Niaspan symptoms and conditions

After my heart attack 1 1/2 years ago, my cardiologist prescribed a statin. This dramatically reduced LDL from 125 to 72 within 2 months. But, after no improvement to the HDL, we switched to Crestor + Niacin. At first, I used a non prescription niacin (Slo-Niacin by Upsher Smith). Over the course of 1 year my HDL increased from 40 to 48. We decided that this improvement was too slow, so we substituted Niaspan ER (2000 mg) 6 months ago.
I was very disappointed to see my new lab report this week with the HDL back down to 42. (LDL continues to be no problem and is now 59.) My Doctor reports that I am her only patient who follows her recommendations including daily cardio exercise of 1 hour, good diet, and following medication regimen who demonstrates reduction of HDL with niaspan. We are going to try for 6 more months.
One theory (of mine) is that I have been taking 1000 mg of Niaspan at breakfast and 1000 mg at dinner, and perhaps, I should take all 2000 before bed. I started taking niaspan at meal routine to reduce side effects, and have had very little flushing. But, I will now try to take all 2000 mg at bedtime after a small snack and 1/2 hr after the aspirin. I'll report again after my next lab report, but am curious to know if anyone else has these disappointing results.

Began taking 500mg of niaspan after 81 mil of Bayer 30 minutes prior (at 11:00 in the am) about 3 weeks ago. Recommended at this time since I do enjoy my 2 glasses of red wine at night. I then take 10mg of Lipitor before bed. Side effects have been swollen lips that keep peeling, after many OTC lip balms, racing heart and unbelievable insomnia. Only had flushing the first day before nurse, not doctor, told me about aspirin. I don't know whether my allergic reaction is the Niaspan or the Lipitor. I also had mild nausea and foot cramps at night. The nausea has subsided but not my lip problem.

For one year prior to taking these drugs, I was on 10/40 of Vytorin but since all the negative results of that drug, my doctor has taken all his patients off of it.

This site has helped me understand that Im not alone on the side effects of the Niaspan ER . My doctor told me to take 500mg to start and I did the first night I was fine for about 2 hours then the flushing hit me ! I have never in my life been so scared ... I was swelling from my head to my feet .My lips tongue mouth and throat I was having trouble breathing then on top of that I was getting redder by the minute and burning along with the itching and chills. I started running a fever .... I took a cold shower while my husband called the ER . When I was able to get out of the shower I took a benadryl as to what the ER told me to do .But it did take some time for the side effects to calm down ... I called my doctor and said I refused to take this medication again .... So understand all medications my have side effects and can effect you differently then me but please be warned . Talk to your doctor about these side effects ......

I was a competitive runner with a number of sub 3 hour marathons under my belt before I was prescribed statins for elevated cholesterol 2 years ago. The first go round was 40mg zocor but muscle soreness and loss of strength started within 2 months. Switched to NIASPAN but couldn't tolerate it. The last 7 months have been on 10mg of Lipitor and now have intense pain in my legs, soreness in my wrist and thumb and swollen feet. I can still run but much less than before and much slower. I regularly go to the gym but have seen a steady decrease in the amount of weight I am able to lift. I have a blood test in a couple of days and will be looking for myalgia again. I have discontinued the statin and don't plan to start again. I was healthier before the DR decided to "help" me with my cholesterol problem.

I was on simcor, which is heavy dose of niacin plus simvastatin.Was taking simvastatin alon and i was fine.
my lipids and trygllicerides were very high so put me on this medication''
I'm sure its the niacin that is the culprit. sever itching on back and inner arms.

Was very red and hot to the touch.

I am now off of it for a week. Continue to have the itching and rash.
It has to be a reaction to the niacin, as that is when it started, I refuse to live with this, Will not take again.

Last night I woke up burning all over and about to explode from the firey heat. Made it to the bathroom where my husband found me, eyes fixed and unresponsive...I was worse than comatose...I was dying. He talked to me and keep me "with him" and was telling me he was going to call EMS when finally I began to comer out of it. My eyes were fixed and I could respond to him. I had turned a gray color.I will never take it again. I, in reality nearly died, not from discomfort, but from a whole system shut down. I had only taken 500Mg at bedtime for about a week. No More for me...ever!!! jcw in San Antonio

After about 8 weeks of taking the 500mg dose, I have experienced some skin crawling, maybe a little itch on occasion.

