Can nebulized glutathione make you ill????

[HERBINCANTON]

Last weekend, I left town & forgot my cooler with my nebulised glutathione-100mg/ML and Albuterol-3ML vial combo.

I missed my treatment for three days and took my regular dose on the fourth nite at 7pm. At 9pm I started cough, cough, coughing. I had a terrible night - cramps, achy, etc. Did not sleep all night. Missed work today, Thursday, and had a fluey weakness in my limbs and snoozed all day long with some productive coughing. Ate some fruit, eggs, fluids for energy but lightly to help my systems get better.

I now have a dilemma. The combo seems to help my copd a little and I don't want to stop it. I do remember some references about reactions to the inhaled glutathione last year sometime when starting neb-glut.

Should I cut the glut- to 1/2 and dilute with the full amount of Albuterol - OR MAYBE YOU WENT THROUGH THIS AND HAVE A SOLUTION or maybe use my body to test your theory..

It's now 9pm and I will do something before bedtime - although I can't go through many bad nights, etc.

I've been searching on the internet but so far I can't find any help.

 

[Jeannine]

Hi Herb
If I were you I would cut back on the glut by 1/2. There are times when it seems to cause side effects. Don't know what triggers it. If you still feel congested then tomorrow buy some 1200 mg
mucinex to help loosen the congestion.

 

[barbara]

I agree with Jeannine about cutting the dose in half which essentially means cutting the nebulizing time in half. I don't know if you read Dr. Grossman's answers in this month's Ask the Doctor. He did mention the reason why it can cause a patient to become short of breath and cough a lot. You said you missed a few days and then when you started nebulizing again, it made you "cough, cough, cough." Sounds like what he is talking about. I have never combined it with anything but saline, however, one time I was left to nebulize too long during a treatment and it completely blocked off one of my ears. I couldn't hear out of it. I ended up having to go to an ENT. Prolonged nebulizing can cause that apparently, so cut the time down until you start feeling better.


Q: Can you tell me the purpose of glutathione? Is only the inhaled type useful for lung patients? I have seen it sold in capsules, but have never tried it that way. I have inhaled it and sometimes it almost makes me feel worse for an hour or two. I am hoping you can explain the benefits. Should someone use it on a routine basis (once or twice a day) or just after stem cell treatment or only if one is feeling poorly?
A: We have been prescribing inhaled glutathione, which can be prepared by a compounding pharmacy, for our COPD patients for several years with positive benefits in many cases. Glutathione is one of the most powerful and effective free radical scavengers in the body. It also has mucolytic properties and can help loosen thick sputum so that it can be more easily coughed up. Sometimes when patients have considerable accumulations of mucus in their airways and first begin inhaled glutathione therapy, they can have an increase in the amount of sputum they produce. On occasion this can be copious and create symptoms of increased shortness of breath. Therefore it is imperative that this therapy be started very slowly with gradual increases in the amount of inhaled glutathione used. The therapy is best taken routinely either once or twice a day regardless of other therapies. Glutathione is broken down by acid in the stomach when ingested orally. There are a few formulations such as acetyl-glutathione, which are not degraded by stomach acid, however I feel that inhaling glutathione directly into the lungs via a nebulizer is far more effective in most cases for treatment of pulmonary conditions.