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NAC and PMR
Has anyone had experience with supplementing n-acytyl-cysteine (NAC) and it's impact on PMR?
NAC is a protein that your body produces and its levels in your body are apparently the rate-limiting factor in producing glutathione, one the body's primary antioxidents. Glutathione levels drop fairly significantly as we age, but can be restored via NAC supplementation.
I read that glutathione is intimately involved with the immune system support, by removing the reactive oxygen species that immune cells generate as they do their job. Hence it seems it can dramatically support the immune system activities.
That is great if you have cancer or a virus, but may not be what is desired with an autoimmune condition.
Below is a link to a research paper describing how glutathione levels modulate immune system Tcell activity, allowing their attack to continue unabated as long as glutathione is not exhausted. Since most older people have relatively low levels of glutathione, it seems it would be quickly exhausted, and hence limit the severity of their autoimmune attack. However if glutathione has been restored via NAC supplementation, the Tcells would be able to continue their attack indefinitely.
https://www.cell.com/immunity/pdf/S1074-7613(17)30129-2.pdf
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interesting - my pulmonologist mentioned MAC for some lung issues.
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Hug
1 ReactionI was trying to take NAC but the capsules are too big for me to swallow and the NAC itselt is so sour I couldn't find away to take that didn't involve too much sugar. Anyone think of other ways?
I have been on Nac 100 mg 3 x a day for 13 years for interstitial lung disease Are you saying Nac is bad for PMR?
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Hug
1 ReactionI'm not a doctor, and the paper is a theoretical research paper. You are on a very minimal dose of NAC, so it is probably not a concern. I was taking like 8x to 10x that much daily.
But my reading of this paper implies that NAC could be an issue for PMR. This may be offset by NAC's positive aspects in your case, but I don't have the expertise to know. I stopped taking NAC for now, but I may start again if it doesn't seem to make a difference.
In my layman's reading of the paper, it says that glutathione removes reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the activity of immune system Th17 cells. These are known to be one the primary offenders in PMR. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22833233/
If the ROS species were not removed, this would limit the Th17 attack, and hence logically lessen the PMR symptoms.
If the ROS are removed, the Th17 attack can continue unabated. Since NAC restores glutathione, this implies it helps remove ROS, and could worsen a PMR attack.
Again, I'm not a MD or even a biomedical specialist.
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Hug
2 ReactionsThere are apparently smaller 100 mg capsules. Have you tried those?
https://www.pureformulas.com/nacetyl-cysteine-100-mg-hypoallergenic-100-capsules-by-kirkman.html
I just put the 600 mg capsules down with a lot of water. There were some unpleasant burps and occasional heartburn though. You're right, the 600 mg capsules are big, and NAC powder is some nasty stuff.
No, I did not know and glad to find out. It is such a useful suppliment for many reasons. Thanks for posting.
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Hug
1 ReactionThanks for posting the link. I like PubMed articles even if I don't understand all of it.
Thank you for posting this.
My nurse practitioner recommended for me 600 mg per day. Now I have not tried it, but after reading your post I am going to.
600 mg of NAC daily is pretty minimal.
But just to be clear, the paper I posted implies that NAC could make PMR inflammation worse.
NAC also seems to have many positive impacts - and that's why I was taking moderately large doses until recently. The positive could offset the negative impacts for PMR.
I really have no idea; I'm not a doctor or biomedical specialist, and I posted to see if anyone else knew something about this.
But again the paper I posted implies NAC may cause additional PMR inflammation.