n-acetyl cysteine

Okay, this is fascinating collision of tangents.

Back when I worked for Blue Shield, I started smoking pot much more heavily, mainly due to the fact that a coworker of mine grew and sold the most amazing high energy furry orange stuff. For the first time ever, pot gave me energy instead of taking it away. That was a major turning point. I had that supply for exactly one season and then never again. But once I knew it could be done, I trained my body to respond similarly to (most) any weed.

I was also smoking at least a pack of cigarettes a day, just like I had been since 1989. I've always had lung issues. Croup until I was seven. Allergy to dust. Nill ability to hold my breath. Asthma. Then add 17 years of smoking. I coughed every day for all of my teens and twenties. It got really bad at that job, though. I was also alternately involved with raging alcoholics or methheads and partaking alongside, depending. My respiratory system was hashed.

This friend, who shall forever remain unnamed (although my roomates used to rather artlessly refer to that particular strain as "Jane" Weed - not her real name) notices me coughing uncontrollably at work and sends me off to the health food store in search of something called n-acetyl cysteine, or NAC.

Sure, what the fuck; I had nothing to lose but ongoing humiliation and embarrassment. These coughs were intense. I don't do anything half assed. When I smoke, I smoke; and when I party, I party. I had the worst smoker's cough I'd ever heard until I met my friend Kelly, and then the competition was on.

So I found the stuff and started taking double to triple the regular dosage as she'd recommended. Within a few days, my cough had cleared up immensely. Amazing stuff. Like all vitamins, it's not cheap, thirty dollars for a jar of 120, but it lasts through several bouts. I had just a few left and I started taking them recently.

Although I quit smoking cigarettes three years ago last month, it took awhile for the cough to come down. After awhile I realized that I should probably try to stop smoking pot. So I got a vaporizer instead. That did help. I didn't like the delivery timing or effects as much as directly smoking, but it did help with my cough. However, I haven't been doing that since I moved to the Bay Area. Instead I've been burning some of the most god awful stuff through some of the dirtiest resinated pipes possible. So I've been waking up with smoker's cough again. No fucking way. That's simply intolerable. I hate coughing. That's one of the major reasons I quit smoking.

Didn't feel like trying to find this stuff in a health food store around here. Thank goodness for the internet. Was taking my vitamins this morning and saw the near empty jar. Took the last one and came to look online to see if I could order more. Started googling. Velly, velly interesting...

1. Stanford is currently recruiting autistic children to see if NAC can help treat behavioral and social symptoms. It's a bit late for me, but if you're nearby and have a kid on the spectrum, I say go for it.


2. University of Minnesota Medical School researchers discovered that it may help stop the urges of those with trichotillomania, a disorder characterized by compulsive hair-pulling. Whenever I see one of these skin picking or hair pulling disorders, I immediately think of my mangled fingertips.


3. NCA is also recommended as a treatment in Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians


4. From the Appendix F of Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Finding a Diagnosis and Getting Help:
   






N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC)




Use: Seizure disorders, heavy metal poisoning, aspirin or acetaminophen poisoning, viral infection, epilepsy, diabetes, movement disorders, degenerative neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis.




Action, if known: This antioxidant amino acid increases synthesis of glutathione. It appears to have chelating effects that help remove toxic heavy metals from the body. NAC is the acetylated version of the sulfur amino acid, l-Cysteine. In the body, it turns into l-Cysteine, which in turn is a precursor to glutathione.






5. According to Wikipedia, the pharmaceutical version is not only is used medically to treat lung disorders but also amphetamine overdose. But where it gets really interesting is the non medically established usages:





The following uses have not been well-established or investigated:






• Evidence that NAC and other antioxidants can exert beneficial effects on pancreatic b-cell function in diabetes was published in a 1999 study. The authors conclude that a sufficient supply of antioxidants (NAC, vitamin C plus vitamin E, or both) may prevent or delay b-cell dysfunction in diabetes by providing protection against glucose toxicity.^[17]











• NAC is undergoing clinical trials in the United States for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.^[18] It is thought to counteract the glutamate hyperactivity in OCD.











• NAC has been shown to reduce cravings associated with chronic cocaine use in a study conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina^[19][20]











• It may reduce the incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations^[21]











• In the treatment of AIDS, NAC has been shown to cause a "marked increase in immunological functions and plasma albumin concentrations"^[22] Albumin concentration are inversely correlated with muscle wasting (cachexia), a condition associated with AIDS.