Tonight I took an aspirin at 8:30, and niaspon at 9:00. Went to bed at 10:00. At 1:30 am I woke up and I was on fire! Head to Toe, itching all over..Pure misery and hell, it was intolerable. I immediately an another aspirin, took a shower, scratched myself with a towel, rubbed myself with cortisone, and took another aspirin.. After about an hour the itching has subsided with an occasional skin crawl.

I wanted to see if anyone else has had these symptoms so I googled 'niaspin extreme itch' and it brought me here.

I am supposed to up my dose to 1000mg a day, but now I am really worried about this itch. I see that I am not alone.

My name is Charles and I had a major heart attack in 1998 after suffering through great stress. I now have 4 stents that work pretty well for me although each day without pain is a blessing and I am just not as energetic as I was BHA. My doctor recently told me I needed to increase the good cholesterol HDL and prescribed Niaspan to help. While trying to find a cheap alternative to Niaspan and even where to buy Niaspan at a reasonable cost, I came across this page and found out WHY my back was absolutely killing me. I took my office chair down to the garage blaming it for this pain. At Sunday School this morning I hurt so much I had to roll over on the floor and get up like from my hands and knees. Niaspan I conclude is causing all of the lower back pain. Niaspan's lower back pain I discovered is widespread. This crap should be taken off the market. Niaspan is total garbage and should be taken off the market.

I had to discontinue Niaspan due to intolerable side effects. My doctor has prescribed a new medication called SIMCOR which has only been on the market for about 3 weeks. This is a combination of Zocor & Niaspan but the side effects are supposed to be much more tolerable. Has anyone else been prescribed this drug and if so....how are things???? I will begin using mine tonight.

I started taking cellcept due to an undiagnosable Auto-immune issue its working however there are some side effects.
Causes flushing from Niaspan to kick in earlier and last longer.
brain fog, cottonmouth, blurred vision.

My aches and pains were worse with Niaspan. One night I had a flush that lasted all night long. When I started reading side effects, I read about aches and pains in the joints getting worse. I took myself off and the aches and pains disappeared. I will never take Niaspan again.

I've been taking Niaspan for several years and have had occasions of flushing that wakes me up at night but nothing really dramatic. What I have learned is that taking the aspirin a half hour before the Niaspan is crucial. Last spring I hurt my knee, and my MD suggested that I take Naproxen sodium for awhile and skip the aspirin at night before the Niaspan. And surprise! I had flushing every night...until I realized that the aspirin really had made a difference! Now I make sure to take it and no more flushing. (The itching sounds awful...I sympathize with all who have that.)

In the past, I had taken Zocor, Mevacor, and others which I can't even remember. They did NOT help my low HDL, and high LDL and terribly elevated Triglycerides. I have Diabetes, so this is real important. So then I was put on Lipitor...still didn't do much. Then, 2 years ago my Dr. added Niaspan ER, 1000 mgs, to the 20 Mg. Lipitor.

I followed his instructions and take an 81 mg. Aspirin 1/2 hour before taking the Niaspan. I very rarely have the bright red ears, chest and arms with all the flushing IF I don't eat something fat like Ice cream! If I am awakened with it I sometimes go get a really cold washcloth and just hold it over the worst of it and within 1/2 hour it pretty well goes away. I wouldn't be able to take it at all if I didn't take the aspirin first.

Very fast heartbeat and very little sleep. I have been taking 500mg for 5 years this month.. I did not take one last night and had no problems with heartbeat. Could some one tell me how to stop taking Niaspan. Can you quit all at once.

Thank you very much

My Doctor upped my Niaspan ER from 1000 MG to 2000 MG per day. Reason to get my Total Cholesterol down below my present reading of 168. He also put me on a new drug called Ranexa, 500 MG Tabs twice a day.

