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Took NAC today

Posted by maliko @maliko, Dec 1, 2024

I bought a bottle of Jarrow's sustain 600mg NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) supplement. I took one tablet this morning and within 15 minutes, I started feeling really flushed and got extremely sleepy, tired, and dizzy. It lasted about 3 hours and slowly subsided. I did not notice any improvement in my cough or throat clearing. Has anyone experienced this when they took NAC for the first time? Will my body adjust to it? Thank you

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Profile picture for Liz
Liz | @ursala7 | Sep 16 11:52am
In reply to @sueinmn "@wangling @scoop @ursala7 Let's begin by saying that supplements are another form of medication- any time..." + (show)
Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn

@wangling @scoop @ursala7
Let's begin by saying that supplements are another form of medication- any time you introduce a substance beyond what your diet provides or your body manufactures, you are medicating yourself.

As a medicine, a supplement can be beneficial, harmful or neutral.

Supplements can also interact with each other, or with other medicines you take, whether prescription or over the counter.

All medicines and supplements must be evaluated based on whether the benefits of using them outweigh any risks.

What about studies and reviews? Some are scientifically sound and provide solid information. Many are commissioned by someone "with skin in the game" and a goal of proving or disproving a particular point. Overall, most are poorly designed and/or executed - too few participants, not having a control group, not accounting for differences between people, poor followup...

So, how do we use the info? Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) allows you to look specifically for reviews of published studies/papers on topics of your choice within a specific time frame. Using that tool to read the summary, then possibly do a deeper dive into individual studies (citations are included.)
Phew! If you're still here you begin to understand why it takes so long to find good answers. At this point AI is NOT a shortcut in this process, because you have to read every source they cite to see if it meets the criteria for being a good study.

If you can cite the exact study from Lung Matters, I will look at it - the studies I found were either regarding nasal cilia, not lungs, or dated back to 1987.

Now it's time to take this discussion back to the topic at hand NAC supplements. Some people here find it helpful for thinning and/or reducing mucus. In early days of my journey I tried it and thought it helped a bit. But I am always in the "less is better" camp so stopped it to see what happened - I detected no difference so I no longer use it.

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@sueinmn Thanks for your response Sue. There are at least 2 fairly lengthy discussions (I'm sure there are a lot more) about NAC (aka N-Acetyl cysteine, aka Mucomyst) on Lung Matters dating back quite awhile. It appears that five years ago the admin supported the use. Then later started debating pros and cons, and more recently, they have been non-supportive. There were a couple of links to studies, but when I clicked them (only have FB on my phone) my phone software cautioned me that I was leaving the site and uncertain of the safety of the new siteintapl.sc, so I didn't pursue.
In a discussion on LM on Dec 20, 2024 entitled "Questions about N-Acetyl Cisteine (NAC) there are links to 3 studies and the admin made comments about the findings: "to be precise, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC reduces ciliary beats, which slow innate airway clearance. Reduced risk airway clearance, together with the higher concentration of antibiotics needed to eliminate infections, makes the mucus thinning properties of NAC far inferior to hypertonic saline. In effect, NAC may significantly lead to more severe drug resistance". This is just a short excerpt from a much more involved discussion. They are saying that NJH no longer endorses NAC. I am sorry that I can't cut and paste these studies from my phone (I'm not techie). Many studies are cited. Here is a shorter link I typed out. If I can figure out how to cut and paste, I will send more.
https://intapl.sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/afpuc-2017-0002

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1 reply
Profile picture for Liz
Liz | @ursala7 | Sep 16 12:12pm
In reply to @sueinmn "@wangling @scoop @ursala7 Let's begin by saying that supplements are another form of medication- any time..." + (show)
Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn

@wangling @scoop @ursala7
Let's begin by saying that supplements are another form of medication- any time you introduce a substance beyond what your diet provides or your body manufactures, you are medicating yourself.

As a medicine, a supplement can be beneficial, harmful or neutral.

Supplements can also interact with each other, or with other medicines you take, whether prescription or over the counter.

All medicines and supplements must be evaluated based on whether the benefits of using them outweigh any risks.

What about studies and reviews? Some are scientifically sound and provide solid information. Many are commissioned by someone "with skin in the game" and a goal of proving or disproving a particular point. Overall, most are poorly designed and/or executed - too few participants, not having a control group, not accounting for differences between people, poor followup...

So, how do we use the info? Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) allows you to look specifically for reviews of published studies/papers on topics of your choice within a specific time frame. Using that tool to read the summary, then possibly do a deeper dive into individual studies (citations are included.)
Phew! If you're still here you begin to understand why it takes so long to find good answers. At this point AI is NOT a shortcut in this process, because you have to read every source they cite to see if it meets the criteria for being a good study.

If you can cite the exact study from Lung Matters, I will look at it - the studies I found were either regarding nasal cilia, not lungs, or dated back to 1987.

