Question/Comment:

My doctor wanted to put me on medication for high cholesterol (245). I refused told her that I could lower it myself with diet. I eat lean meats, no butter, low fat milk or soymilk, fruits, veggies, legumes w/o added fat of any kind. No bacon. I have oatmeal every morning with soymilk. I never liked oatmeal because of the texture, I do now because I blend it. I boil a couple of cinnamon sticks in about three cups of water for about 15 min. let it cool. I put it in the blender with a couple of cups of soymilk or low fat milk add 3/4 cup of oatmeal and blend it for a couple of second, put it back in the pan and cook it for a couple of min. To serve add more milk as you like, It is delicious. I don't even add sugar to it. This makes enough for three servings/three days. Good luck

Question/Comment:

I have been diagnosed with non-alcoholic liver disease. The doctor believes it is caused from my high cholesterol. Has anyone else had this problem from high cholesterol?

Question/Comment:

I had concerns about Vytorin because cancer runs in my family history; however, what he did was change my medication from Vytorin to Crestor and Zetia - wouldn't be the equvilent of taking Vytorin?

Question/Comment:

I have been taking Nexium, lipitor, and tricor for a while. Within the last few months I have been getting bad muscle pains in my upper left arm. Could it be from the combination of these drugs even though I have been taking them for a while?

Question/Comment:

My doctor has just put me on Niaspan 1,000 mg tablets and told me to get fish oil to also take
as I cannot tolerate any of the statins for my high cholesterol. I am only on the Niaspan and fish oil capsules 3 days and today I had the redness associated with Niasin besides having a burning sensation and some itching and a hugh rash that came on suddenly. The rash started on my neck and chest first then quickly spread to the whole body. It was blotchy and I had a welt or hive on my neck. I had assumed it was the fish oil as it is from shell fish. The rash didn't stay long, maybe 2 to 3 hours and then was gone as was the hive/welt on the neck. Since I couldn't get thru to my doctor, I went to the pharmacy and was told that it wasn't the fish oil that caused the rash, it was the Niaspan and to take asprin 325 mg about 1/2 hour before my meal.
I've been reading the comments posted here and it seems everyone who takes Niaspan is taking it at night. My doctor told me to take it right after breakfast. When is the best time to take this medicine and why? Do medicines work better at bedtime? And why would my doctor
put me on such a high dosage right away? Why not 500 mg and then work up to 1,000?
63 year old female

Answer/Reply from iGuard:

There are few ways you can manage the flushing (warmth, redness, itching and/or tingling) side effects of Niaspan: 1) you may have an easier time getting used to the flushing symptoms of Niaspan if you slowly work up to the target dose - however, you should work with your doctor to design this plan to work up the desired dose, 2) you can try taking Niaspan at night so the flushing symptoms do not affect your daytime activities, and 3) taking an aspirin 325 mg 1/2 hour before the Niaspan dose may help to reduce the side effects of flushing - but please discuss this with your doctor first since some people should not take aspirin because of specific drug interactions or disease interactions.