It has been a month now and I have started to have a loss of energy and heart stress problems. Before taking the increase dosage of Niaspan, I felt a lot better

I too had sever, on fire, bouts with Niaspan...also my ears felt like they were going to burst! I finally got a hold of my cardiologist who told me to take an 81mg aspirin 30 minutes before taking the Niaspan (in addition to a low fat snack). This helped a lot!!! The only thing is now my heart feels like it beats oddly, so I stopped taking the Niaspan. I'm trying to figure out if it's the Niaspan or my Gerd flaring up again that's making my heart feel not quite right.

December 20, 2007 11:30 PM
I have been on Niaspan ER 500 Mgs for 4 weeks, I have never had the redness or itching until tonight. I can't believe the intolerable itching. I woke my husband and was ready to go to the emergency room, I thought it was an allergic reaction to something. The itching started in my legs, mainly from my ankles to my knees, but I did have some itching higher up on my thighs. Also had the itching on my wrists and lower arms. I am going to try Benadryl as someone suggested on your website, hopefully it will help some, if not I will be forced to stop taking this medicine, the itching is to much to put up with..............Brenda

I was on 1000mg per day 500 in the morning and 500 at night. I had one or two episodes of flushing and if it was not for this site I would have gone to the Emergency Room because the burning of my skin was so severe that I was in a panic. I found this site and it calmed me a bit. After the flushing comes the itching. For me it is on the inside of the legs starting on the ankles and then the toes and then it moves slowly up the legs and sometimes hits the thighs. Sometimes it hits the underside of my upper arm. This was mild and tolerable and went away in a couple of days.

Now I have been moved to 2000mg per day and the flushing is under control, but the itching has gone out of control. I cannot deal with the itching. I sit in business meetings and want to scream. I find myself at my desk with my shoes and socks off rubbing my feet and ankles because it is intolerable. I have broken the skin many times and bleed from the scratching. I am intelligent enough to know not to scratch, but sometimes it just gets the better of me.

I have no idea what triggers this because I can count on it lasting three to four days and then it goes away again.

I have been experiencing muscles spasms; especially in my back since taking Niaspan ER. It feels like the muscles knot up. Has anyone else had this side effect?

I am experiencing a tremendous amount of hair lost. I take 1000 mg of Niaspan with an aspirin at night. In addition, I have begun to have headaches, severe itching, and difficulty sleeping.

I am taking 500mg. of Niaspan every night...It is time for me to increase my dose by another 500mg..I can deal with the flushing because I eat low-fat yogurt before I take the Niaspan at night and that really helps with the flushing....My issue is my pulse rate..Last night I woke up at 3:am with flushing and racing pulse which I could feel all over my body. Has anyone ever had this happen? The flushing doesn't scare me at all but the racing pulse does...Any advice???

I started taking NIASPAN last Wednesday night 500mg and on Thurday night I awoke at 330am feeling like I was on FIRE. My whole body was burning and my skin was turning redder and redder by the minute. I jumped in the cold shower and stayed there for 45 min. I then started getting the shakes and very rapid heartbeat and my tongue was purple. I advised my doctor that I will not take this medicine and proceeded to throw it out. Can you imagine the long term affects of this medicine. How can a rapid heartbeat and burning feeling be actually good for you. I AM OFF THIS MEDICINE AND ADVISE anyone else to think twice about going on it.

Im taking 2000mg of niaspan and the flushing thing has happened to me a bunch of times. I immediately take an ALAVERT allergy med and it helps within 5-10 minutes. I wish my doctor told me about this common side effect, I went on for months thinking I was developing a skin allergy.

I took increasing amounts of Niaspan for a number of years and experienced the flushing that even at its worst soon passed each time. But earlier this year, while on 1000 mg, I suddenly experienced terrible itching after showering, even after taking cool showers. It was maddening, as sometimes after a shower, there was no side-effect. When it reached the point one day that I had hives, I stopped Niaspan. I have been off the medication for about 4 months. Two weeks ago, I started up again at 500mg. I have been ok with no flushing. Today, after a cool shower, I experienced a bout of severe itching on my legs. I don't know what to do. I can't tolerate the itching but my HDL has already gone lower than before. Any ideas?

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