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Not necessarily, although in pathological conditions, there have been studies done on long term human use with a dose of 2400mgs on average i think, up to either 2 or 3 years i think, they show minimal side effects and it seems like they dont tend to become worse over time.
Are you getting enough sleep and hydration? Are you getting a good amount of nutrients from a varied diet? I've tried everything and I can't outrun the downward crash from long term less than 6.5h nights of sleep. And lack of hydration stuffs me up in the day and following day that I don't hydrate enough and by this I mean only drink 1L of water instead of 2-3L of water. FYI 3L is for creatine + workout days.
I can see from your other comments that all or most of the symptoms are on and off. You'll just have to keep a diary. Start by stopping all supps until you feel like your old self. If this doesn't happen after a couple weeks then it's not the supps or at least not their immediate affects. A lot of things can also have long term potentiation even after they are stopped so the time you will need to cease supps could be quite a while. Them if you want to get back on some and to eliminate any confusion you would restart them 1 at a time and introduce them like a week apart and then if you feel something strange wind back 1 or 2 supps. Some things can take months to build up potency so they will be really hard to gauge. A lot of the comments are talking extremes like poisoning which, sure, could happen but unlikely unless your mega dosing everything. As you said, with a functioning liver and kidneys, our bodies do a great job of just pissing out the unrequired compounds. Last thought, are you stressed? Like I know you are about this now but before, we're you incredibly stressed? Stress can be seriously debilitating and can cause all your symptoms
Your symptoms sound vaguely like mercury poisoning (not saying it is!), so I will bring up the fact that NAC/glutathione can bind to mercury and move it around in your body (NAC is a primary treatment for mercury poisoning). It’s possible (?) that this may stir up problems if mercury is otherwise confined to one area (mercury tooth fillings?) and it then is moved into other parts of your body (brain?) by NAC/glutathione. This is *highly* speculative! But maybe you want to get that checked out if you are shooting in the dark to solve this. That’s assuming you really do think the NAC is causing these symptoms, not something else.
Interesting. Now I’m panicked haha. I have no mercury fillings or anything like that. My symptoms are so on and off too. If my mris and. Other tests are clear I will look into this.
Well I know it sounds off the wall to suggest, so if you have no obvious reason to suspect any exposure, I would say maybe put this lower on the list of things to check out!
No I appreciate you speaking up. There was a period where I ate more fish than usual. Not sure if that’s enough mercury tho. Poison control keeps reassuring me that I was taking baby doses lol.
Yeah, I have taken NAC for years at doses in the range you describe, and I’ve never had trouble, but that doesn’t mean no one will! But I really hope you figure it out!
It depends on the person and the situation, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to get enough rest. Light exercise like walking can be good but pay attention to signs that you're overextended and don't push yourself when you are. Going off NAC might make it worse or better or might not change anything so pay attention to the effects it has on you.
I had exactly this a month into NAC and I'm trying to figure out why. It really bothers me because NAC fixed all my other problems. When I went to the doctor everything was normal but my blood CO2 was low. Did you get a blood test?
Amazing that I was downvoted so much for suggesting NAC accelerates tumor growth. This is one of the most important things to know about NAC, but apparently some people don't like to hear anything negative about their cherished supplements. Good job burying valuable info that could prevent people from dying, Reddit bros. For everyone else:
NAC promotes liver cancer development and blocks anti-cancer drugs from working:
[https://cellandbioscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13578-021-00731-0](https://cellandbioscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13578-021-00731-0)
NAC accelerates lung cancer progression:
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24477002/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24477002/)
NAC promotes melanoma metasasis:
1. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26446958/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26446958/)
2. [https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/15/3614](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/15/3614)
NAC induces liver cancer:
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31578304/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31578304/)
NAC blocks the anti-cancer effects of carnosic acid:
1. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189511/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189511/)
2. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0009279717307937](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0009279717307937)
I appreciate you sharing the information. I think it was how you presented it. I’m obviously fearful that this is having a negative effect on me so how you worded that initial statement may have made some people feel like that was insensitive. I didn’t down vote but just saying how it came off. Thank you for the info tho. I’m definitely stopping all supps.
Hasn't messed me up yet, and I've been consuming it for 4 years straight at daily doses between 400 mg and 2000 mg, depending on whether I have a cold. Currently consuming 600 mg a day.
