[AnthonBerg]

Experiences may vary; I’ve tasted and smelled NAC.

The smell is reminescent of a high-potency cannabis strain. (Sulfur-containing molecules.)

The taste is very acidic and a bit astringent.

Generally the smell and taste of something isn’t a concern with medication. I don’t think acetaminophen tastes great.

I’ve never encountered or seen the digestive issues that are often mentioned. I’ve seen other side effects which were noticeable – mast cell and histamine related I believe, kind of weird ones, like psoriasis kind of drying out a bit and the skin on the lips “refreshing” itself. (Really!) Subtle side effects and hard to put into words without making them seem bigger and weirder than they are, but NAC can nonetheless be a sort of histamine and mast cell “flusher”, so to speak and as it seems. Beneficial in the long run imo ime, but tricky to package universally.

Still, NAC is also tragically unknown and unused! There’s tons of fascinating literature on it. They fried rats’ brains with methamphetamine and fixed them with NAC; Brutal study, intriguing results on very significant mechanisms.

[Rastonbury]

I take NAC to help with hangovers, I used to get smashing headaches and people would recommend random Korean and japanese 'hangover supplements', I was obviously very skeptical and googled every ingredient to check it is safe. The ones that worked had NAC or gluthanione. Looked into it and bought some and always take it when I drink or have panadol. Have not noticed any other subjective effects

Nausea or vomitting is rare, I imagine if it were common those hangover cure sellers would go out of business

[AnthonBerg]

Interesting!, thanks! NAC is all over the place; I didn’t know about this application.

And yeah I was 100% skeptical too!

Now I’m more sceptical of the kinda “nothing is known, nothing is knowable” angle, you know? There is so much knowledge, actionable, often unread, often unused.

(Have to mention it, if useful: Na—R-ALA (alpha lipoic acid) and ambroxol are kind of in the same vein. Ambroxol is strangely a sort of bromine counterpart to NAC and its sulfur atom. Sold as a mucolytic but is… alllll over the place. Funny how mucus, mucous membranes, the nervous system, and oxidation/redox stuff is all so adjacent it seems.

I have no idea why but after a severe period of stress, I happened to take Na-R-ALA as sometimes do and 60mg of ambroxol as mucolytic cough syrup. For a cough. And… the feeling was like in the movies where they stab someone with a giant syringe to revive them. Trainspotting or Pulp Fiction or whatever. I felt like I gasp-crawled out of a pit inside myself. It makes no sense. It was… a very distinct experience. And it didn’t seem like an airway clearance thing, more like my nervous system was refreshed.

So I hit the books. And it turns out ambroxol crosses the blood-brain barrier and is an antioxidant, and affects ion balance in neurons, and there are studies indicating it helps with… Parkinson’s and fibromyalgia (!!!). And those papers are pretty interesting and appear to be constructed on solid molecular biological premises.

idk)

[Rastonbury]

That's interesting I took r-ALA before, cannot recall dosage but felt nothing of that sort or subjective/psychoactive at all. Several people I know report acute changes too when taking lion's mane but I don't

[AnthonBerg]

Interesting, right?

As a detail, I clearly experience the better bioavailability of Na-R-ALA. Often marketed as “stabilized”. As well as what I believe is the increased bioavailability of Na-R-ALA dissolved in water.

The main point I wanted to make is that it occurred to me when reading your comment that I know myself to be somewhat “oxidatively burdened”, if that’s a term? I have mild psoriasis, which is known to use oxidative and redox capacity in the immune system’s activation in the rash. (afaik immune cells “fire bullets” of oxidization at perceived intruders.) There are other stressors in my life which are also inherently oxidising in the molecular biology of it. I’d bet a nice bottle of Oban that that is a factor in the sense of relief.

[amelius]

> I was obviously very skeptical and googled every ingredient to check it is safe.

Did you check if drinking alcohol was safe? ;)

[Rastonbury]

No because I already know the answer to that!