Hello everyone,
Is any of you familiar with NAC? Has anybody tried it as an enhancement to current medication or just by itself?
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) : Hello everyone... - My OCD Community
N-acetylcysteine (NAC)
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Phoenyx
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My Psychiatrist prescribed NAC this with an SSRI. After a point, Fluoxetine stopped working for me, hence I discontinued.
Did you see any improvement on it?
Well that's the dilema I am having. I mean the combination SSRI Fluoxetine and NAC worked for first few months but then SSRI stopped working. So I have to discontinue the both. So the NAC did complement the SSRI for first few months and after that it's all back to zero.
Hi again. I tried NAC for two weeks and I personally didn’t have great experience. The first week was great. Though my intrusive thoughts were very active, my anxiety and reaction to them became non existent. However the second week when I increased the dosage from 600 mg to 1200 mg, I developed depression like symptoms. I had no desire for anything, no strength either. All I wanted to do was to lay on my couch and watch tv. I was very slow and lightheaded. I stopped taking NAC and all these symptoms disappeared
Are you Taking NAC without any SSRI? 🤔
I have the same disorder. Never knew these drugs are prescribed for OCD.
Hi, I've taken NAC for more than a year. And it had very positive effect on diminishing the flow of intrusive thoughts (obsessions). When I started ERP, I was successful with cutting out a lot of compulsive behaviours but the intensity of the intrusive thoughts didn't slow down that easy. So I tried NAC, and in a couple of days it became obvious it was tremendously helping to diminish the flow of intrusive thoughts. I was taking 2-3 g of NAC powder mixed with water every morning. Aside from bloating the first few weeks and occasional bouts of gastric acid (NAC is aminoacids) I didn't notice any other side effects. Later, I added inositol too to my morning OCD supplement shake. I discontinued both last week, because I'm trying to fix some digestive issues that appeared recently, and I had a feeling that morning shake was no longer good for my stomach. As far I didn't notice any spike of intrusive thoughts. Hopefully, through ERP and ACT, as well meditation, I have already retrained my brain to some pretty healthy state. So my answer is that for me NAC was definitely useful to supplement my treatment at initial stages. I had mild to medium OCD symptoms at the beginning of treatment, and my symptoms have been below clinical significance for quite a long time. Occasional spikes which without doing compulsions (and I really try to cut off all compulsive behaviors as soon as I become aware of them) which run out of gas in a day or two. Hope it helps.
Thank you for the detailed response. I’m very happy that NAC has worked for you. Unfortunately I have severe OCD and anxiety and that might be the reason I’m not reacting well on NAC or ERP. I have to take benzos after every session because the anxiety is so severe I can’t even sleep. I was on much higher dosage NAC than you were- 600 mg for one week and 1200 mg for two weeks.
I started with 1-2 g every day, and after a few weeks when bloating stopped, I was taking 2-3 g which is 2000-3000 mg once day for most of the time, so much higher dosage than you. There are a couple of peer reviewed studies (google "nac for ocd") which quite consistently show that while NAC might be helpful for OCD patients with mild to moderate symptomatology, it doesn't have much positive effect for people currently experience severe OCD symptoms.
Yes. I am aware of these researched. Because of them, I decided to give NAC a try.
I just figured out my side effects were not caused by NAC but by my new antipsychotic drug. I've been taking it for about a week and I feel so tired, slow and depressed. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist tomorrow and I will tell her I am not taking this drug any more. I feel like crap. I thought I was going into depression. Although my OCD is pretty severe, I am planning to continue the use of NAC. Is there a specific manufacturer you would recommend?
Research shows that aside from some gastrointestinal issues which usually go away after first few weeks of taking NAC, in most cases it doesn't cause other side effects. So it is very likely that, as you noted, your current symptoms of tiredness and depression is caused by something else. I had NAC from Bulk company. I haven't tried any other supplier, so can not compare.