• An animal study indicates that acetylcysteine may decrease mortality associated with influenza ^[23]











• Animal studies suggest that NAC may help prevent noise-induced hearing loss. ^[24] A clinical trial to determine efficacy in preventing noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss in humans is currently (2006) being jointly conducted by the US Army and US Navy.^{[citation needed]}











• A human study of 262 primarily elderly individuals indicates that NAC may decrease influenza symptoms. In the study, 25% of virus-infected subjects NAC treatment developed a symptoms, whereas 79% in the placebo group developed symptoms. ^[25]











• It has been suggested that NAC may help sufferers of Samter's triad by increasing levels of glutathione allowing faster breakdown of salicylates, though there is no evidence that it is of benefit ^[26]











• There are claims that acetylcysteine taken together with vitamin C and B1 can be used to prevent and relieve symptoms of veisalgia (hangover following ethanol (alcohol) consumption). The claimed mechanism is through scavenging of acetaldehyde, a toxic intermediate in the metabolism of ethanol.^[27][28]











• It has been shown to help women with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) to reduce insulin problems and possibly improve fertility. ^[29]











• Small studies have shown acetylcysteine to be of benefit to sufferers of blepharitis^{[citation needed]} and has been shown to reduce ocular soreness caused by Sjogren's syndrome.^{[citation needed]}











• Studies in mice models of Ataxia Telangictasia (ATM knockout) indicate that NAC prevents genomic instability and retards lymphomagenesis in these animals.^{[citation needed]} Clinical trials in human AT patients are underway.^{[citation needed]}











• It has been shown to help trichotillomania^[30], a condition causing compulsive hair-pulling.











• It has been shown to help methylmercury poisoning^[31]











• It has been shown effective in Unverricht-Lundborg disease in an open trial in 4 patients. A marked decrease in myoclonus and some normalization of somatosensory evoked potentials with N -acetylcysteine treatment has been documented. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1153370-overview









I think I want to start taking it regularly just to see if it helps me quit biting my nails. All that talk of OCD and trichotillomania really rung my bells. I've only ever met one other human being in my life that bit her nails the way I do. And that was twenty years ago. It's not a habit, it's a disorder, an uncontrollable and compulsive one that causes major discomfort and inconvenience in my life. I don't bite my nails because I want to, but because I can't stop. If this could help...

Ha! I'm not the only one to draw this connection:



Nail-Biting Stuff? The Effect of N-acetyl Cysteine on Nail-Biting







Many findings in psychopharmacology are a result of clinical observation of serendipitous findings; this pattern is repeated in this case series. Pathological nail biting is a disorder that begins in adolescence and is regarded as a disruption of normal grooming behavior. This behavior is regarded as being in the compulsive-impulsive spectrum and is associated with psychological consequences including reduced self-esteem, as well as localized trauma and risk of infection.¹ There is minimal data on the treatment of nail biting, with preliminary research suggesting that serotonergic agents may be of value, akin to other disorders in that spectrum such as compulsive skin picking and trichotillomania.²




One safe and well-tolerated compound that offers some promise as a potential treatment in compulsive-impulsive disorders is N-acetylcysteine (NAC).³ NAC is widely available as a nutraceutical supplement and is an agent with multiple properties. It has an antioxidant action in its own right and influences neutrophil inhibition, antimicrobial attachment, vasodilation, and mucolysis.³ For over half a century it has been used therapeutically, traditionally as a mucolytic, in the treatment of paracetamol poisoning and most recently as a renal protectant.⁴




Thus far, five cases of reduction in grooming disorders (trichotillomania, skin picking, and nailbiting) with NAC have been reported,⁵ with a single case report describing its use in the treatment refractory of obsessive-compulsive disorder.⁶ NAC has also been demonstrated to be useful in other impulsivity related behaviours. Grant and colleagues⁷ gave open-labelled NAC (600??1,800 mg/day) to 27 subjects with pathological gambling, with 16 responders after 8 weeks of treatment. Studies by LaRowe and colleagues⁸ and Mardikian and colleagues⁹ suggest that NAC may be useful  for the treatment of cocaine addiction.








That's the same way they discovered that WellButrin helped people stop smoking. They were testing it as an antidepressant and people just spontaneously lost their interest in smoking. Total awesomeness.





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