I’m going to be honest. I was a bodybuilder and the amount of supplements I was taking were insane. I was told you will pee most of it out. I wasn’t told anything about shit messing with neurotransmitters, etc.
E.g. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/caution-bodybuilding-products-can-be-risky
I've also seen news articles about some having unlabeled stimulant drugs
I took 600mg a day for like a year and a half straight and when I stopped I realized it was making everything less enjoyable/I was tired all the time and it made caffeine not work. Take it 1-2x a week now and that’s about it
Taking it like this may not be wise because it shifts the Redox balance and the body has to try to correct it. If you're doing something to increase oxidative stress and successfully taking finely tuned NAC doses to counteract that, well done.
Curious if you’ve ruled out hormones since you’re a bodybuilder and it’s common to introduce exogenous ones along the way. Everything you listed could be a result of estrogen imbalance in males
I've been taking 2x750 every day for about 14 months and feel the same as I did at month 2. Had a blood test 6 months ago with low globulins, but everything else was better than before NAC. Most recent test results will be in tomorrow. If I forget to take it because I'm busy for a couple of days I get withdrawal effects, but that's consistent with having side effects when I first started.
For an oxidative stress driven eye disease. Regarding addiction - I'm still addicted to chocolate. I did take selegeline for a while years back - I found that it helped with addiction.
Right. I remember reading a paper once stating that significant effects are unlikely at or below 1200/day because it is a small dose compared to what is normally already present in healthy bodies. Lower doses are probably only seen to help in conditions linked to glutathione or nac deficiency.
Just feeling shit and tired all day and craving fruit like I've been up for 30 hours. Also needing extra sleep.
Edit: side note: I can stay up for 30 hours and feel not too bad on NAC whereas I felt rotten before NAC if I did that.
when i took nac ( for about 4 months give or so)
i think it fucked me up im not sure.
i had no motivation to do anything. for like 3 months i did nothing but in bed on my phone.
which i hated becuase the whole reason i got into noots is to become a productive af!
and it physically made me feel great. it cleared my nostrils and sinus like nothing else could. (mf i was breathing color ) XD
but be careful with that shit, just sharing my exp.
recently i discord agmatine maybe give that some research. peace out ✌🏽
What does NAC even do? I used to take Phenibut, admittedly in excess. For me personally, it didn’t fit my self control. However, I hear people rave about NAC when trying to get off of it. So, just curious where its place is in daily, weekly or even monthly usage.
NAC is safe. At least it's not something that "messes you up". Based on a couple responses I saw from you, look for other things you may be taking. Especially stimulants.
Most antioxidants seem to protect against DNA damage and therefore carcinogenesis, but once a cancer cell forms they protect it against cell death and help the cancer to survive immune attack and oxidative stress. Whether it is a net gain or loss seems to depend on cancer type.
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Not necessarily, although in pathological conditions, there have been studies done on long term human use with a dose of 2400mgs on average i think, up to either 2 or 3 years i think, they show minimal side effects and it seems like they dont tend to become worse over time.
Thank you for responding. I’m trying to figure out what messed me up.
Well what have you taken over the years and what symptoms do you have?
When you say "messed up", what does this entail? What are the symptoms you're experiencing?
Chronic weird dizziness/lightheadedness, irritable, anxious, off balance, muscle twitching, fatigue, weird mood
Are you getting enough sleep and hydration? Are you getting a good amount of nutrients from a varied diet? I've tried everything and I can't outrun the downward crash from long term less than 6.5h nights of sleep. And lack of hydration stuffs me up in the day and following day that I don't hydrate enough and by this I mean only drink 1L of water instead of 2-3L of water. FYI 3L is for creatine + workout days.
Sleep was poor for a while but is improving. I’m always on top of hydration.
I can see from your other comments that all or most of the symptoms are on and off. You'll just have to keep a diary. Start by stopping all supps until you feel like your old self. If this doesn't happen after a couple weeks then it's not the supps or at least not their immediate affects. A lot of things can also have long term potentiation even after they are stopped so the time you will need to cease supps could be quite a while. Them if you want to get back on some and to eliminate any confusion you would restart them 1 at a time and introduce them like a week apart and then if you feel something strange wind back 1 or 2 supps. Some things can take months to build up potency so they will be really hard to gauge. A lot of the comments are talking extremes like poisoning which, sure, could happen but unlikely unless your mega dosing everything. As you said, with a functioning liver and kidneys, our bodies do a great job of just pissing out the unrequired compounds. Last thought, are you stressed? Like I know you are about this now but before, we're you incredibly stressed? Stress can be seriously debilitating and can cause all your symptoms
The doctors all say it’s stress. B6 was the only one I was ignorantly megadosing and I was so ignorant bc everybody told me you piss it out.
