Niacin improved rigidity and bradykinesia in a Parkinson's disease patient but also caused unacceptable nightmares and skin rash--a case report.

A patient with Parkinson's disease taking levodopa/carbidopa, selegiline, buproprion, aspirin and niacin had decreased rigidity and bradykinesia when his niacin dose was steadily escalated for treatment of high triglycerides, but ultimately the patient could not tolerate niacin because of severe nightmares and skin rash. If further research can reproduce this patient's initial beneficial experience while avoiding the adverse effects, niacin could be a useful adjunctive agent for Parkinson's disease, either population-wide or in a pharmacogenomically defined set of responders.