Posted by Melanie-00 on December 9, 2010, at 10:26:21
In reply to Abram Hoffer, niacinamide, posted by Christ_empowered on December 9, 2010, at 9:05:01
Thanks for the info. I'm still doing research and haven't come to any definite decisions/conclusions. Maybe I never will. I'm not a doctor or biochemist. Anyway, I've heard of Dr. Hoffer and the orthomolecular medical tradition (which Jonathan Prousky is also a part of), and I'm just not sure I see great reason to trust them. As far as I can tell, orthomolecular medicine (the idea that diseases can be treated with megadoses of vitamins, etc) is not a legitimate branch of modern bio-medicine. Practitioners like Hoffer seem to be driven by an a priori judgement about the way the body should work. They provide lots of case studies to support their beliefs, but, as I've said, I haven't seen much in the way of robust research.
By the way, here's a citation to a report of a schizophrenic man who found advice on the internet about taking megadoses of niacin, and after ingesting 11000 mg in less than 24 hours, ended up in the emergency room with a life-threatening condition. Kinda scary!
Treatment Advice on the Internet Leads to a Life-Threatening Adverse Reaction: Hypotension Associated with Niacin Overdose
Richard A. Mularski, Richard E. Grazer, Leslie Santoni, John S. Strother, Kenneth E. Bizovi
Clinical Toxicology 2006 44:1, 81-84Abstract: We describe a case of massive oral niacin overdose that resulted in severe persistent hypotension without the manifestation of cutaneous flushing. This case is the highest overdose of niacin reported in the literature to date and the first time severe persistent hypotension has been attributed to niacin. A 56-year-old male with a history of schizophrenia presented to the emergency department after orally ingesting 11,000 mg of niacin. The patient cited an Internet resource that recommended high-dose niacin for therapy of schizophrenia as the reason for his ingestion. He stopped his psychiatric medications several weeks prior to his niacin overdose. At presentation, the patient was alert and normothermic. His pulse was 68 beats per minute and his blood pressure was initially 92/41 mmHg. Hypotension with a blood pressure of 58/40 developed over the next few hours and persisted despite intravenous infusion of over 4 liters of normal saline. The physical exam was otherwise unremarkable, specifically without signs of an allergic reaction or cutaneous flushing. He required intravenous dopamine infusion for 12 hours to support a mean arterial blood pressure greater than 60 mmHg. Evaluation for other etiologies of hypotension was unrevealing. Serum niacin levels were 8.2 ug/mL and 5.6 ug/mL at 48 and 96 hours post ingestion, respectively, giving an apparent T1/2 of 87 hours. Massive overdose of niacin appears to be capable of causing severe, persistent hypotension in the absence of cutaneous flushing. In this case, the ingestion of a dietary supplement based on Internet advice led to a severe adverse reaction.
poster:Melanie-00
thread:972710
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20101202/msgs/972990.html