Boy was my face red!

Niacin flush.

How I got to be 47.5 years old without even knowing about niacin flush I will never know. So let me tell you!

I've been seeing a fitness coach in order to get my hip issue resolved. Since he also knows his stuff when it comes to nutrition, I am letting him give me some advice in that area, too. He had recommended a certain type of multivitamin which you take two times a day--it evens out how the "stuff" works in your body.

Well, I was so excited the day it arrived from iHerb.com that I took two tablets (half a day's dosage) right away. I had forgotten that earlier that morning I had taken my other vitamins, too. Now, since they are almost 2 years out of date, I figured they were at a lower potency than the label, anyway.

About an hour later, I was working at my computer when my face began to feel weird. Now, I've been having some numbness in my face (yes, I have an appointment with the doc about that this week), but it felt so much more intense than that. My skin was feeling really tight. Now, I am an avid House fan (House the TV show about the grumpy doctor who is a brilliant diagnostician when he is not overdosing on painkillers). The night before, Scleroderma came up on House. (And I have seen a made-for-TV-Move about it, too.)

For 15 seconds I was convinced I had Scleroderma.

But then, my face wasn't just tight, it was hot! I ran down to our hall mirror and saw that my whole face was beet red. (Really, though, beets are more a purple than a red. My face was been-at-the-beach-all-day-without-sunscreen red.)

Red. Hot. Tight. Oh, and now other parts of me were feeling warm, too.

Allergic reaction was my second thought. Oh, what I had I eaten differently that day? Oh, yes, I took those vitamins...hmmm...check label, maybe I'm allergic to some of the herbs used in them...hmmm....oh yeah, I am married to a pharmacist, maybe HE knows whats going on....

Yes, my own personal pharmacist reassured me that I wasn't dying. It was most likely the niacin in the vitamin that was causing this. He's seen it in a co-worker, and yes, it was no fun.

Whew! Sort of. I was still flushing, and hot. A cool compress and taking 4 baby aspirins (on the advice of the Rx) and a couple big glasses of water and I was back to normal within an hour or so.

What have I learned? I have learned I am very sensitive to some forms of niacin, even at a relatively low dose. One can work up to taking more. I am working up to taking those 4 tablets, but every now and then I still get a mini-flush which is confined to my elbows mostly.

Frankly, I think it's all a dry run for hot flashes, which I know are just around the corner...