hello,

I am having my amalgams out soon and plan to take, vit C, algin, selenium, vit E.

I was wondering if one should also use N-acetyl cysteine. I read that this makes glutathione that is needed for heavy metal detox.

thanks for any advice

I took NAC before I had my fillings replaced and it made me feel very ill. Low energy, extreme depression and just a general feeling of weirdness. I'm not sure if it's beneficial for post amalgam. I'd be interested to know too.

Cysteine is an excitotoxin to the brain, meaning it can exhaust brain cells.......so if you have symptoms of excess neurotransmittor firing such as anxiety, racing thoughts and panick attacks, stay clear of NAC.

I have also read that mercury binds to cysteine and gets transported into the brain.

Here is what I read from a mercury toxic book written by a bio chemist "Andy Cutler" on NAC.

"Patients who have imparied metabolic conversion of cysteine to taurine and sulfate may respond negatively to NAC, though much less so than to cysteine itself. NAC is also much more effective in elevating liver glutathione than either cysteine or glutathione.

Those who have low glutathione or glutathione conjugation on the liver detox test are likely to benefit from NAC (600 - 4,000 mg/day).

People who are sensitive to paint fumes, exhaust fumes, etc are likely to benefit from NAC".

It helps the liver by increasing glutathione and therefore aids with the elmination of toxic metals, but is no replacement for proper chelation. I hope this helps.

I currently take NAC. My understanding of the body’s detox/elimination process is that glutathione is absolutely required in that process. Once a molecule of glutathione is used up during detox/elimination it needs to be replaced by the body (or by supplements). Since I can’t be sure that my body is able to make glutathione itself I am taking the glutathione precursor NAC to help my body along (apparently the supplement glutathione shouldn’t be taken by mercury toxic people).

If you are interested, the above process is outlined in great detail in Sherry Rodgers ‘Detox or Die’ book.

I would suggest trying NAC for yourself and see if your body has a positive or negative response to it.

Hope this helps. Cheers, Karen <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />