Posted by bleauberry on September 16, 2013, at 17:17:02 [reposted on September 17, 2013, at 0:39:05 | original URL]
In reply to n-acetyl-cysteine, posted by Twinleaf on September 13, 2013, at 6:46:27
Anything that is going to help the body cleanse itself of toxins is going to do some benefit on symptoms. NAC fits that category. Careful though. NAC can be strong on stuff you maybe have never heard of...mercury from amalgams, lead from where ever, infections such as lyme. If the dose is too high to start with, and the directions on the bottle are usually extremely too high to start with, then a toxic build up can occur as the NAC loosens up a bunch of stuff too fast. Then you feel sicker and worse.
NAC plays a big role in the body's detox circuits.
Start really low, frequent low doses are better than larger spaced doses in order to keep a steady blood level and avoid some redistribution of toxic junk.
NAC does a bunch of stuff, probably a lot more than we even know about.
As to how it impacts psych symptoms or anhedonia, I would just say that when toxins are removed from receptor sites, the improvement begins. With me as just one of hundreds of thousands of examples, by knocking down the population levels of various lyme organisms, my long standing "treatment resistant" anhedonia is pretty much gone. It's their toxins in the brain that causes the perceived symptoms. All toxins do that regardless of source. If it is somewhat poisonous to the brain, and it is in the brain, anhedonia is an obvious and predictable outcome.
NAC was just a small part of my journey but it is one of the few supplements out there that I believe is a really good one for a wide variety of purposes including but not limited to psychiatric.
Mileage varies. Some people will find it useless or feels bad.
Most people will probably stop their trial way too early. A fair go of NAC would be at least 6 months to a year. If problems along the way, reduce the dose to whatever is needed to stay in the game. Even a tiny bit is going to do a lot of work for you. I would not rely on it as the only weapon against anhedonia, but it could play a role.
For specific work on anhedonia, add to the NAC some Rhodiola Rosea. Jarrow is the only brand I've seen that is the true color rhodiola is supposed to be, and it felt cleaner and better to me than 5 other brands I tested. Doses are probably too high on the bottles. I take Thorne brand which is 100mg, but most brands come in 500mg. Dose size matters, so it takes some experimenting and patience.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1050820
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20130319/msgs/1050835.html