Irene, I just read up on it and it seems to do COPD patients a whole lot of good. Having said that , since I'm also asthmatic, I would also be very concerned about taking it. I personally would not take it without talking to the doctor first about your concerns and asking question why asthma patients are not supposed to take it.
Here is some info about use for COPD
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2010/may2010_N-Acetyl-Cysteine

wasn't someone else trying this?
it would be great to hear from someone who has..
how much & how often do you take it?

here's the links i found;
this one is about the "pantheon trial"
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600%2813%2970286-8/abstract

and this is just good ol web md info
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1018-n-acetyl%20cysteine.aspx?activeingredientid=1018&activeingredientname=n-acetyl%20cysteine

it also says it is used for tylenol overdose??? funny how sometimes they find help for another thing (like copd) when testing for something else. of course it also says it helps with carbon monoxide poisoning so maybe for a COPD person that traps air it helps?
keep us updated if it helps
((((HUGS))))

I have been taking it for two years now. I'm still in the moderate stage but I have been following the protocol from the Johns Hopkins White Paper on Lung Disorders and they claim that N A C is the only supplement that had positive results in testing.

I get mine through Amazon and get the Now brand which is a the brand I always got at the health food store I used when I was in Syracuse. I don't have asthma and the same Dr who told me that steroids cure COPD told me that he had never heard of N-Acetyl Cysteine. That made me know that it is probably a good thing to take! lol I take two a day.

I have had no side effects with it and I assume it is helping me. Hope others are taking it and can share their experience as well?

I take NAC with my pulmonologist's approval.

The prescription form of NAC is used to treat people with cystic fibrosis.

I have been taking 600 mg of NAC with 1000 mg of Vitamin C twice a day for a couple of years. (It's important to take Vitamin C with it because NAC can cause kidney stones.) NAC is a powerful antioxidant.

However, recently there have seen comments online by copd patients who say research is now suggesting NAC may speed up cancer growth. I haven't researched it, so I don't know if it's true. I believe it is only one study, but I'm not sure.

Mark Mangus who is a respiratory therapist who answers questions online at COPD Canada recommends the use of NAC to thin mucus.

You may want to ask about NAC at COPD International's support forum. There are people there who use it.

Susan

I think I read about that earlier this year and it was a study done in Sweden which suggested that NAC and Vitamin E given to mice accelerated growth of tumors. It was just one study and I don't know about the validity of the test design.

I still will take it and I can't take Vitamin E in any event since I am on warfarin and Vitamin E is contraindicated .

I wish I knew how to drag studies to DS and leave the source like most of you do with ease. (: It should be relatively easy for you to find it thru google though.

Hugs, Brain compromised one

I take 600 mg of NAC daily. Off and on for 12 years now. It smells terrible and some times it will not stay down. No concrete studies that is helpful that I am aware of. Many studies "suggest" it is helpful.

I have been taking 1200 mg (1 - 600 mg 2 x day) off & on for 4 years. Sometimes I don't think it is making a difference so I stop taking it, then I think "maybe it was" so I start again. Either way, it is an antioxidant so it won't hurt you, and can possibly help especially during the cold & flu season.

Per Dr. Oz: "Boost Immunity with N-Acetyl Cysteine, the mother of all antioxidants, helps fight off infections. Take 600 MG twice a day, one in the morning before breakfast and the other in the evening."

I am thinking that is the same mist they gave me in the hospital when I first had the really bad episode , and it made me cough, so I had no choice but to cough up the mucus, and congestion. Dr, gave it to me once a day along with my regular inhalers, and yes it stunk, and tasted terrible. When I came home, he sent a script for it, and the pharmacy filled it and also gave me a couple syringes because that was the only sanitary way to draw up enough to put in my nebulizer cup. I had to keep it refrigerated, and after a while, my pulmy found out and told me it could be dangerous if used to much and for me to throw it out, so I did. However it did good to thin out the mucus, but so does mucinex.....If you are really bad congested, it is good, but don,t use it to often...

BJ, it's quite probable the inhaled mist you had in the hospital was Mucomyst, the prescription version of NAC.