NAC Brands - any recommendations

[bookworm]

Any recommendations for N-Acetyl Cysteine, based on your good experience with it? I usually use PharmaNAC or Mucomyst, but they are both back-ordered. Jarrow NAC Sustain puts me to sleep.

If you have tried other NAC's and they have worked well for you, could you let me know which ones and also how they compare with PharmaNAC (the effervescent NAC) or Mucomyst? Thanks.

 

[believingjesus]

Bookworm - What exactly are NAC's? I just subscribed to the CF Roundtable recently and I saw that they were talking about NAC's being good for people with CF but I have no idea what the name brands are either or what they are used for or what symptoms you have to require this?

 

[Oboe]

I used the NOW Foods one on amazon. Has a bright orange label and is a lot cheaper than PharmaNAC.

 

[bookworm]

BelievingJesus - NAC is a mucolytic. It was used many years ago by Dr. Warren Warrick who was the inventor of the Vest. He used it at the centre in the US that had the longest living patients. He had his patients inhale a mixture of mucomyst (NAC) Intal and Albuterol when they did their vest. Mucomyst smells terrible, but I understand Dr. Warrick was suggesting to patients that they drink Mucomyst instead.
Right now, you won't see either Mucomyst or NAC mentioned in the CF guidelines for care. There have been some small studies done at Stanford more recently that show that taking NAC preserves lung function, but they are not sure of the mechanism. The NAC they used in these studies is PharmaNAC. Here's a link to more information on the Stanford studies: http://healthier.stanfordchildrens....ibrosis-patients-stanfordpackard-study-finds/

Oboe, Thanks for the response. Did you ever use PharmaNAC? How did the Now Foods NAC compare?

 

[Oboe]

I did take the PharmaNAC for a month ($45 for a box is insane on a budget) and honestly felt very little difference to not taking it. Plus it just tasted awful. The Now stuff at least let me up the dose up to 2 grams a day, 2 pills twice a day, and I did it for about a year, give or take a month or two. At that dose I was noticing more mucus production, but it wasn't like a huge gamechanging thing. I still had exacerbations and ended up in the hospital just as often as without it. So at some point I ran out and just never refilled it. I mean, I'm doing pulmozyme for a mucolytic anyway.

Hope it works better for you, though.

 

[bookworm]

Thanks Oboe. Learning more detail about your experience helps. Stay well!