Niacin Flash

Who knew that a vitamin pill could cause a nursing shortage? The day started out with okay staffing, but then one of my coworkers got a call from an ER 45 miles away that her cousin was there. The cousin had taken a high-dose niacin tablet for the first time causing a bad hot flash. It's happened to me and I know how unpleasant it is, but it quickly passes. The cousin panicked and called 911.

The ER treated her for anaphylactic shock and she recovered well. Had they done nothing, she would have recovered fine just as quickly. The burning, tingly skin is not an allergic reaction, but a normal side effect of a large dose of niacin.

My coworker panicked, dropped everything and left. That left us a nurse short. Then, despite being short, we were given several admissions. The care we gave was not great and by the end of the shift, most of us had either splitting headaches or diarrhea.

The bill for the paramedics and the ER will be a couple of thousand dollars. My employer, which is really just a big insurance company will pick up most of the bill which affects how much they can afford to pay its employees, like me. All of this because of a vitamin pill. I wonder why mega-doses of niacin don't come with a prominent warning label. It may have saved everyone some grief.