HealthBeat News

Category: Health Questions

  • We get Questions! Can Niacin Raise Blood Pressure?

    We get Questions! Can Niacin Raise Blood Pressure?

    By Nurse Mark

    One of our HealthBeat Subscribers writes occasionally with questions – and that is a good thing, because there is some serious misinformation out there in internet-land! There are plenty of competing interests, all wanting you to believe that what they tell you is the gospel truth about any given subject. While the supplement industry and most notably the MLM marketers who push berry juices and coral calcium are not immune to using hyperbole as they promote their products, they cannot hold a candle to the Big Pharma giants with their virtually limitless ability to purchase good press for their offerings while vilifying any competition.

    Consider this back-and-forth exchange that I recently had with Ann who wrote:…

    Mark
    I was just told that no flush niacin raises blood pressure…Is that so ? 
    Ann

    After giving my head a shake and reading the letter again to be sure I had read correctly I wrote Ann back:

    Hi Ann,

    Yikes! Who would tell you such a preposterous thing?!?

    We have never found anything anywhere in the medical or scientific literature, or in anecdotal reports, that would support such a statement.

    If this person who just told you this has any evidence to support this statement (other than of the "my aunt Effie was talking to her neighbor whose second cousin knew a fellow who said it made his wife’s blood pressure go up once…" variety) we would be most interested to see it.

    Our research has found that No-Flush niacin is extremely safe and well-tolerated.

    From our web page: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/niacin.htm

    The Coronary Drug Project,* an extensive study of cholesterol-lowering drugs, found that niacin was the only “drug” that actually reduced mortality. (Niacin is a “B” vitamin but was tested head-to-head with drugs in the study). Follow-up studies showed that the niacin-treated group had an 11% lower death rate years after niacin therapy was discontinued, but the cholesterol-lowering drug group had an increased death rate. (Example: the Clofibrate group had a 36% higher death rate).

    One caveat however: Time-release or extended-release niacin preparations, such as those your conventional doctor would prescribe since they are available only by prescription can be toxic to the liver. Perhaps this is what your person was referring to?

    Hope this helps,
    Nurse Mark

    Ann wrote back to give me the reference where she found this information, and things became a little more clear:

    Here it is.  What it does say is it can affect blood pressure medications… http://altmedicine.about.com/od/highcholesterol/a/highcholesterol.htm

    I read this article, and here is my reply to Ann:

    Hi Ann,

    Here is what we can read "between the lines"…

    The author of this article is a naturopathic doctor – a graduate of an accredited and reputable naturopathic medical school. That is the good news.

    The content of the article was "reviewed" by the website’s "Medical Review Board". That’s the bad news – since all the members of this "Medical Review Board" are conventional medical doctors, trained in conventional medicine and in conventional pharmacy – and conventional medicine is very unfriendly toward anything that is not a product of a drug company and available only by prescription.

    Now, on to some parts of this article…

    Niacin is available in prescription form and as a dietary supplement. The American Heart Association cautions patients to only use the prescription form of niacin.

    This is to be expected – since the AHA (American Heart Association) is heavily funded and controlled by the Pharmaceutical Industry. Niacin, and No-Flush Niacin, are not prescription drugs – they are natural substances and cannot be patented, so there is no great profit in them. Time-release forms of niacin are patented, and therefore the drug companies are able to achieve their desired profit margins with them. Bravo to the author for even mentioning that niacin is available as a non-prescription supplement!

    Because of side effects, niacin should not be used to lower cholesterol unless under the supervision of a qualified health practitioner.

    This is standard CYA (Cover Your ASSetts) boilerplate that needs to be said whenever there is a chance that someone might take the advice offered in an article. It gets the authors "off the hook" if someone does something silly with their advice, hurts them self, and tries to sue for damages. Remember how the now ubiquitous warning label "WARNING – Hot Coffee May Be Hot" got it’s start…? This is like the warning I once saw associated with a fitness program which said "WARNING – Exercise can cause elevated heartrate, fatigue, and other uncomfortable symptoms. Any exercise program should only be undertaken under the close supervision of a qualified health care practitioner." But I digress…

    Niacin can increase the effect of high blood pressure medication or cause nausea, indigestion, gas, diarrhea, gout, and worsen peptic ulcers, or trigger gout, liver inflammation, and high blood sugar.

