Cysteine and intestinal pain

[Sophiedw]

Why may taking l-cysteine cause quite extreme abdominal pain and burning? Is it reacting with something in my stomach? Inducing a deficiency in the cells of my intestines? Or just a general reaction. It’s a shame because it appears to be helping a lot of other symptoms but the pain can’t be a great sign.

has anybody else experienced anything like this?
Thanks

 

[andyguitar]

Well you are not alone!

 

[Pyrrhus]

I don't know what dosage of cysteine/NAC you might be taking, but when I started taking NAC, I had start-up symptoms that included delayed constipation/cramping/diarrhea.

I describe my NAC startup symptoms here:
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/glutathione-causing-anxiety-irritability.81246/#post-2304206

(Eventually, the start-up effects subsided and I now have only positive effects from cysteine/NAC.)

I hope this helps, best wishes!

 

[Sophiedw]

Thank all 🙏 the wheel continues to spin. Have just emerged out of 6 weeks of horror from taking cysteine so I’m feeling pretty happy about that at least.

 

[nerd]

I also experienced some initial side effects from NAC by excessive slime secretion in the respiratory system, which I think is typical for high doses of NAC, but when a deficiency is balanced out, even smaller amounts might lead to similar effects.

I wonder if the quality of NAC also plays a role. I noticed that my Bulk NAC smells too sulfuric and I suspect the lack of encapsulation increased the oxidation of it. Fresh NAC smells like vinegar, as far as I know and given my experience with different NAC products. Unfortunately, NAC has become restricted as you know, and my favorite manufacturer, Jarrow, took their sustained NAC off market. I asked them if they intend to relist it eventually and they responded that it's not going to happen anytime soon and that everything depends on the FDA now.

TLDR yet:
Stability of N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) in Standardized
Pediatric Parenteral Nutrition and Evaluation
of N,N-Diacetylcystine (DAC) Formation (2020) [doi: 10.3390/nu12061849]

 

[mariovitali]

I believe that the Love/Hate response to NAC identifies two important subtypes of ME.

 

[Judee]

NAC and cysteine are sulfur/thiols so you could possibly be sensitive to them.

I am, so I mention this a lot as a possible reason when someone wonders why they may be reacting to them.

 

[Sophiedw]

I believe that the Love/Hate response to NAC identifies two important subtypes of ME.

[GROUP=]w[/GROUP]

I do tend to agree to an extent although The funny thing is a lie in the centre of this spectrum. Initially NAC brought on the cascade of symptoms from which I am still recovering 3 years later. Now I see that’s because my b12 was so very very low that nac resulted in profound deficiency. Now, I have been suffering from cysteine deficiency and it presented as some hallmark CFS symptoms - hypersensitivity, sleep phenomena, fatigue, crash like sensation, you name it (this going some way to show that these neurological symptoms can be caused by glutathione deficiency). But now that my b12 is increased after 3 years of supplementing and I am aware of the potential of cysteine to decrease it, I can take the cysteine and in fact it has become my most limiting nutrient.

So if @Freddd suffered from a ClbC (sic) carrier protein mutation that caused the glutathione to conjugate to b12 and be expelled from the cell, perhaps I suffer from a much more mild mutation in this gene.

 

[Sophiedw]

I also experienced some initial side effects from NAC by excessive slime secretion in the respiratory system, which I think is typical for high doses of NAC, but when a deficiency is balanced out, even smaller amounts might lead to similar effects.

I wonder if the quality of NAC also plays a role. I noticed that my Bulk NAC smells too sulfuric and I suspect the lack of encapsulation increased the oxidation of it. Fresh NAC smells like vinegar, as far as I know and given my experience with different NAC products. Unfortunately, NAC has become restricted as you know, and my favorite manufacturer, Jarrow, took their sustained NAC off market. I asked them if they intend to relist it eventually and they responded that it's not going to happen anytime soon and that everything depends on the FDA now.

TLDR yet:
Stability of N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) in Standardized
Pediatric Parenteral Nutrition and Evaluation
of N,N-Diacetylcystine (DAC) Formation (2020) [doi: 10.3390/nu12061849]

I’m shocked! Shocked and appalled it is being regulated! I only read of this yesterday. Luckily this is not such a thing in the uk. It’s a bit like tryptophan I think - all the stink around that in the states.

Anything that seems unfairly regulated
, I think, you can be almost sure, is genuinely helpful to a large proportion of society who are currently medicated with antidepressants and anti anxiety medication, thus causing big pharma to pointlessly regulate perfectly safe nutrient - cysteine/tryptophan/bh4.

Disgusting. A stain upon humanity.