jump to navigation

Niacin Flush August 15, 2008

Posted by admin in : Nutrition Tags:, , , , trackback

I taught a yoga class this morning and then went home to make breakfast. While I was cooking I poured myself a shot of Alive Liquid Muti-vitamin. It’s hard to get all the vitamins and minerals you need in every meal so I take this as a supplement to balance my diet. Alive provides whole food concentrates and energizing nutrients that quickly absorb and assimilate in to the body. It has vitamins, minerals, fruits & vegetables, green foods, herbs, bioflavonoids, amino acids, enzymes, trace minerals, EFA’s, and mushrooms. It’s good stuff!!!

The directions said to take an ounce so I poured myself a shot glass and down it went. Afterwards I realized the glass was actually more than an ounce so I ended up taking just about a double dosage and on an empty stomach. Two minutes after I took it, I started to feel strange. My ears got really warm and tingly and then my face started to get hot. The warm tingling sensation moved to my throat and then to the top of my shoulders. From there it moved to my knee caps, elbows, ankles, and just below my sacrum. It felt like my face was in a vise grip and on fire.

I didn’t know what was happening and I was scared to death. I never felt this sort of thing before and I was home alone so I didn’t know what to do. I tried getting a hold of my mother, but I couldn’t reach her so I called her husband who wasn’t available either. I wasn’t sure if I should call 911 or go to the emergency room or what. At what point do you declare something like this an emergency? I ended up taking a Benadryl and within 10 minutes I started to feel better. The tingling sensation was still there, but it stopped spreading so I felt a bit relieved and was able to calm down.

My mom called not too long after I took the Benadryl so I explained to her what happened and she knew exactly what it was. She said I experienced a Niacin Flush. Ever heard of it? Yeah, me either! Of course my mother has heard of it…she has a Doctorate in Natural Health and was in the medical field before I was even born so she pretty much knows everything when it comes to this kind of stuff. Anyone else would have thought I was having an allergic reaction and sent me off to the emergency room, but my mom just so happened to participate in some random study with Niacin and was able to diagnose it immediately.

I looked it up on-line and she was absolutely correct. Thankfully it wasn’t anything to cause alarm. I was just having a common reaction to the dosage I took on an empty stomach. Who knew something so healthy and good for you could cause such an adverse reaction? Somewhere in the information I read on-line, people were advised to take an antihistamine before taking Niacin in order to prevent some of the common reactions so I’m glad I took the Benadryl.

I believe in holistic remedies and will always try the natural approach before anything else, but life is about balance and healing occurs on both the physical and energetic body so Western and Eastern medicine both have their place and we shouldn’t close ourselves off one way or the other.

Everyone should keep Benadryl or some type of a holistic diphenhydramine in their house because it could save someone’s life some day. You never know when something like this could happen so it’s better to be safe than sorry. You might not have enough time to get to the drugstore if you have a bad enough reaction to something.

Just be sure you don’t get in a car and drive after taking Benadryl. I’m sure if affects everyone differently, but it knocked me out and for hours. I was comatose and in and out of consciousness. I couldn’t even bring myself to get out of bed and I could still feel the tingling throughout my body so I just took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.   

Tags:, , ,

Comments»

no comments yet - be the first?