    This statement says that niacin can INCREASE the effect of high blood pressure medication – this is possible due to niacin’s beneficial effects on circulation, and it would further LOWER blood pressure. These other side effects are incredibly rare – they are not something that either Dr. Myatt nor I have encountered in our years of practice. But if any one of these side effects was ever reported and niacin was blamed, rightly or wrongly, conventional medicine will use it to frighten the uninformed away from non-prescription niacin and toward the far more profitable statin drugs (which, by the way, have far more, and far more dangerous side effects).

    The most common side effect of high-dose niacin is skin flushing or hot flashes, which is caused by widening of blood vessels. Most people only notice this when they initially start taking niacin. The flushing may be lessened by taking niacin with meals.

    This statement is true – but incomplete. This common side effect can also be avoided by using the No-Flush form of niacin.

    Although high doses of niacin showed promise in combination with drugs to lower cholesterol (called "statins), there are concerns that combining them could result in a potentially fatal condition called rhabdomyelosis. They shouldn’t be combined unless under the close supervision of a physician.

    Rhabdomyelosis is a well-known, very serious, and surprisingly common side-effect of statin drug therapy – it has nothing to do with niacin. There should be no reason to use niacin in combination with statins except for the need on the part of the doctor to write a prescription for a drug.

    In summary, Niacin is at least equally effective as statins at lowering cholesterol, and certainly safer. Someone using No-Flush Niacin and a proper diet (NOT a "Low Cholesterol" diet! see our articles Lower Cholesterol Naturally – Better Cholesterol Management with Vitamins and Herbs and Saturated Fats: Another Big Fat Lie for the full scoop on this!) should have no need to use both niacin and statins together. Further, since niacin improves microcirculation, and the diet that corrects high cholesterol also corrects high blood pressure, a person should be able to no longer need "blood pressure pills" either.

    Hope this clears things up a bit for you Ann!

  • Some Questions We Just Can’t Answer!

    Here’s a good one! See if you can guess our what our answer will be after reading this question that was sent anonymously to us – no name, no "Hi, How are you", no "Thanks for your time":

    Anonymous wrote:

    It has been a month and three weeks now since I have started taking Lucidal.  I started twice a day and then three a day . After two weeks I sufferred an acid reflux, so I took Prilosec for 14 days as instructed in the box and during the 14 days I was in Prilosec I was taking Lucidal once a day, a week after that I sufferred another acid reflux.  Should I continue   taking Lucidal ?

    Okee-Dokee… Let’s see now…

    First, this is not a product that we sell here at the Wellness Club. In fact, given the amounts shown in the supplement facts box that I found after some searching on the Lucidal sales website, we would not even consider offering such an incomplete, low potency vitamin mixture for sale.

    Here is a challenge: find the Supplements Facts Box on the Lucidal Sales website, and compare it with that of Dr. Myatt’s Maxi Multi. As a multiple vitamin, Lucidal is a lightweight – an expensive lightweight, but a lightweight all the same.

    Second, without knowing an awfully lot more about this person, how can we possibly say that the "acid reflux" has anything to do with Lucidal? Is this person old? Young? Healthy? Ill? Using other drugs?

    Third, who are we to say whether or not this person should continue to take this product? We know nothing about this person, we did not sell this person the product, and we are not the formulators of this product. While we have a general idea of the ingredients in the "proprietary" formulas listed on the Supplements Facts Box, we do not know amounts – that is the beauty of "proprietary" formulas – exact amounts need not be listed.

    Perhaps this person should pose these questions to the "certified neurosurgeon and expert in brain biochemistry" that formulated this product – Dr. Larry McCleary.

    Folks, this is a classic example of the sort of questions that we see all too often, and that we simply cannot answer.

