I've personally done the Niacin thing twice and I'm fine.. not going to do it again because I don't have a test to pass. Please argue with me some more, this is taken from clinical pharmacology, a resource that doctor's and people like myself (pharmacy major) use often to check for things like drug interactions, side effects, and oh yeah, overdoses.
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Niacin (nicotinic acid), when administered in doses equivalent to the RDA, is generally nontoxic. Niacinamide also rarely causes adverse reactions. Larger doses of nicotinic acid (i.e., >= 1 g/day PO), can cause adverse reactions more frequently. Differences in adverse reaction profiles can be explained by the fact that nicotinic acid has pharmacologic properties that are different from niacinamide.
Peripheral vasodilation is a well-known adverse reaction to niacin. It is characterized by flushing; warmth; and burning or tingling of the skin, especially in the face, neck, and chest. Hypotension can be caused by this vasodilation. Patients should avoid sudden changes in posture to prevent symptomatic or orthostatic hypotension. Dizziness and/or headache, including migraine, can occur. Cutaneous flushing is more likely to occur with immediate-release preparations as opposed to sustained-release ones and also increases in incidence with higher doses.[23666] These reactions usually improve after the initial 2 weeks of therapy. Some patients develop generalized pruritus as a result of peripheral flushing. Patients should avoid ethanol or hot drinks that can precipitate flushing. Flushing can be minimized by taking niacin with meals, using low initial doses, and increasing doses gradually. If necessary, taking one aspirin (e.g., 325 mg) 30 minutes before each dose can help prevent or reduce flushing. Spontaneous reports with niacin suggest that flushing may also be accompanied by symptoms of dizziness or syncope, sinus tachycardia, palpitations, dyspnea, diaphoresis, chills, edema, or exacerbations of angina. On rare occasions, cardiac arrhythmias or syncope has occurred. Hypersensitivity or anaphylactoid reactions have been reported rarely during niacin therapy; episodes have included one or more of the following features: anaphylaxis, angioedema, urticaria, flushing, dyspnea, tongue edema, laryngeal edema, face edema, peripheral edema, laryngismus, maculopapular rash, and vesiculobullous rash (vesicular rash, bullous rash).
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As you can see from the areas that I bolded, >1g/day is the dose at which adverse reactions are said to occur more frequently. I'm asking him to take 500 mg... which is half of the dose at which they suggest caution. And the other part highlights the fact that he will be uncomfortable, flushing and whatnot occurs.. JUST LIKE I SAID.
There is also no cardiotoxicity whatsoever so whoever said it fucks with your heart pulled that out of his ass