NIASPAN Reviews (NIACIN)Average Rating: 2.7 (694 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare NIASPAN with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 |
More on NIASPAN: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR NIASPAN | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 3 | very high LDL | Some itching, face looks sunburned and is very dry, peeling. Also, my HAIR is falling out! I am blaming the Niaspan only because there have been no other changes in diet or medication that I can blame. | Has anyone else experienced hair loss? I don't believe in coincidence; I noticed hair loss after two weeks on Niaspan. Not sure if it is related. | F | 68 | 21 days 1000 1X day | 7/6/2011 | 3 | Lower my cholesterol, Triglyserides | Flushing OK - more like a slight sunburn. Headaches the following day about half the time. Muscle and joint pain ALL the time. Not crazy about this drug. My TC was only about 215 and TGs were the same. Now TC is 165 and TG is 185. | I guess this stuff works but I think changing my diet and eating habits has had a bigger effect. I lost about 18 pounds and plan to lose another 10. I don't eat butter at all anymore, NO ice cream, NO beer, NO pizza, etc. My hip joints are painful ALL the time. I'm going to quit Niaspan. I may have a heart attack but at least I'll be able to walk to the phone to call the paramedics. | M | 65 | 7 months 500/1000 1X day | 7/2/2011 | 1 | High Cholesterol | Doctor started me out at 500 mg and after 2 months moved me to 1000 mg. Took pill at night with 81 low dose, 2nd day had some pretty bad hot flashes, doctor didn't notice much reduction in cholesterol so he moved me to 1000 mg. After approx. two months my muscles and joints hurt in my hands, feet, and legs. I am stopping this immediately, they have tried me on other cholesterol reducing drugs and get the same results with the muscle pain. Gets so bad can't walk 100 feet without stopping. After I am off the drugs for about two weeks I start getting my strength back. I am going to refuse any of these drugs from now on. I know they work for some people but I really don't want to have low cholesterol and be sitting in a wheel chair because of the drugs. | M | 57 | 4 months 1000 mg 1X day | 6/26/2011 | 2 | total cholesterol over 300 | Episodes of severe itching from within my body, accompanied by nausea. Now with skin itching and edema like sun poisoning. This occurred six hours after taking the niaspan before bedtime. I took 325 mg of ASA an hour before as directed. This itching is more unbearable than the anaphylactic reaction I had to a food allergen. I just can't stay on something that makes me feel this bad. My HDL is really good- 99- and I can't take statins or zetia either- muscle pains. I'm preparing to either give up and hope I don't stroke out or cut meat out of my diet altogether. | F | 57 | 6 weeks 1500 mg 1X day | 6/14/2011 | 1 | cholestrol, | I took this with 81 mg of aspirin, 30 minutes prior. Taken at bed time. Burning, flushing, taunt swollen skin .Althou not always, about 2 times amonth, it was unbearable. When I went outside in the sunlight I burned very quickly, my skinhurt. Now 5 months after starting this I hurt everywhere. Just trying to move, getting out of the car for example, shiftng around in bed, simple things, where painful and difficult. My joints and muscles hurt , I had a huge bout of joint pain. Also the longer I took it the more I realized I was sleeping worse. This went on for weeks until I read on this site about other peoples reactions and the TV commericals about joint and muscle pain when taking this drug. So I quit! Immeditaly all the pain went away and I am sleeping much better. Do not take this DRUG. Dont let anyboday tell you its OK, these side affects mean it is not OK with your body. | F | 55 | 5 days 1000 mg 1X day | 5/23/2011 | 5 | moderately high cholesterol | mild | It works. Tried several statins first, but the side efffects of statins are intolerable. | M | 60 | 3 years 1000 mg 1X day | 5/14/2011 | 1 | Woke in the middle of the night; face taunt; ears swelling; throat swelling; skin on fire! Took a COLD SHOWER to relieve skin burning. Currently suffering from "nail shedding". Fingernails and toe nails appear to be "rotting" from the cutical forward. Have seen two specialists who have narrowed this down to a drug reaction. OMG - currently not taking ANY PRESCRITON MEDICATIONS! | F | 44 | 3 months 1X day | 5/2/2011 | 5 | High trigs flus 200 | lushing only at start or if I skip. Chol from 205 to 167. 