    As for Lucidal, I would not want to say that this product is a waste of money for if the testimonials on the Lucidal sales website are to be believed at least some people are finding it helpful. But looking at the Supplement Facts Box reveals vitamin and mineral dosages that we here would refer to as "Pixie Dust". Lots of "stuff" to make the product sound impressive but not enough of any one thing to do much good. A lot of people like products with "lots of stuff" in them – it feels like they are getting a better "deal".

    It is certainly better than no vitamin at all…

    But, at the price that is being asked for this product (someone has to pay for those "free" bonuses and the expensive "as seen on TV" infomercials!) we still believe that as a multiple vitamin Lucidal is a very expensive lightweight.

     

    For a truly effective multiple vitamin, try Dr. Myatt’s Maxi Multi.

    For some straight, honest information about neurological disease, see our webpage: Neurological Disease.

    For help with "acid reflux" see Dr. Myatt’s article What’s Burning You and see our webpage on Indigestion.

  • Questions about iron supplements…

    Questions about iron supplements…

    Iron supplementation is confusing and there is no shortage of information of dubious value and quality out there in "Internet-land". Conventional doctors often have little knowledge or training in anything other than what the drug companies have to offer – and they commonly deal with the constipation caused by their prescriptions for "nails-in-a-pill" by simply issuing yet another prescription for a laxative…

    Valerie recently wrote this letter to Dr. Myatt:

    Hello

    Hope everyone there is having a good and healthful day.

    My name is Valerie and my dermatologist says my Ferritin is 38 and she’d like to see me at around 70-75.

    She is prescribing 395 mg of iron per day and wants me to take that dosage for 3 months. She has recommended Feosol – a popular over the counter iron.

    For the last two years I have been taking one tablet of Every Woman’s Iron Support by New Chapter Organics.  It’s called a ‘whole food’.  It offers among other vitamins and minerals 9 mg of iron.  I don’t know if this is important but it also contains 900 mcg of folate.  I have never had any trouble with constipation at this dosage.

    In an attempt to up my iron intake and in an effort to finish off the bottle before I purchase something new and different, I’ve started taking 2 a day for a week, increased to 3 a day for a week and now 4 a day for the last 2 days.  Now I’m constipated.  Nowhere on the bottle does it say heme or non-heme.

    Apparently, the best I can get out of 6 Energizing Iron softgels is 150mg (they do come in soft gel, right?).  I can’t bear the thought of swallowing 6 more pills a day anyways, and certainly not 18.

    And the scariest part of all is a medical website I just saw that said non-constipating iron can lead to liver disease.  Google non-constipating iron if you want to see that for yourself.

    Have you any suggestions or comments about all this for me?

    Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

    Valerie in Illinois

    [Nurse Mark notes: I followed Valerie’s suggestion and searched the internet for this information – the best I can find refers to a single 1973 Lancet Medical Journal article, quoted and referenced many, many times on the internet, in which a researcher discusses an esoteric study of "oxyphenisatin-induced liver damage in chronic non-alcoholic liver disease". As I mentioned in the introduction to this exchange, the internet can be a misleading and frightening place! Articles such as these are often seized upon and exploited by Big Pharma in their quest to discredit anything that is not their own patented offering.]

    Dr. Myatt replies:

    Hi Valerie:

    As you can understand, I can’t give precise medical advice to someone who is not a patient, so these are general comments.

    Swallowing iron pills is like eating nails to get your iron levels up. "Elemental iron" is difficult to assimilate. That is "non-heme" iron. "Heme iron" is the type of iron found in red meat. It is easy to assimilate, non-constipating and tends to have a much more profound effect on iron levels even at very small doses. This is all explained on our website: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/liquidliver.htm

    I don’t know what form of iron you found as "non constipating iron," but there is no association between liquid liver and liver disease that I have ever seen in the medical literature, so the article you found is referring to something else. What does exist is a correlation between too much storage iron (ferritin) and liver disease, and we’re not sure which comes first. With your ferritin levels being low, this really isn’t your problem.

    If you can’t swallow capsules (that’s a "mindset problem," not a real problem if you are swallowing food OK), you could always put the caps in a blender along with a drink. I’d try a chocolate Super Shake as an easy way to take the caps. They’ll break apart in the blender. They have a small taste but not ugly and this should be masked by the shake. http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/supershake.htm

    Let me know how it goes!

