For people with kidney disease: Ask your doctor whether niacin is safe for you to take. Niacin is processed by your kidneys. If you have kidney disease, the levels of niacin in your blood can get too high. This could cause you to have more side effects. For people with diabetes: Niacin can increase your blood sugar levels.
If your blood sugar is too high, your doctor may change your dosage of niacin or take you off of the medication. For people with gout: Niacin can increase your uric acid levels, which may worsen your gout.
Your doctor may take you off of niacin if your gout worsens while taking the drug. This drug can increase the amount of acid in your stomach. This may aggravate your ulcer. For pregnant women: Niacin is a category C pregnancy drug. This means two things:.
This drug should only be used if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to your pregnancy. For women who are breastfeeding: Niacin passes into breast milk and may cause side effects in a child who is breastfed.
Talk to your doctor if you breastfeed your child. You may need to decide whether to stop breastfeeding or stop taking this medication. For seniors: Older adults may process drugs more slowly. A normal adult dose may cause levels of the drug to be higher than normal. All possible dosages and drug forms may not be included here. Your dosage, drug form, and how often you take the drug will depend on:. The kidneys of older adults may not work as well as they used to.
This can cause your body to process drugs more slowly. As a result, more of a drug stays in your body for a longer time. This increases your risk of side effects. Your doctor may start you on a lowered dose or a different medication schedule. This can help keep levels of this drug from building up too much in your body.
However, because drugs affect each person differently, we cannot guarantee that this list includes all possible dosages. Always speak with your doctor or pharmacist about dosages that are right for you. High cholesterol levels put you at a higher risk for heart attack and stroke. For this drug to work well, a certain amount needs to be in your body at all times.
If you take too much: You could have dangerous levels of the drug in your body. You may have the following symptoms:. If your symptoms are severe, call or go to the nearest emergency room right away. What to do if you miss a dose: Take your dose as soon as you remember.
But if you remember just a few hours before your next scheduled dose, take only one dose. Never try to catch up by taking two doses at once. This could result in dangerous side effects. Your doctor may adjust your dose depending on your cholesterol levels. A prescription for this medication is refillable. You should not need a new prescription for this medication to be refilled. Your doctor will write the number of refills authorized on your prescription. This monitoring may be done using three tests:.
This can reduce your risk of flushing reddening and warming of your face. Adding the niacin to statins for an average of five years did not reduce the risk of patients experiencing a major vascular event like heart attack or stroke. A significant number of different types of serious side effects have been associated with niacin therapy. They include skin rashes, gastrointestinal problems, complications with the management of pre-existing diabetes and increased risk of developing diabetes. Other side effects identified in studies that may require further research included infections and bleeding, particularly in the gut and brain.
Large studies of niacin have limitations. If you have high cholesterol, talk with your doctor about the best way to get your cholesterol under control. There are a number of medications that can help people with high cholesterol bring down their LDL numbers.
A cardiologist explains why niacin is used with caution and only in certain patients. Learn more about vaccine availability. Prescription niacin might benefit people with high cholesterol who aren't able to take statins or haven't been able to control their cholesterol levels through use of a statin, diet and exercise.
Don't take prescription niacin for high cholesterol if you're pregnant. Serious side effects are most likely if you take between 2, to 6, mg of niacin a day.
If you think you might have overdosed on niacin, seek medical attention immediately. If you have liver disease, peptic ulcer disease or severe low blood pressure hypotension , don't take large amounts of niacin. The supplement has been linked with liver damage, can cause hypotension and might activate a peptic ulcer. Taking niacin also might worsen allergies, gallbladder disease and symptoms of certain thyroid disorders. If you have diabetes, niacin can interfere with blood glucose control.
Use niacin with caution if you have the complex form of arthritis gout. Niacin can cause an excess of uric acid in the blood hyperuricemia , putting you at risk of gout.
If you're pregnant, don't take prescription niacin for high cholesterol. However, if needed to prevent or treat niacin deficiency, niacin is likely safe to take during pregnancy and in breast-feeding women when used in recommended amounts.
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