I became a member and posted several weeks ago about my mother and
her drinking and the fact that she has all the signs of
wernicke/korsakoff. You all gave me the advice with the Thiamine and
armed with that info, I saw her that weekend but wasn't sure how to
approach getting her to take it because she doesn't believe she has a
drinking problem and everything that has gone with it in the last 40
years. So on my drive to her house I just hoped that something
intelligent would come out of my mouth on how and why she should
start taking the Thiamine. It wasn't until I pulled into her
driveway that I hit on the perfect deception - and that is what it
clearly was going to have to be, a deception, because of the fact
that she truly doesn't see the problem. She and I share the same
diagnosis of arthritis and as I have battled with this for the last
ten years, I have shared information with her in the past on natural
supplements that I have tried because my stomach won't tolerate the
medical rx's. Anyway, I put it to her that I have been taking the
Thiamine at 100 mg per day for the last few weeks and it has really
made a difference. She knows that anything that makes an impact with
my arthritis must be a godsend, so I kept on her the whole weekend
about going to get it. So when I left Sunday night, I even wrote it
down and told her to get it. Well, even though I wrote it down, she
went to the store and bought NIACIN! I couldn't believe it, but she
brought the wrong thing even with my writing it down! Well, it
wasn't for nearly two weeks until I found out she had been taking the
Niacin at 100 mg per day and then she told me her legs felt great and
she was so happy with it. So I did some digging and found out that
the reason the Niacin was making a difference in her leg pain was
that it has a beneficial component with the vascular component of the
legs. The veins in her legs were and have been very constricted for
a long time and the Niacin was helping to push the blood through
better. What a simple thing for this to do and it relieved a lot of
her leg pain, which is the main reason I am writing this. Maybe
others can benefit with the addition of Niacin, I don't know but I
figure its worth a shot. I asked a doctor friend of mine if there
were any problems with her taking it and he suggested to cut the dose
to half - which would be 50 mg per day. So I passed that info on to
her and also told her to get the Thiamine. She ended up finding one
that combined both and has been on that for the last week and now she
is swearing by this combination! So hopefully, her 'mistake' can
possibly help others - the fact that her legs feel better with the
Niacin and now knowing the way Niacin works makes sense to me. I
just thought I would pass this on - her 'mistake' was actually
beneficial!