    In Health,

    Dr. Myatt

    P.S. – Just last week I got the medical reports back on an elderly patient who has been low ferritin for a long time. They’ve had him on "epo" and medical iron for ages, to no avail. Since he’s been on the liquid liver (aka "energizing iron") his counts are back up in the normal range.

    We also had a young lady of menstrual age start using the liquid liver. (She is not a patient but communicated with me via email, like you). After two months, she emailed to order more liquid liver and tell me that her iron stores were up in the normal range for the first time in a long while. Needless to say, her local doc is pleased and so is she!

    [Nurse Mark notes: "Epo" is a common term for Erythropoietin – a synthetic hormone that prevents anemia (low blood count) by helping you make red blood cells – this drug is given by injection.]

  • How Long Will It Take To Improve Bone Density And Reverse Osteoporosis?

    Carole recently purchased some supplements from us, and wrote with her questions – the reply to which is a good review for all…

    Dear Dr.,

    I ordered two products to help fight the effects of osteoporosis. My test results show a negative 3.2 T-score. I am wondering how long it takes for the results of ingesting the multi vitamin [a one-a-day type], cal-mag amino and strontium (I just ordered these two from your site) to effect a change in my bone density? Also, will my bone return to normal after a period of time or is this impossible or unlikely? My doctor wants to put me on a prescription and I am not eager to do so.

    Thank you,
    Carole

    Dr. Myatt replies:

    Hi Carole:

    Here are my dosage recommendations for supplements in osteoporosis:

    Maxi Multi: 3 caps, 3 times per day with meals. Optimal doses (not minimal doses) of B complex vitamins, C, D, K, calcium, magnesium, vanadium, zinc, and boron are particularly important for strong bones. A "once per day" vitamin supplement does not supply anything close to an optimal daily dose of the necessary bone nutrients.

    Cal-Mag Amino: Post-menopausal females take 1 cap, 3 times per day with meals in addition to the 1,000:500 mg from Maxi Multi. (Target: 1200-1500 mg/day calcium, 500-800 mg/day magnesium for post-menopausal women. Men and peri-menopausal females get sufficient calcium/magnesium/boron from Maxi Multi).

    Strontium : 1 capsule, 1-2 times per day with or between meals (take separately from calcium).  One capsule per day is advised for prevention, 2 caps per day for those at high risk of osteoporosis or in already-established cases of osteoporosis.

    NOTE: Maxi Multi does not contain strontium. If you see a "bone formula" with strontium, don’t take it. Strontium should be taken away from calcium and magnesium for best absorption.

    Of course, diet and lifestyle play a role in "how fast" your bones will rebuild. My full Osteoporosis recommendations are here. You can also Learn more here on the strontium page

    Some of the studies showed 3% increase in bone density within one year. This compares WAY favorably to bisphophonate drugs (which as you may know, act by killing off the bone cells responsible for "remodeling").

    Learn more about the dangerous results of these drugs here in this previous edition of HealthBeat News.

    Since individuals are all different (you knew that, right?) , I can’t say for sure. But I can tell you that strontium in combination with adequate bone minerals (calcium, magnesium, boron, vanadium) and other essential nutrient, good diet, weight-bearing exercise (such as walking) build bone as fast or faster than bisphosphonate drugs and the "side effects’ are better overall health!

    Hope this helps and let me know how it goes.

    In Health,
    Dr. Myatt

  • My Husband Has Lung And Brain Cancer – What To Do?

    It seems that this has been "cancer question month" here at The Wellness Club, and folks love to write us with very specific medical questions even though we have said many times, here and on our website, that it is not appropriate, ethical, or legal for us to provide medical advice to someone who is not an established patient of Dr. Myatt.

    Folks, let me repeat: We cannot provide detailed medical advice or recommendations to anyone who is not a patient. We will do our best to provide general, generic information, but without having all available information about someone it is not fair to the person for us (or anyone else for that matter!) to make specific medical recommendations and it is not fair for someone to expect us to give out medical advice – this request puts us in a very difficult position, as we certainly recognize the desperate nature of many of these requests – letters like this one recently received are heart-wrenching!