Now it's time to take this discussion back to the topic at hand NAC supplements. Some people here find it helpful for thinning and/or reducing mucus. In early days of my journey I tried it and thought it helped a bit. But I am always in the "less is better" camp so stopped it to see what happened - I detected no difference so I no longer use it.

Jump to this post

@sueinmn I found the link to a 2010 study on NAC (cited by LMP): This study is entitled N‑Acetylcysteine‑Mediated Modulation of Bacterial Antibiotic Susceptibility
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aac.00710-10
There were also two positive studies in the LMP discussion - one study by cancer.gov suggested that NAC can increase lymphocytes in the blood, which helps fight infection.
The other study says NAC can reduce biofilms.

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picartist | @picartist | Sep 16 3:06pm

Take these for what they are worth. They refer to NAC studies I found on government websites.
1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6458826/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38141851/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10743980/

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1 reply
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Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Sep 16 9:54pm
In reply to @ursala7 "@sueinmn Thanks for your response Sue. There are at least 2 fairly lengthy discussions (I'm sure..." + (show)
Profile picture for Liz @ursala7

@sueinmn Thanks for your response Sue. There are at least 2 fairly lengthy discussions (I'm sure there are a lot more) about NAC (aka N-Acetyl cysteine, aka Mucomyst) on Lung Matters dating back quite awhile. It appears that five years ago the admin supported the use. Then later started debating pros and cons, and more recently, they have been non-supportive. There were a couple of links to studies, but when I clicked them (only have FB on my phone) my phone software cautioned me that I was leaving the site and uncertain of the safety of the new siteintapl.sc, so I didn't pursue.
In a discussion on LM on Dec 20, 2024 entitled "Questions about N-Acetyl Cisteine (NAC) there are links to 3 studies and the admin made comments about the findings: "to be precise, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC reduces ciliary beats, which slow innate airway clearance. Reduced risk airway clearance, together with the higher concentration of antibiotics needed to eliminate infections, makes the mucus thinning properties of NAC far inferior to hypertonic saline. In effect, NAC may significantly lead to more severe drug resistance". This is just a short excerpt from a much more involved discussion. They are saying that NJH no longer endorses NAC. I am sorry that I can't cut and paste these studies from my phone (I'm not techie). Many studies are cited. Here is a shorter link I typed out. If I can figure out how to cut and paste, I will send more.
https://intapl.sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/afpuc-2017-0002

Jump to this post

@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work. The study you cite regarding ciliary beats refers to nasal cilia if I remember correctly. As for whether NJH endorses NAC, I cannot say, can any current patient comment?

REPLY
4 replies
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alleycatkate | @alleycatkate | Sep 17 5:37am
In reply to @picartist "Take these for what they are worth. They refer to NAC studies I found on government..." + (show)
Profile picture for picartist @picartist

Take these for what they are worth. They refer to NAC studies I found on government websites.
1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6458826/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38141851/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10743980/

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Thanks, @picartist! Good to see substantiated trial results on NAC. I have believed that NAC has saved me from many exacerbations over the years. I actually started taking it before being diagnosed with MAC and BE.
Kate

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1 reply
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irenea8 | @irenea8 | Sep 17 7:19am

NAC inhaled or oral! We need to be precise about which we are talking about.

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Liz | @ursala7 | Sep 17 10:32am
In reply to @sueinmn "@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work...." + (show)
Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn

@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work. The study you cite regarding ciliary beats refers to nasal cilia if I remember correctly. As for whether NJH endorses NAC, I cannot say, can any current patient comment?

Jump to this post

@sueinmn Thanks.

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picartist | @picartist | Sep 17 2:33pm
In reply to @sueinmn "@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work...." + (show)
Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn

@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work. The study you cite regarding ciliary beats refers to nasal cilia if I remember correctly. As for whether NJH endorses NAC, I cannot say, can any current patient comment?

Jump to this post

@sueinmn Read these for what they are worth. I found somethng in two of them that makes me think there is a possibility it may help some. I saw my Pulmo today and he said go ahead and take it, it cannot hurt. He is starting me on Brinsupri as soon as permission is given by Medicare RX. I can say after a few days taking NAC my mucus is thinner. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing but it is.

REPLY
Profile picture for picartist
picartist | @picartist | Sep 17 2:34pm
In reply to @sueinmn "@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work...." + (show)
Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn

@ursala7 Sorry, but for those of us banned from Lung Matters, the link does not work. The study you cite regarding ciliary beats refers to nasal cilia if I remember correctly. As for whether NJH endorses NAC, I cannot say, can any current patient comment?

Jump to this post

@sueinmn Question, why are we banned from Lung Matters?

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1 reply
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Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Sep 17 4:44pm
In reply to @picartist "@sueinmn Question, why are we banned from Lung Matters?" + (show)
Profile picture for picartist @picartist

@sueinmn Question, why are we banned from Lung Matters?

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@picartist We are not, but I personally am - several years ago I politely questioned an assertion made by moderator and my access was immediately revoked without warning . I have tried several times to rejoin, but am not allowed. That is all I care to say about the subject. Please let's not turn this into a discussion of Lung Matters.

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