5rigs from over 299 to below 150. Avid runner. Take in AM before run. No racey heart. | Less side effect with activie lifestyle. | M | 70 | 2 years 500 1X day | 4/30/2011 | 1 | Cholesterol | Was able to tolerate moderate flushing however i woke up last night with a severe amount of flushing, itching, burning and got scared to death. I'm contacting my doctor ASAP. | M | 59 | 30 days 1500 2X day | 4/30/2011 | 1 | High cholesterol | my husband passed away due to a brain stem stroke after starting this medication to prevent death. I find it funny that he started this medication a month and a half before he died. He was 32 years old and after reading the customer reviews I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't play a big role in his death. | M | 32 | 45 days 1X day | 4/28/2011 | 1 | To raise HDL | I have experienced the flushing not extremely bad, however is very annoying also the itching, I am now starting to feel the dizziness / lightheaded feeling frequently. Recently also having some chest pain and palpitations, I thought this was supposed to help prevent a heart attack? This stuff makes me feel like i am asking for one. | I have been also seeing some other things that seem to have recently realized has only been happening about the time i started taking niaspan. I do NOT like this drug and the way it makes me feel. I think i may stop taking it. | M | 38 | 2 weeks 1000MG 1X day | 4/27/2011 | 1 | cholesterol | After 30daysof taking this pill i have experience bad back pains burning in the shoulder bone which i never had before Doctor told me it wasn't the niaspan,He said i must of it from lifting.Now eyes sometimes sensitive to light , I can hear my heart pounding, little dizziness when getting up from a chair, urinating more often. Went too see Doctor 7 days ago Told me it was not the niaspan keep taking it The pain to my back began to get worse 2 DAYS AGO i stopped taking the niaspan 1000 Back is starting to feel somewhat better.My cholestrol is in the low 200 Would not take this pill again. Felt great before taking this pill. | The side effects overwhelm the benefits. Some people it may not bother But it seems to me there is alot bad things happening to people who felt good before taking this pill. Your body can tell you better than your Doctor I shopuld have stoopped sooner | M | 62 | 53 days 1000 1X day | 4/25/2011 | 4 | hi triglycerides | I take it one hour after dinner with snack, sometimes flashing,itching,not too bad. | My triglycerides were 850 before and last few year around 250 and after cutting down drinking soda last week test was 186. Have to watch for sugar and bad carbohydrates.Cholesterol is 168 and rest of lipid panel O.K. | M | 49 | 3 years 2000 1X day | 4/19/2011 | 1 | Low HDL and Triglycerides | First two days no side effects, or slept through them. Last night I woke up and my skin was on fire. I was dizzy, so I laid there for a few moments, but then realized that I had not taken aspirin a half hour before taking the drug. I tried to get to the kitchen, but stopped at the bathroom. Severe diarrhea, intense dizziness, nausea, and extreme heart palpitations. Laid my head against the towel, and woke up on the floor. My wife gave me a cold towel for my head, and was a few moments from calling 9/11. This morning I feel similar to others comments, a bit flu like. Wrote my Doc to see if there are any other solutions to increasing my HDL and triglycerides. Worried that it was not just the lack of taking aspirin that resulted in the extreme side effects, but my bodies reaction to the drug. | Obviously, from the comments on these pages, Niaspan and the other statin drugs have sever side effects, depending on the person. Is there another solution to increase your HDL and triglyceride levels other than these drugs? I don't know. My other Doc had me on Crestor and Symbistatin. The