    Sue Writes: (these notes are reproduced as they were received…)

    MY HUSBAND HAS LUNG CANCER,ALSO BRAIN.I AM LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO HELP.IS FLAXSEED SAFE TO USE WHEN TAKING RADIATION FOR BRAIN AND ALSO CHEMO EVERY 3 WEEKS.I NEED HELP AND ANYTHING YOU CAN TELL ME WILL BE SO VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.ALSO,DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ZEOLITE TO HELP CANCER.THANK YOU SO MUCH.SUE

    Our answer:

    Hi Sue,

    This is very serious business – and I wish that there were one simple thing (like Zeolite) that I could recommend for you that would be effective. As you have seen on our website at Dr. Myatt’s consultation pages, we are often the "Doctor of Last Resort" for folks who have been given up on or written off by conventional medicine – we make a lot of saves, but we need a lot of information to do that – information that is only available to us when your husband is a patient of Dr. Myatt so that she has access to all of his medical records. Why not consider booking a consultation?

    There should be no contraindication to using flax – but again, without FULL knowledge of your husband’s situation we cannot even say that for certain. In terms of nutrition, generally, a very low carbohydrate diet – The Myatt Diet – is best in most cancers, especially fast growing or aggressive cancers. There are other nutritional supplements that may be of value, but again, we need far more information to give fair, proper, and appropriate advice.

    Cheers,
    Nurse Mark

    Sue wrote again:

    THANK ;YOU VERY MUCH. WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED.MY HUSBAND IS NOT ABLE TO TRAVEL AND GETTING WEAKER EACH DAY.HE GOES IN FOR CHEMO TOMORROW. RADIATION ON BRAIN NEXT MONDAY. I READ THAT BLACK CHERRY JUICE CAN BE BENIFICAL,I BOUGHT THAT ALONG WITH VITAMIN D AND CO10.I HAVE TO HELP BUT WITH NOTHING THAT WILL HARM HIM. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANY AND ALL HELP.I HAVE READ OF THE FLAX AND COTTAGE CHEESE BUT LEERY OF THE RADIATION AND CHEMO.AGAIN THANKS SO MUCH.SUE 

    And this was our reply:

    Hi Sue,

    Dr. Myatt is located in Arizona, but she helps patients all across the country and around the world as well – she does her consultations by telephone.

    Please see her consultation brochure here: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/consultations.htm and here: http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/consultbrochure.htm

    Cherry pits contain the substance Laetril which may, in some cases, be useful in the treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, many fruit juices also contain large amounts of sugar which is contraindicated in cancer as sugar is the primary fuel for cancer cells.

    Vitamin D may or may not be helpful – it is contraindicated in some cancers. CoQ10 is a very valuable antioxidant – but antioxidant levels must be carefully managed, as some oxidative stress (free radicals) may be desirable in order to stress / damage the cancer cells.

    As you can see, this is a complicated situation and considerable skill is needed to make proper recommendations.

    If you search the internet you will find hundreds of websites, each purporting to offer the one true cure for cancer – and you will make yourself crazy. As you have undoubtedly discovered, everyone you talk to – your neighbor, the butcher, your hairdresser, your accountant, your plumber, the lady down the street who sells MLM vitamins – all have advice for you – and none of them are really qualified to be giving advice the way someone like Dr. Myatt is.

    Additionally, Dr. Myatt is very skilled at working in concert with your conventional doctor’s treatments to help you get the very best benefit with the least unpleasant side effects – and can help you cut through the confusion and uncertainty that often surrounds a serious condition like this.

    Hope this helps,
    Cheers,
    Nurse Mark

    Folks, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Cancer treatment is NOT a Do-It-Yourself proposition! Please, Please, Please – work with a qualified, experienced physician who can guide you and assist you in treating this potentially life threatening disease. Don’t try to "go-it-alone" no matter what you read on the internet or hear from your well-meaning neighbor / friend / relative / other person. The stakes are too high!