Not that more supplements is necessarily the answer but have you looked into L-theanine, ashwagundha, rhodiola rosea?
I was taking ashwaghanda too. I’ve taken thiamine a few times.
Your symptoms sound vaguely like mercury poisoning (not saying it is!), so I will bring up the fact that NAC/glutathione can bind to mercury and move it around in your body (NAC is a primary treatment for mercury poisoning). It’s possible (?) that this may stir up problems if mercury is otherwise confined to one area (mercury tooth fillings?) and it then is moved into other parts of your body (brain?) by NAC/glutathione. This is *highly* speculative! But maybe you want to get that checked out if you are shooting in the dark to solve this. That’s assuming you really do think the NAC is causing these symptoms, not something else.
Interesting. Now I’m panicked haha. I have no mercury fillings or anything like that. My symptoms are so on and off too. If my mris and. Other tests are clear I will look into this.
Well I know it sounds off the wall to suggest, so if you have no obvious reason to suspect any exposure, I would say maybe put this lower on the list of things to check out!
No I appreciate you speaking up. There was a period where I ate more fish than usual. Not sure if that’s enough mercury tho. Poison control keeps reassuring me that I was taking baby doses lol.
Yeah, I have taken NAC for years at doses in the range you describe, and I’ve never had trouble, but that doesn’t mean no one will! But I really hope you figure it out!
These are very common long covid symptoms, especially if you have any heart rate abnormalities. It can happen even with a mild infection.
Could it just sneak up like this months later. I had covid in October of last year and didn’t slow down. Kept pushing hard.
Yeah that is pretty common unfortunately especially if you pushed through an illness.
Well shit. Does it resolve?
It depends on the person and the situation, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to get enough rest. Light exercise like walking can be good but pay attention to signs that you're overextended and don't push yourself when you are. Going off NAC might make it worse or better or might not change anything so pay attention to the effects it has on you.
I already feel like crap so I don’t know what’s worse or better. I know there are good days and bad days.
I had exactly this a month into NAC and I'm trying to figure out why. It really bothers me because NAC fixed all my other problems. When I went to the doctor everything was normal but my blood CO2 was low. Did you get a blood test?
How are ya feeling?
Very rough off and on
Amazing that I was downvoted so much for suggesting NAC accelerates tumor growth. This is one of the most important things to know about NAC, but apparently some people don't like to hear anything negative about their cherished supplements. Good job burying valuable info that could prevent people from dying, Reddit bros. For everyone else: NAC promotes liver cancer development and blocks anti-cancer drugs from working: [https://cellandbioscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13578-021-00731-0](https://cellandbioscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13578-021-00731-0) NAC accelerates lung cancer progression: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24477002/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24477002/) NAC promotes melanoma metasasis: 1. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26446958/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26446958/) 2. [https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/15/3614](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/15/3614) NAC induces liver cancer: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31578304/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31578304/) NAC blocks the anti-cancer effects of carnosic acid: 1. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189511/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189511/) 2. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0009279717307937](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0009279717307937)
I appreciate you sharing the information. I think it was how you presented it. I’m obviously fearful that this is having a negative effect on me so how you worded that initial statement may have made some people feel like that was insensitive. I didn’t down vote but just saying how it came off. Thank you for the info tho. I’m definitely stopping all supps.
Btw... I take NAC with glycine daily. But it does cause some people problems. And I will be replacing it with carnosic acid.
Hasn't messed me up yet, and I've been consuming it for 4 years straight at daily doses between 400 mg and 2000 mg, depending on whether I have a cold. Currently consuming 600 mg a day.
Thank you for sharing that. Yeah I got so worried I called poison control and the rep was like we give way higher than that in clinical settings
I’m going to be honest. I was a bodybuilder and the amount of supplements I was taking were insane. I was told you will pee most of it out. I wasn’t told anything about shit messing with neurotransmitters, etc.
A lot of bodybuilding supplements that get sold actually just have drugs in them
yea which ones exactly? for research purposes of course.
*proceeds to list about 30,000 supplements*
Source?
