Niacin (B3) for Anxiety, Cystic Acne, Acne Scars

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Empiricalevidencerules (Usa) on 08/09/2022:
5 out of 5 stars

Niacin seems to work for me. Thank you. Once off birth control pills and in menopause I started getting cysts on arms face back of thighs that refused to heal. Used steristrips for healing, calamine seemed to help some. Careful with contamination calamine.

Also tried spirolactone for1 year no help. No acne topical, no oral or topical antibiotics worked, gluten free 1 year no worked. Dermatologist two visits in 5 years only shame you. So I have used oral niacin 2x 500mg per day and it has prevented cysts. it did not help healing the existing one sore I had but did prevent new ones.

As a scientist, I am trying to figure out how niacin works for my skin. I am in great health otherwise_ athletic and real food. Are the sores a result of pellagra? Any thoughts?

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Panem et circenses (Atlanta) on 12/07/2021:
5 out of 5 stars

About 8 years ago, I began taking pure niacin for anxiety. I followed the protocol of Dr. Andrew Saul who was taught by Abram Hoffer. I started with 25mg 3x a day and slowly worked my way up to eventually 6500mg per day in divided doses. If you watch the documentary Food Matters, Dr. Saul discusses a woman with severe depression who benefits greatly from 13,000mg per day.

Anyway, as I was increasing my dose, I discovered that my cystic acne was going away. Up til then I had horribly painful deep cysts that would persist longer than regular acne. I also noticed that the cysts I had once developed on my upper thighs and even sometimes my armpits were COMPLETELY gone. I have not had them since. And like I said, that was 8 years ago when I started.

Now, PLEASE do your research about niacin first. While I have never had any issues with it (aside from accidentally taking time release niacin which raised my liver enzymes and caused my ankles to swell - very scary. Once I stopped it, all went back to normal), it does cause a flush. This flush can be anywhere from a slight warmth to feeling like a bad sunburn. It can take 15 minutes to an hour to pass. That is why I started at a VERY low dose and very gradually worked up.

I took the 25mg 3x a day and increased by 25mg per dose every 2-3weeks. I only started flushing when I started taking 50-100mg each dose. I believe it detours the liver and that may have something to do with it getting rid of the acne. I RARELY even have a pimple now when prior to starting it, I had a horrible pizza face with redness and discoloration from the scarring.

My scarring is 95% gone too. I'm sorry for the long post but felt this was a good one to share. Again, I ONLY use pure niacin (flush niacin), not niacinamide and definitely not time release niacin. Those two are dangerous to the liver from what I've read.

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