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  #1   ^
Old Sat, Jan-28-17, 09:13
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
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Default I'm doing Niacin Therapy

Putting this here in the War Zone because I realize talking about megadoses of vitamins sounds like WOOOOO to many people.

But I am living proof there is something to it. I first started using niacin to help with my sleep: which it did, wonderfully. I went off: felt bad again, went back on. This inspired me to delve into it more, and I read the book about it.

This book, Niacin: The Real Story: Learn about the Wonderful Healing Properties of Niacin, is a compendium of several doctors' work with long experience using niacin for all kinds of ailments.

I am on the third day of their recommended dosing schedule, which is: 1g of niacin, a B complex, and Vitamin C, three times a day. With meals, though I take it with my tea and coconut oil as breakfast and do fine.

I got here by gradually increasing my niacin dose, and also ramping up the C. Love my C!

I feel good, and I will see how it goes. I need a lot of healing: I had an undiagnosed illness for years and it derailed me in a lot of ways. I was first drawn to niacin because of its beneficial action on the effects of stress; and boy, did I have stress!

The key to understanding niacin's healing qualities is in its amazing ability to combat inflammation. This is what kills us when we eat the SAD. This is implicated in arthritis, auto-immune disorders, heart disease, even mental illness.

To understand the incredible impact of inflammation on our brain, I recommend Brain on Fire, by a young woman who suddenly fell into a severe psychosis which did not respond to any medical treatment. Only an alert diagnostician saved her from permanent brain damage and spending the rest of her life in an asylum. She had a rare infection which creates inflammation in the brain, much like meningitis does.

Also, must report that since going on a serious niacin dosing schedule: cravings have disappeared. I am eating better than ever (when I was sick I could not achieve ketosis) and things I would have caved and had (like higher carb vegetables, or gluten free things that are high in carbs) just do not appeal.

That in itself is kind of a miracle
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  #2   ^
Old Sat, Jan-28-17, 12:52
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teaser teaser is offline
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Plan: mostly milkfat
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Default

Niacin used to help me with my bum shoulder quite a bit. Haven't needed it for the last few years. I think the niacin flush might partly work in the same way that heat and cold work. It's an interesting vitamin. The flush type has largely disappeared from stores around here, I don't get any obvious therapeutic benefit from the other types.

Very interesting on the cravings. The flush type causes a temporary decrease in lipolysis, followed later by a compensatory increase in growth hormone, and higher free fatty acids than you started with, to me this seems like a possible way to sort of hack the circadian rhythm.

Your schedule is very different from what mine was, I took it once per day, generally on an empty stomach.
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  #3   ^
Old Sat, Jan-28-17, 14:05
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WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
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Progress: 136%
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by teaser
a possible way to sort of hack the circadian rhythm


I had trouble IFing before, I was too sick to get the ketosis going; I would eat what would normally be a fine low carb meal, and wind up starving. Skipping a meal, which used to be easy, became very difficult.

Then, as the effects of my cortisol resistance worsened, I had no appetite. I lived on cold cuts and ice cream because they were the few things I could eat.

I was taking anti-inflammatory herbs, Devils Claw and White Willow, to improve my sleep. Switching to niacin got me the same benefits without worrying about losing their effectiveness or possible NSAID-like side effects.
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  #4   ^
Old Sat, Jan-28-17, 21:35
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GRB5111 GRB5111 is offline
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Plan: Very LC, Higher Protein
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Default

Just purchased the book. I'm having a hard time finding good pure niacin tablets. Any recommendations in terms of what brand gave you the most success and the dosage amount that enables you to adjust to what's appropriate for your total daily dose? I'm thinking 50mg to 100mg which would enable me to increase tablets for the correct dose and take them 2x or 3x daily.
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  #5   ^
Old Sat, Jan-28-17, 23:32
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WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
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Default

I use the Now Brand from iherb.com

I get the 500mg so I don't know what other sizes they offer. But I have always gotten quality products there.

I have never found good niacin in drug stores or health stores. Is that the difficulty?
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  #6   ^
Old Sat, Jan-28-17, 23:40
OceanPower OceanPower is offline
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My Dr. prescribed 500 mg stuff that would cause skin flush unless I took it with aspirin. A couple of years ago Niagen was amazing, but that quit working after 12 months. Now I use MitoQ, but still suffer from chronic fatigue.
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  #7   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 07:04
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WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GRB5111
Just purchased the book.


The first chapter is a hard chemistry slog, but then the book gets much more readable.
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  #8   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 07:26
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WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
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Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by OceanPower
My Dr. prescribed 500 mg stuff that would cause skin flush unless I took it with aspirin. A couple of years ago Niagen was amazing, but that quit working after 12 months. Now I use MitoQ, but still suffer from chronic fatigue.


