Last Saturday night/Sunday morning I was sitting at my desk on the computer when I noticed a burning sensation in my scalp. It felt somewhat odd and I didn't pay any attention to it. A few minutes later I noticed my skin started to feel really warm. I was trying to figure out what was going on. At first I wanted to take a shower but then I realized I was having a reaction to Niaspan a drug I had been taking for a while. I called my doctor (I am with MDVIP which allows patients to contact their doctor 24/7 which comes in handy) at around 3 on Sunday morning. I thought I had hives and he instructed me to take 20 mg prednisone and only go to the hospital if I felt like I couldn't breath. Sure enough 5 minutes later I felt shortness of breath and my parents took me to the hospital to see what was going on. I was surprised hardly anyone was at the hospital on an early Sunday morning. Once I got the hospital things were starting to get better even though I wasn't given anything. My doctor things I felt short of breath because I was nervous and going to the hospital. We had to wait around a little bit and a nurse talked to us and when the doctor came in he told us this can happen even in patients that take Niaspan for years. My doctor told me to take Niaspan with Alka Seltzer and that should help. I want to retake the drug to see if it happens again. I know I can tolerate it but if not I want to visit my doctor to see if he can switch out the drug for something else.
