Niacin...itching/rash

[h0ppy]

Hey Shelley. Long-time no see. Hope your new year is off to great start.

Anyway, I've been taking a supplement called Picamilon for my anxiety and depression. It works great, but it's been causing me to itch like crazy! At first I thought it was because I switched my laundry detergent, but then I did some research and discovered that Picamilon is a compound formed by reacting niacin with GABA, and that the niacin is probably to blame.

So I'm really bummed that I can't take this supplement without it affecting my skin. However, I've heard that Quercetin is a good natural anti-histamine. Do you know if that would do the trick, and/or possibly suggest anything else?

Thanks

[shelley]

the itchiness is not a histamine reaction, so you'd be surpressing your immune system for no good reason.

[h0ppy]

Oh, what a bummer. I thought I was on to something.

Wait, are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with a histamine reaction? I know we're not supposed to believe everything we read off the net, but I've read lots of sites that claim niacin does release histamines:

[shelley]

okay, let me be more specific: to take Niacin and then try to counter-act its effects is too much silly-work for the body. Better to just not take it, particularly since all the B vits need to be in balance with each other. It's not good to take ANY b vit all by its lonesome day after day. IF your skin is vasodilating to a small amount of Niacin (it usually takes more than 50 mg to get a skin reaction) then chances are you're not low and so being low in Niacin is not the core reason for the anxiety/depression.