On 4/30/06 7:36 AM, in article 4bk0aqF11rtnbU1@individual.net, "Susan"
<nevermind@nomail.com> wrote:

True story. I had a stock broker on liquid slow release niacin ( not for
tinnitus) . He took the liquid straight from the bottle and would often
flush. Everyone thought he was an alcoholic and was reacting to the stock
market.

I'm sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I get a tremendous rush to my
head and I'm feeling light-headed. I have about 15 seconds  to realize
that if this doesn't subside I'm going to pass out. It didn't subside
and when a coworker called me over to look at something, I turned and
the next thing I knew I was on the floor looking up at concerned faces.
When I came to my senses, they helped me back into my chair and things
began to feel normal again. ( probably within 10 minutes ). I had an
abrasion on my forehead and a nice gash on the bridge of my nose [
probably hit my head on the desk on the way down ].

The emergency response team rushed into action and checked my vitals (
pulse, blood sugar, blood pressure etc ) BP was a tad low for me 120-80,
but not anything alarming.  The nurse asked me if I was on any new
medication or if I ate anything different that morning. I mentioned the
Niacin and she immediately said "That's a vasodilator". In any event, I
walked out and took a ride to the hospital for precautionary reasons and
they hooked me up to an EKG and did all the BP and pulse checks. etc.
Everything normal and the heart was unwavering. After talking about my
tinnitus and the niacin - the doctor asked "Well, did the ringing in
your ears go way?". I shook my head and sadly responded that it hadn't.
He said, "I only asked, because there have been cases where a good knock
in the head has made it go away for some people!". He told me that the
niacin would unlikely help my tinnitus and I should stop taking it.  He
mentioned that niacin works as a vasodilator and can lower your blood
pressure and by taking it on an empty stomach it probably did it faster
than my system was able to handle - and thats probably why I fainted.

I did a quick search on the web on Niacin and Tinnitus and there are
many hits, so the two aren't completely uncoupled, but for any one that
is reading about it and considering it for tinnitus - my recommendation
based on experience is - the tinnitus is preferable to the side affect!

Now - if you have high blood pressure, you might want to speak with your
physician about it.

Steve

It's perfectly legal to sell it, Murray, though I do believe it should
have a heads up on the label.  I used to take 6 grams at a time.  The
flush diminishes over time.

OTOH, high enough doses to do any good can also be hepatotoxic, and this
is even more true with slow release forms.

 Unless you are

That's the truth!

 It has no effect

But it's a great sleep inducer, and HDL cholesterol promoter.

Susan