. I started to take Maalox and Alka-Seltzer, but they only seemed to help for about 30 minutes to an hour before the pain came back again. I asked if it could have anything to do with the Levothroid and he simply said no (Grrrrr!). I switched back to the Synthroid and the pains went away within a couple weeks.

Not a big deal. ~90% of ALL patients can tolerate niacin 1-2 gms/day,.. IF,.. the prescriber knows a few tricks. Dr. Wm. Castelli , he uses plain ole crystalline niacin AND Niaspan.
40 years ago, ALL they had was IR-Immediate Release aka plain ole crystalline niacin,.. 3-4 gms a day MONO therapy. The patients FORGET HE ASPIRIN which prevents the flush. If you forget to take an aspirin AT LEAST 30 min before dosing,.. FLUSH! aking with the dose is too late. SOLUTION 4o YEARS AGO?
Alka-Seltzer ; tha`s 325 mg of AQUEOUS aspirin, no need to ake sooner,.. wash dow he niacin with hat. AFTER,.. you eat 3 TBS applesausce while table dissoles. use ajus enough water to swallow pill, so you get all 325 mg. 90% get through the 'rough' 1st 2-4 weeks & stick with it after. IT IS HE ONLY DRUG WITH AN FDA INDICATION TO HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO REVERESE CAD, REGRESSION.
Take care,..
...be well...
Steve the Lipid Guy

I have been taking Lisinopril for abut 8 months plus 2 other blood pressure medications. The side effects I felt were not the ones I saw on the list I received. It was not until I read side effects others had did I realize what my problem was. I have had the dry cough so have to carry water or cough drops with me at all times. Never before did I have heartburn but it is frequent now and my medicine cabinet now carries Alka Seltzer and Pepto Bismol plus antacid pills which I carry with me at all times. I see my blood pressure went down but like others my heart rate has gone up to the point where I went to Emergency Room in hospital thinking I had a heart attack. I had the worse sore throat I have ever had which was short lived. I was diagnosed with bronchitis which I doubted as I had no fever. Right afterwards I was diagnosed with a virus as I had no appetite and was so lethargic. This lasted 3 weeks and still happens now and then. I get dizzy and then sick to my stomach. The worse thing is lack of sleep. After I read others had the problem I was so relieved to know that it indeed was Lisinopril. I would go to bed and had a hard time getting to sleep only to wake up again after only 1 or 2 hours of sleep. Getting back to sleep was also hard. For 2-1.2 months I have had miserable nights, waking up about 4 times and having a hard time getting back to sleep. Tried everything imaginable to get some sleep and wandered around the house alot. Decided to cut the pill in half and see what happened. The last two nights I only woke up twice instead of 4 times so that proves it was Lisinopril. Knew I should not quit it cold turkey. Have an appoint with a cardiologist in 2 days as I hope he knows more about side effects than my doctor. I had my house tested for mold and even thought my water may be contaminated. Now I see so many others had the same problems as me. Thank goodness for this website.
I am sick of being sick and know now what the problems have been all along. Another thing, I was diagnosed with Diabetes which also surprised me and I see others also had that problem. What a nasty drug........