Bronchiectasis what are the stages and symptoms

@raney. I read your post about time spent doing airway clearance. Seems that you spend an awful lot of time at this. (3 Hours, twice a day) Have you been advised to do that? Can anyone else on this site comment on airway clearance that takes Raney so much time to accomplish? I feel awful saying to you that I now nebulize for about 6 minutes and cough for about 3 minutes. I do this only once a day but then I have a mild case of MAC and Bronchiectasis. I had ordered a flutter valve to try to vibrate the gunk off of the chest walls but found it ineffective. I know that many on this site use Guaifenesin (Musinex) to help relieve mucus. (I don't) But. I would never go without NAC....Just a thought. Here is a link for you to check out the potential benefits.
I googled MAC & NAC ...afraid of getting a cheezy recipe. Although none directly related to MAC, there are so many articles on NAC in relation to lung health, clearance, reduction of exacerbations etc. and mycobacterias...Following is one I found particularly interesting and I post an excerpt from the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5084440/ It is entitled N-acetyl-cysteine exhibits potent anti-mycobacterial activity in addition to its know anti-oxidative functions. I personally take NAC 600 mg 2x a day..made by NOW but lately it is not offered by NOW and it seems that NAC is harder to find due to the possibility of FDA classification as a drug. (so the rumor goes). You can still find it but it is getting more difficult. Best of luck to you and wishing you good health and luck on this journey. Kate

I get NOW brand Nac from Amazon. I just checked and it is available there along with some other brands.

Oops. Need to look more carefully. It's seems to be something that looks like nac but isn't.

Gee whiz. I have been taking NOW brand Acetyl L - Carnitine not Cysteine . Duh! I have been taking NAC for so long that I never even looked at it and it's 500 mg not 600 which one would think would have made me look at it more carefully. The ironic thing is that the one I am taking is to help sharpen thinking. Haha

If anyone finds a place to order NAC please let me know.

Feeling pretty stupid and grateful for the discussion because I never would have noticed the difference.

Tks. Vitacost is out of stock.

@raney. I read your post about time spent doing airway clearance. Seems that you spend an awful lot of time at this. (3 Hours, twice a day) Have you been advised to do that? Can anyone else on this site comment on airway clearance that takes Raney so much time to accomplish? I feel awful saying to you that I now nebulize for about 6 minutes and cough for about 3 minutes. I do this only once a day but then I have a mild case of MAC and Bronchiectasis. I had ordered a flutter valve to try to vibrate the gunk off of the chest walls but found it ineffective. I know that many on this site use Guaifenesin (Musinex) to help relieve mucus. (I don't) But. I would never go without NAC....Just a thought. Here is a link for you to check out the potential benefits.
I googled MAC & NAC ...afraid of getting a cheezy recipe. Although none directly related to MAC, there are so many articles on NAC in relation to lung health, clearance, reduction of exacerbations etc. and mycobacterias...Following is one I found particularly interesting and I post an excerpt from the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5084440/ It is entitled N-acetyl-cysteine exhibits potent anti-mycobacterial activity in addition to its know anti-oxidative functions. I personally take NAC 600 mg 2x a day..made by NOW but lately it is not offered by NOW and it seems that NAC is harder to find due to the possibility of FDA classification as a drug. (so the rumor goes). You can still find it but it is getting more difficult. Best of luck to you and wishing you good health and luck on this journey. Kate

@raney...sorry...here is the excerpt that I found most relevant to our situations with the lung:

N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) is included in the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines; a list that details the most relevant medications needed for a basic health system [1]. Acetyl-cysteine is a derivative of cysteine in which an acetyl group is attached to nitrogen. Due to its disulfide reducing activity, NAC is used as a mucolytic agent to promote expectoration [2]. NAC is commonly prescribed as an adjunct therapy in patients with a wide range of respiratory diseases characterized by formation of thick mucus, such as cystic fibrosis [2–4]. At high doses, NAC results in significantly improved small airway function and decreased exacerbation frequency in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [3, 4]. NAC’s mucolytic activity is also the basis of its use in liquefying sputum samples for the microscopic detection of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients [5]. Furthermore, in both experimental animal models and clinical studies, NAC displays a protective effect on acute liver injury induced by anti-TB drugs in acetaminophen-dependent or independent conditions [6–11]. In patients with type 2 diabetes, NAC holds promise in primary prevention of cardiovascular complications and systemic inflammation [12–14].

In addition to the above clinical applications, NAC has been employed as a potent anti-oxidant in several experimental models of infection and cancer in vitro and in vivo [15–20]. In these settings, NAC serves as a pro-drug to L-cysteine, which is a precursor to the biologic antioxidant glutathione. This anti-oxidant property of NAC is associated with strong anti-inflammatory effects, which have been suggested to inhibit the activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) with subsequent inhibition of cytokine synthesis [2, 21, 22]. In a mammalian model of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, NAC has been shown to diminish TB-driven lung pathology and inflammatory status, as well as to reduce mycobacterial infection loads in the lung [23]. These effects were attributed to the drug’s anti-oxidant properties and immune regulatory activities. Whether NAC limits M. tuberculosis infection in this situation through a direct microbicidal effect on M. tuberculosis was not addressed. Indeed, NAC has been shown to exhibit anti-microbial activity against a number of bacterial pathogens including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae [17, 24–26].

In this study, we demonstrate that NAC directly impairs the growth of several species of mycobacteria in vitro independent of its inhibitory effects on the host NADPH oxidase system. This anti-mycobacterial effect was also observed in an experimental model in vivo. Thus, NAC may limit M. tuberculosis infection and disease both through suppression of the host oxidative response and through direct antimicrobial activity. This dual host and pathogen directed function makes the drug an interesting candidate for use as adjunct therapy for tuberculosis.

Thank you for sharing that article. It sounds like a "wonder drug." I am going to ask my doctor at the Pulmonary Specialty clinic at UNC- Chapel Hill. Raney

Here is what I use now. Swanson supplements are well rated for containing the listed ingredients and strength.
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-premium-nac-n-acetyl-cysteine-600-mg-100-caps
I cannot tell a difference from the Jarrow I used before.
Sue