Posted on 01/23/2007 6:07:00 PM PST by neverdem
Perhaps you heard it? The wail last month from the labs of heart researchers and the offices of Wall Street analysts?
Pfizer Inc., the pharmaceutical giant, halted late-stage trials of a cholesterol drug called torcetrapib after investigators discovered that it increased heart problems — and death rates — in the test population.
Torcetrapib wasn’t just another scientific misfire; the drug was to have been a blockbuster heralding the transformation of cardiovascular care. Statin drugs like simvastatin (sold as Zocor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor) lower blood levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, thereby slowing the buildup of plaque in the arteries.
But torcetrapib worked primarily by increasing HDL, or good cholesterol. Among other functions, HDL carries dangerous forms of cholesterol from artery walls to the liver for excretion. The process, called reverse cholesterol transport, is thought to be crucial to preventing clogged arteries.
Many scientists still believe that a statin combined with a drug that raises HDL would mark a significant advance in the treatment of heart disease. But for patients now at high risk of heart attack or stroke, the news is better than it sounds. An effective HDL booster already exists.
It is niacin, the ordinary B vitamin.
In its therapeutic form, nicotinic acid, niacin can increase HDL as much as 35 percent when taken in high doses, usually about 2,000 milligrams per day. It also lowers LDL, though not as sharply as statins do, and it has been shown to reduce serum levels of artery-clogging triglycerides as much as 50 percent. Its principal side effect is an irritating flush caused by the vitamin’s dilation of blood vessels.
Despite its effectiveness, niacin has been the ugly duckling of heart medications, an old remedy that few scientists cared to examine. But that seems likely to change.
“There’s a great unfilled...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Disregard my question (re: Budwig), it was answered previously on the thread.
So sorry.
Try a different suppliment, I highly doubt you are alergic to Niacin, its one of the fundamental building blocks... most likely you were allergic to one of the ingredients used as filler in the pills.
Ping!
My husband's doctor put him on Niacin before trying Lipator (sp?). What you are describing are symptoms his doctor told him to watch for (you may not be allergic to it afterall), he advised him to take an aspirin to counter attack those symptoms. My husband said the aspirin helped some, but he ended up going on a statin drug anyway.
My Dr. started me on 500mg of niaspan at night with one asprin for a month then increased to 1000mg. I have only experienced flushing one time when I forgot to take my pill at bedtime and took it first thing in the morning.
"Cottage cheese, yuk!"
We make a blueberry drink and use flax oil and cottage cheese in it (and rice or almond vanilla flavored "milk" as well as lecithin and psyllium)....for a morning drink.....can't hardly taste the cottage cheese (it's blended.)
Thanks for posting this article, neverdem. Bookmarking for future reference. :)
Yes, Yogurt...it'll get the job done. I didn't like cottage cheese either but once I added flaxseed oil to it...I found it to be great!!!
I'm gonna buck the tide here- I *love* cottage cheese. Especially with some sliced peaches. :-)
My doctor put me on Niaspan and recommended that I eat several prunes before taking the medicine to help prevent flushing.
Bookmarked for later
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