Symbistatin made me dizzy. My new Doc states that neither will increase my HDL and triglyceride levels. My old Doc stated that diet and exercise will have no effect on HDL and triglycerides, only LDL levels. My LDLs are normal, it is a low HDL and triglyceride level problem. Any solutions from the audience? | M | 53 | 3 days 1X day | 4/1/2011 | 1 | high triglycerides, low hdl | 1st two months I took Niaspan alone, after 2nd month, triglycerides went up to 407 so my dr. put me o Crestor 5 mgs plus Niaspan 500 mgs. A month later, my CK levels were thru the roof (1748) normal max. range for CK levels is 215. Dr. told me to stop taking both drugs immediately and to drink as much water as possible and return for another blood test in 2 weeks. I had muscle and joint pains, skin rash, dry skin and itching, headaches, insomina, memory loss,hot and cold flashes, felt like i had the flu all the time. Liver enzymes were elevated too. | I do not recommend this or any statin drugs to anyone. I think they are dangerous drugs and high cholesterol can be lowered by eating the right foods and exercise. Eliminate all animal products from your diet and walk 30 minutes a day and that should help. | F | 60 | 3 months 500 1X day | 3/29/2011 | 1 | Reduce Cholesterol | Severe cardiac arrhythmias, resulting in bursts of palpitations accompanied by feeling of fainting, flushing and and perspiration. | Took 500mg per day for thirty days, then 1000mg for about 15 days. After experiencing 4-5 cardiac arrhythmias for the first time in my life. I stopped taking the drug altogether and felt completely better in a few days. If this is the cure for prevention of heart disease, I'll take my chances without it. I'm not overweight, am highly athletic, and my Cholesterol is under 250. I went back to taking aspirin and eating more fish. | M | 66 | 1000mg 1X day | 3/27/2011 | 1 | Burning skin, extreme flushing in face, extreme itchiness that wouldn't go away even with intense scratching that caused my skin to slightly break, dizziness, nausea, headache, rapid breathing, chest tightness, weakness in my body, numbness in my body, chills, | I would not recommend this medication, it took 8 weeks to fully feel the symptoms and realize what was going on but when they came on it was intense enough to land me in the ER with extreme shaking from the chills and then weakness and numbness and I felt like I had no control of my body. They gave me an IV with Benadryl, another allergy medication, as well as a steroid and prescribed Benadryl and a steroid to take for the next three days when hopefully the medication leaves my body. | F | 27 | 8 weeks 500 MG 1X day | 3/26/2011 | 1 | Cholestrol | Unbearable itching. | I used to take Niaspan a few years ago when it was produced with white coating. Side effect was high temperature. But I didn't mind that, since I took the medicine at bed time. I used to wake-up after midnight and felt the scorch. When the manufacturer changed the coating to pink, Niaspan started to give me unbearable itching. I complained to my Dr. who changed my prescription to Simcor which is 500 Niaspan mg and 20 mg Simvastatin. I am taking it without any side-effects. That's good news. The bad news is, Simcor is expensive ($75.00 for a bottle of 30 tablets). I don't know why the hell the manufacturer changed the coating!!! For the sake of sanity of mind I call for boycotting Niaspan and moving to Simcor, unless the manufacturer's go back to the previous formula. | M | 68 | 6 years 1000mg 1X day | 3/24/2011 | 1 | Lipids | rhabdomyolysis | M | 74 | 3 months 500mg 1X day | 3/16/2011 | 1 | To lower cholesterol | I got dizzy and got heart palpitations, and was breathing hard, I went the the hospital on a Sunday with these symptoms and they kept me on observation all day and overnight, did not have symptoms, sent me home and the next day I started to have the same symptons, I did take niaspan that day, it subsided after a while, and felt a little better, but not great. I quit taking niaspan the next day and no symptoms, and I have taken all the other drugs I normally take, I cannot say for sure that it was niaspan, but I am quite suspicious | M | 52 | 3 weeks 1X day | 3/16/2011 |