Sadly I was not able to pull any clever April Fools Day joke blogs yesterday, as I was busy being tricked myself. In perhaps the greatest April Fool's joke ever pulled, Trader Joe's Vitamin B Complex caused me to have a terrifying (and what I believed to be near death) reaction, sending me to the ER unit of a local Clinic.Don't worry, I AM currently alive and was able to keep all of my limbs.
Soon after taking a Vitamin B Complex, a new addition to my daily vitamin cocktail (oh my fabulous life!), I noticed a hot burning sensation on my ears. I ignored it, as I am prone to be a hypochondriac freak. But the burning got much worse and quickly traveled down my neck and my arms. I suddenly felt as if I was on the surface of the sun and tore (cover your child's eyes) off my shirt. Imagine my horror when I discovered that I was turning a bright shade of red. I was certain my skin was going to catch fire at any moment.
Because I assume every physical thing that befalls me is a predecessor to impending death, I raced to a local clinic.
If you've ever been to a clinic or hospital, you already know that unless you carrying a few of your detached limbs, you are going to wait 2-16 hours before a doctor comes in contact with you. That may even be true if you are carrying some detached limbs, but I haven't experienced that malady. Yet. So, by the time the doc examined me, my burning skin was gone and I looked like myself again. As I explained the experience to him, in my serious voice, he got a big smile on his face.
Turns out my painful "near death," allergic reaction was actually something very common called a Niacin Flush. A common reaction to the vitamin Niacin.
Seriously though, I think it's pretty obvious that I totally almost died.
5 comments:
Hey! Thanks for plugging my band!!! Sincerely, Rikki Niacin
So I googled "trader joe's vitamin b" allergic reaction and found your blog. I've been taking their Vitamin B complex for months, but the pills in the last container looked different and I've been having this reaction too. So annoying!They must have upped the Niacin content. Glad that your racing to the clinic and blogging helps me realize A. I'm not crazy and B. I'm not gonna die.
It usually goes away in about 10 minutes. But one can never be too sure! :)
I googled "Trader Joe's, vitamin b, reaction" and found your blog as well as the comment from Caitlin. I had the same experience on April 11th. I had just opened the new "B-Complex" bottle from TJs when I had the same allergic reaction. Completely freaked me out. I hardly ever go to the Dr., have NEVER IN MY LIFE had an allergic reaction to anything. Just out of curiousity, I am going to email them and point them to this blog. My LOT # on the bottle is: 110712. BTW - I have been taking this vitamin for years so there is definitely something wrong with this batch.
Actually, I like the Niacin flush. Also, I thought of another use for niacin. It might work if you needed to take a family picture and wanted to, for about five minutes or so, look like you had a suntan and had been on vacation.
good and informative post..I liked this post
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