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My husband has recently been advised that along with lung cancer he has COPD. He is scheduled for PFT in April. He suffers from great amounts of phlegm and coughing-especially upon waking. I have recently heard that NAC can be very good in thinning out the mucous/phlegm and thereby stiffling the cough...and is used by many individuals suffering from COPD with good results. However, I have also read that if you have lung cancer, NAC can actually stimulate tumour growth. Any information on NAC and lung cancer that you can share? Thanks!
Forums
Reply # - March 16, 2014, 02:23 PM
Reply To: N–acetyl cysteine and mucous /phelgm
A recent discussion on antioxidants can be found here, http://cancergrace.org/topic/antioxidants-support-tumor-growth
Several people here have described problems like you've described and have found practices such as in the following link helpful. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seo/basics/lifestyle-home…
There's a discussion about a treatment vest for CF that's brought attention to some patients and doctors. I'll look for it and paste it in a following post.
Be safe.
I hope this is helpful,
Janine
Reply # - March 16, 2014, 03:20 PM
Reply To: N–acetyl cysteine and mucous /phelgm
I know you've not ask for help with alternatives in managing the COPD but there's a lot written on the subject of living with SOB and managing phlegm build up. The following post is about SOB which can be a problem with both COPD and lung cancer. I found the comment section discussion to be as informative as the post. Note you can't copy or link from any part of the comment section, seems to be a WordPress issue. http://cancergrace.org/cancer-treatments/2012/02/17/dyspnea/
Here's an explanation of pulmonary rehab. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/pulreh/
A post on cystic fibrosis devices for bringing up thick phlegm, http://cancergrace.org/forums/index.php?topic=8852.15
All best,
Janine
Reply # - March 16, 2014, 07:57 PM
Reply To: N–acetyl cysteine and mucous /phelgm
Janine provide a lot of very helpful information, leaving me nothing insightful to add. I don't know of any significant relationship between NAC and acceleration of cancer. I've never had a patient of mine receive NAC. A pulmonologist who treats COPD with NAC may well know more.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - March 17, 2014, 02:34 PM
Reply To: N–acetyl cysteine and mucous /phelgm
Many thanks for sharing the information...my husband has had an xray and scan since he completed his last round of chemo (Oct) . At his January followup appt. Oncologist advised that his response to chemo was remarkable. His only issue is the continuing cough and mucous /phlegm issues- despite being stage IV. No fluid build up/no infection. But the Onc advised that with the cancer, 2 lobectomies, radiation and chemo his lungs were a mess and it would not be abdnormal to have some type of issue present itself.
Our appt. with Respiratory specialist last week was the first we heard that COPD was also involved. Given the information I have received from the wonderful GRACE team, I will certainly be sharing with both Onc and Respiratory specialist at our next appts. in April.. so that they we can fully discuss the next course of action and whether or not NAC will be part of his medication therapy.
Again much thanks..what a wonderful opportunity your site provides to better understand the scope of this disease, its challenges and more importantly opportunities to make a loved one's life just a little better! Bless you all for taking the time to respond.