6 replies to this topic

[Dolph]

For roughly six months now I'm taking 1g of immediate release niacin twice a day for cholesterol control, in the morning and in the evening.
I generally tolerate it very well. I only flush rarely, my liver enzymes are doing fine and it's pretty effective for me. Also I think it somehow alleviated my mood swings, which for me is a very welcome side effect. I can't say that for sure, of course. But it seems to be in line with the experiences of others, too.

So now to the problem...
While the niacin didn't make my psoriasis condition worse, I come to realize that my skin (the "healthy" part of it) is drying up more and more, especially on my arms and my trunk. Not moisturized It's actually so dry that it makes a kind of sizzling sound, when I move my hand over my abs. Also the skin on my upper arms looks really wrinkled without moisturization which I actually feared to be a mysteriously sudden case of photodamage, before realizing it's a side effect from the niacin. Moisturized with 10% urea or Glysolid balm the skin looks perfectly normal for a few hours at a time.

Is this something to be concerned about in any way? I mean, I'm pretty sure it would probably go away if I stopped the niacin, but I don't plan to do so.
Does this condition imply some other problems, maybe damage I don't realize at he moment?
Could I do something else about it beside moisturizing to improve it?


Other things I take at the moment are:

- thyroxine
- low dose multi-vitamin
- vitamin K2 (Super K)
- vitamin D
- B-50
- magnesium
- fish oil

[renfr]

Are you sure it's the niacin?
It could also be the thyroxine that puts you in a subclinical hyperthyroid states and that does cause skin dryness due to dehydratation, you might want to look into that.
Drinking more water would solve that.

[Dolph]

It's the niacin for sure.
My TSH is still rather high at ~1,5 and gets checked every 6 months, last time only two months ago.
It also looks as if I also have developed some acanthosis nigricans at my ankles and my navel during the last few weeks which is obviously caused by the niacin.

[Heh]

Yes, niacin does this. Add 1g Vitamin C and 500mg-1000mg Vitamin B5.

[Caravaggio]

Niacin (B3) and Pantothenic acid (B5) are popular supplements on acne forums for reducing oily skin.

 

B5 works as a precursor to CoA, thus probably helping with fatty acid metabolism.

 

Acta Vitaminol Enzymol. 1982;4(1-2):105-14.

Vitamins and lipid metabolism.

 

Fidanza A, Audisio M.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/7124561

 

Niacin also seems to lower fatty acids by inhibition of lipolysis:

 

Endocrine Society's 98th Annual Meeting and Expo, April 1–4, 2016 - Boston

 

OR31-3:

Effects of Niacin Administration on Free Fatty Acid and Growth Hormone Concentrations in Obese Children

 

Ovidiu A Galescu1, Melissa Katherine Crocker2, Annie M Altschul1, Shannon E Marwitz3, Sheila M Brady1 and Jack Adam Yanovski1

http://press.endocri...016.PE.3.OR31-3

 

Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1996 Aug;55(1-2):9-15.

Membrane fatty acids, niacin flushing and clinical parameters.

 

Glen AI1, Cooper SJ, Rybakowski J, Vaddadi K, Brayshaw N, Horrobin DF.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/8888117

 

Niacin is probably a double-edged sword in Psoriasis, it helps with lowering Arachidonic acid, which is higher in the skin of Psoriasis sufferers but also lowers other fatty acids which are needed for skin moisture.

 

J Invest Dermatol. 1986 Feb;86(2):105-8.

Skin levels of arachidonic acid-derived inflammatory mediators and histamine in atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

 

Ruzicka T, Simmet T, Peskar BA, Ring J.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/3018086

 

Edited by Caravaggio, 13 December 2017 - 12:07 PM.

[pamojja]

 

While the niacin didn't make my psoriasis condition worse, I come to realize that my skin (the "healthy" part of it) is drying up more and more, especially on my arms and my trunk.

 

I've taking 3g/d of niacin too for many years, and got very dry skin and infrequent psoriasis-outbreaks too. However, once exceeding 24.000 IU preformed vitamin A recently, the psoriasis-outbreaks have ceased. And now that you mention it, my skin-dryness is much better too.

Edited by pamojja, 13 December 2017 - 12:46 PM.

[Skyguy2005]

Have you tried rubbing olive oil into your skin (I mean, vigorously and for several minutes)? In my experience doing this once or twice a week (you don't need to do it every day) is great for dry skin. By the by, Jeanne Calment used to rub olive oil into her skin and she lived to 122 so...