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KHOSHROW,   Thanks for your question.   As you have discovered, muscle damage is a concern that occurs with patients taking statin medication.  Niaspan's major side effects are flushing, which diminishes over the first two to four weeks, and liver function abnormalities.  There have been instances of severe muscle damage when statin medication has been combined with Niaspan, which has led to the suggestion that close medical follow-up is needed when these two drugs are combined.    The term "together" refers to the period of treatment with each of the drugs, not the actual timing of the drug administration (dosing).  Separating the medication by several hours does not reduce or eliminate the risk.    I hope this has been helpful to you.   Martin Cane, M.D.