I'm sorry to hear. DH has chronic fatigue. According to the book, if niacin works, then stops, it is a sign to increase the dose. (But of course, I am not a doctor, and don't know you. I urge you, if interested, to read the book.)

I'm taking 3g a day, in three increments, each time with a B complex and as much C as I can handle, currently 6k a day.

I don't flush any more. Even at the dose I'm taking now. Which is what is supposed to happen. I don't mind the flush, but it's nice to know I won't be randomly turning pink in public.

The flush is a temporary thing. As we ramp up, it dwindles and goes away.

Last edited by WereBear : Sun, Jan-29-17 at 07:35.
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  #9   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 07:31
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GRB5111 GRB5111 is offline
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Plan: Very LC, Higher Protein
Stats: 227/186/185 Male 6' 0"
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Location: Herndon, VA
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by WereBear
I have never found good niacin in drug stores or health stores. Is that the difficulty?

Thanks. That's what I discovered yesterday when I tried to find some pure niacin in 100mg tablets as the authors suggested to build on my doses and find out how much I need to cause a flush. Great way to discover one's proper dosage by the way. Target and Wal-Mart were useless, I finally found a 100mg dose by Solgar at The Vitamin Shoppe, so I've started with that and then ordered a brand by Carlsons in the same dosage through Amazon. I'll check out iherb.com when I determine what my combination needs to be to reach my daily dose. Book is very good, and I like that it was stated early on that niacin dosing varies by individual.
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  #10   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 08:59
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WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
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Progress: 136%
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GRB5111
Book is very good, and I like that it was stated early on that niacin dosing varies by individual.


It is an easy read -- past the first chapter!

I have always gotten good results, at any level. The book is what inspired me to go Full Metal Niacin, since I am still recovering from a very bad spell of illness, with a metric TON of stress; and one of the things niacin is very good for is PTSD.

So wish the medical world would give it a try on our returning veterans.
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  #11   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 09:01
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by teaser
It's an interesting vitamin.


The book points out that with today's science, it would actually be classed as an amino acid. But, as the author says, "Too late now."

Which sheds light on its ability to help our brains. Perhaps, under stress, this particular amino acid is hard hit on the production lines; much as stress creates "progesterone steal" and we are low on that hormone. Adding progesterone to my regimen after menopause did wonders for me.

So adding this amino acid back in makes our brains work properly. And as I have discovered, when our brains are stressed and not working properly, it becomes a physical disease also; all those signals are not being sent right to the various glands and organs. Then those organs don't work right, either.
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  #12   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 10:14
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teaser teaser is offline
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Default

It's produced from tryptophan, same as serotonin, also melatonin. Niacin deficiency causes pellegra, some of the symptoms are schizophrenic-like. Leading to the theory of niacin as a schizophrenia therapy--which I'm very skeptical of, all you have to do is come across a particular cohort of "schizophrenics" who are actually niacin deficient, and you have evidence of niacin as a therapy. Then again, there have been cases of mania and depression that turned out to be symptoms of thyroid disorders, so it's probably worth looking out for, all the same.
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  #13   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 10:48
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WereBear WereBear is online now
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Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
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Progress: 136%
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by teaser
Leading to the theory of niacin as a schizophrenia therapy--which I'm very skeptical of, all you have to do is come across a particular cohort of "schizophrenics" who are actually niacin deficient, and you have evidence of niacin as a therapy. Then again, there have been cases of mania and depression that turned out to be symptoms of thyroid disorders, so it's probably worth looking out for, all the same.


I don't entirely understand your skepticism: are you saying these "schizophrenics" were misdiagnosed as such? That they should have been diagnosed as a kind of extreme-pellagra-dementia situation?

Because it was just such a mental link that led Dr. Hoffer to use it successfully on "schizophrenics" in his practice.

As someone who went through a hellish menopause, I can assure you that estrogen is another hormone which, unregulated, can be mistaken for mental illness.
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  #14   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 11:49
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teaser teaser is offline
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Plan: mostly milkfat
Stats: 190/152.4/154 Male 67inches
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My skepticism isn't that niacin is an unlikely treatment, I just dont think an overarching theory of everything is in order, there are people out there who do. Hoffer worked in Saskatchewan, it's possible that the local diet or a relatively homogenous population (my mom's side of the family was part of that population, when he was doing his work there) set people up for a niacin deficiency.
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  #15   ^
Old Sun, Jan-29-17, 11:56
teaser's Avatar
teaser teaser is offline
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Plan: mostly milkfat
Stats: 190/152.4/154 Male 67inches
BF:
Progress: 104%
Location: Ontario
Default

Incidentally, one of the supposed differences in niacin metabolism in schizophrenics is a reduced flush response. When my Dad tried niacin, he had to ramp up 100 mg at a time, took him a while. I ramp up a lot quicker.
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