Niaspan cholesterol drug and neuropathy
 

Around April 2010 I started on Niaspan which is for high cholesterol. A few days later I started noticing some symptoms of neuropathy. I noticed my skin felt dry, itchy and sunburned. I thought it was side effect of drug. The worst symptoms of neuropathy started to appear in May. I had pain in abdomen and it hurt to sit.

I went to doctor and went on gabapentin. They all denied that niaspan had anything to do with neurapthy. I took myself off niaspan in July 2010. I must admit my symptoms have not got better.

Now I am due for physical and am afraid MD will want to put me back on cholesterol lowering drug. My LDL component of cholesterol was 195 which is very high.

So has anyone ever heard of connection between PN and a cholesterol lowering drug?

I have been taking over-the-counter niacin for several years, It has helped my cholesterol but not changed my neuropathy that I had before starting on niacin. Niacin is mre effective for HDL than LDL. I take the Nicin that has the flush and I feel burning on my face and sometimes other parts of my upper body.

Thanks for reply. I will admit the short time I was on Niaspan it did lower my cholesterol. My HDL was good to begin with and even that went up to 80. My LDL did go down on Niaspan.

I just wonder how important it is to treat high cholesterol. I have several relatives with high cholesterol and they lived long lives.

I have posted for 4 years on this subject. If you search "statin" on this board, you'll find many many posts.

I'd like to respond to the Niaspan issue however. Niacin releases histamine and bradykinin in the skin....which leads to burning and flushing. This response is blocked by aspirin to some extent.

I have also found that aspirin in the form of AlkaSeltzer orig. formula, stops my burning feet when it is intense. The bicarb added to the aspirin has some histamine receptor blocking actions, and this I think is a double effect with both ingredients in one dose.

There have been posters here who could not tolerate the flush from Niacin... and I don't think it is an accident that some PN symptoms are similar. They may be caused by inflammatory cytokines which set off that same response, or some other mechanism we don't understand yet.

The newest research says the Very Low LDL are the culprits for blocking blood vessels...and most cholesterol screens do not
separate the LDLs out. As long as the lobby for drugs like statins remains active, we will not see the full truth about cholesterol. But I see daily various articles that say, higher cholesterol in the brain protects from neuro degeneration, and also supports immune function in the elderly.

So search here...I have many links put up. Including on the Subforum on the thread about "Drugs that may cause PN".

MrsD-

Am I not remembering correctly, but could swear I read that there's a school of thought that believes it isn't cholesterol that causes cardiovascular problems but inflammation and a certain protein.

Sheltiemom

Hi januarybabe,

I've found that cholesterol is one of those topics that varies among doctors and their own predispositions. My first PCP used to be all over my case about cholesterol, threatening to put me on cholesterol-controlling drugs if I didn't change my diet (which I did, but it was a battle). My next PCP (newer information?) wasn't so concerned about cholesterol; he looked at the greater picture of hereditary factors, lifestyle, and others.

What's weird to me is that the most recent batteries of medical tests indicate I'm healthier than I've ever been... Go figure.

Doc

As Sheltiemom hints--
 

--yes, there is a segment of the cardiovascular medical world that thinks cholesterol has little to do with potential coronary events, and looks at the inflammatory markers, particularly levels of C-reactive protein and homocysteine, as having more predictive value.

The theory is that whatever cholesterol levels are, it takes an inflammatory lesioning process in a blood vessel to cause cholesterol and platelets to "stick" to the vessel wall and result in a blockage.

There is also a school of thought that when it comes to lipid numbers, the triglyceride level is more important to monitor than the cholesterol levels.

These viewpoints are being debated in the filed, but one tends not to hear much about it unless one reads a lot of medical papers from diverse places--in the US the establishment that gets reported on, at least, thinks that cholesterol numbers and cardiac events are highly correlated. One does infer that a lot of this comes from pharmaceutical companies looking to push their cholesterol lowering products.

One can see a trend here now in US....

Pfizer spent mega bucks to get FDA approval to say : Lipitor prevents heart attacks. In reality it is a very small number prevented.

But the Crestor commercials specifically do NOT mention heart attacks....they say "clogged arteries". This is because THEY did a study on preventing stroke only.... small numbers there too.

Two non drug substances have been tested against statins for reducing epithelial inflammation in arteries and found equal:
Vit C and
curcumin (an improved enhance absorption type)

So statins are not unique... and are quite toxic in return! They damage mitochondria in cells, it has been learned.