To flush or not to flush? And, why?

My psychiatrist asked me to add a retinue of vitamins and supplements to my medical regime. I hesitated because I'm broke, but I only buy the good supplements from the whole earth store. I grabbed some plastic, and (an undisclosed large amount of money) later, I've got pills! LOTS of pills.

Somehow, I forgot to buy B-3 though. Silly me, who could forget B-3? I returned to health food money hole, and looked and looked for B-3. Guess what? B-3 is called "Niacin." Maybe you knew that. I didn't. I looked around and found my fave brand of vitamins and supplements, Solaray (I am not a spokesperson or medical practitioner, but the comforting name and look of the bottle make me feel like I'm doing the right thing), and, there it is, my new Niacin. Grabbed, paid, left on my gas-leaking scooter.

I went to put the B-3/Niacin with the other morning supplement regiment in the kitchen, and I was followed by Huntress Supreme, Blanche DuBois. She thought there would be food involved.



Instead, I took an illustrative photo of the vitamin army:



This is how Blanche looked after she realized there were no dry spaghetti bits or frozen peas on the floor to eat:



Yes, Blanche definitely lacks pea-ness.

But, wait? Let's look at that vitamin picture again (indulge me):



Do you see that? It says "No Flush Niacin." WTF? Is this some sort of fat deposit thing I need to worry about? Like they say "excess vitamin C is flushed out through your urine." Did I just buy Niacin that won't flush? And this made me think about how some vitamins make your pee turn yellow. Is "No Flush Niacin" something that won't show up in your toilet?

Niacin is getting mysterious. And illogical. So I turned to my best friend GOOGLE! (Like Solaray, I am not a spokesperson or medical practitioner for Google, I just like that they do cute search page icon changes for the holidays.) After much sorting through blurbs about how Niacin may prevent Alzheimer's and how Niacin isn't proven to prevent anything, I finally found this gem that explained it all:

"Niacin (but not closely related niacinamide) expands CAPILLARIES and can lead to itching and flushing at doses commonly used in multivitamin supplements (100 mg or more).... "Sustained release" niacin may cause less flushing."

Thank you internets. You mean my face. You mean my face may become red, a condition also called "flushing." Ergo, I must have purchased a "sustained release" niacin since it is "No Flush." Thank you, Solaray, for caring about my capillaries enough to not make my face red. Un-Thank you, Solaray, for making me wonder what the hell I was doing flushing B-3 down the toilet!

Oh, and Solaray, my dog says thank you because she thinks pills are treats, so I give her the more harmless vitamins on occasion. I wonder if she flushes....