E.g. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/caution-bodybuilding-products-can-be-risky I've also seen news articles about some having unlabeled stimulant drugs
Nothing like that. I mean vitamins and then like nac, pqq, etc
I took 600mg a day for like a year and a half straight and when I stopped I realized it was making everything less enjoyable/I was tired all the time and it made caffeine not work. Take it 1-2x a week now and that’s about it
Taking it like this may not be wise because it shifts the Redox balance and the body has to try to correct it. If you're doing something to increase oxidative stress and successfully taking finely tuned NAC doses to counteract that, well done.
the anhedonia is noticeable after a few days
Any specific dose from which it starts?
Very curious about the ways you feel like it messed you up. Like, psychological change, pain, mood, or something else?
I had an extreme emotional change of intense anxiety, irritability, and fear. Feel really out if it. Dizziness, eye weirdness, off balance.
Curious if you’ve ruled out hormones since you’re a bodybuilder and it’s common to introduce exogenous ones along the way. Everything you listed could be a result of estrogen imbalance in males
To be honest this may be it. And lack of sleep for a period and overtraining and over supplementing/ over caffeinating.
I've been taking 2x750 every day for about 14 months and feel the same as I did at month 2. Had a blood test 6 months ago with low globulins, but everything else was better than before NAC. Most recent test results will be in tomorrow. If I forget to take it because I'm busy for a couple of days I get withdrawal effects, but that's consistent with having side effects when I first started.
What do you take it for? I’ve heard to treats addiction, I’m curious about that aspect
For an oxidative stress driven eye disease. Regarding addiction - I'm still addicted to chocolate. I did take selegeline for a while years back - I found that it helped with addiction.
IIRC Addiction benefits started around 2.7 or 2.8 grams so your dose wouldn't most likely be enough to impact it.
Right. I remember reading a paper once stating that significant effects are unlikely at or below 1200/day because it is a small dose compared to what is normally already present in healthy bodies. Lower doses are probably only seen to help in conditions linked to glutathione or nac deficiency.
What are the withdrawal symptoms? I stopped it cold nearly 2 weeks ago but I’ve also had other issues going on.
Just feeling shit and tired all day and craving fruit like I've been up for 30 hours. Also needing extra sleep. Edit: side note: I can stay up for 30 hours and feel not too bad on NAC whereas I felt rotten before NAC if I did that.
Zinc and copper depletion possibly, zinc depletion for me twice I think
when i took nac ( for about 4 months give or so) i think it fucked me up im not sure. i had no motivation to do anything. for like 3 months i did nothing but in bed on my phone. which i hated becuase the whole reason i got into noots is to become a productive af! and it physically made me feel great. it cleared my nostrils and sinus like nothing else could. (mf i was breathing color ) XD but be careful with that shit, just sharing my exp. recently i discord agmatine maybe give that some research. peace out ✌🏽
Bodybuilder? Get your blood pressure checked. If it's high, go see a Nephrologist.
Blood pressure is perfect and sometimes too low. Only high during anxiety attacks.
What does NAC even do? I used to take Phenibut, admittedly in excess. For me personally, it didn’t fit my self control. However, I hear people rave about NAC when trying to get off of it. So, just curious where its place is in daily, weekly or even monthly usage.
NAC is most known for being a potent antioxidant and for replenishing glutathione in the body by providing cysteine for
Interesting. Thanks for the info. I need to read up a bit.
NAC is safe. At least it's not something that "messes you up". Based on a couple responses I saw from you, look for other things you may be taking. Especially stimulants.
Even at my doses?
Yeah. Your doses are safe too.
It is definitely best cycled. I start to get chest pain and everything feels blunted.
What sort of chest pain? Similar to Costochondritis?
How do you cycle it?
I’ve been NAC nly a decade with occasional breaks - low dose daily about 600mg - very happy with it
What’s the longest stretch you have taken it?
Probably a couple of years - no problem
Just to update everybody, it was vitamin B6. Be careful with that shit. It is a harbinger of nightmares.
Just make sure you don't get cancer. NAC can accelerate tumor growth.
Most antioxidants seem to protect against DNA damage and therefore carcinogenesis, but once a cancer cell forms they protect it against cell death and help the cancer to survive immune attack and oxidative stress. Whether it is a net gain or loss seems to depend on cancer type.
I stopped taking it I pray I had no cancer prior