N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a harmless (EDIT: please check at least https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylcysteine for possible side effects) compound which protects your liver, you can buy after searching like for 10 seconds

I ve been taking it for a week (1 pill, 600mg per day) before noticing that drinking doesn’t do anything. Went to a party, drank 3 pints of beer, one after another, with absolutely zero effect. Usually, just 1 pint is enough to get socially talkative, 3 pints of beer i am supposed to be very obviously drunk.

Another time, drank a third of a bottle of wine (at my place, so it cannot possibly be watered down), the only effect was nausea (which never happened before), again, zero drunk-ness effect.

Now, depending on people that anti-alcohol protection might be an advantage or drawback. I just found it interesting, so sharing here

Edit: as one comment points out: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30019966/

  • BananaTrifleViolin@kbin.social
    4·
    1 year ago

    So big mistake here: NAC is not harmless. It does have side effects and it also has toxicity at high doses.

    It has not been studied in long term use orally or IV, it’s main use bomg short term use for paracetamol overdose treatment. Inhalation is more studied but it is not absorbed into the body in the same way.

    We think it is safe but we haven’t actually done human trials to be sure. What we have found in mice is that high doses can cause lung and heart damage and also when it comes to alcohol it is protective if taken before alcohol consumption BUT it amplifies the toxicity to the liver if about 4 hours taken after alcohol. All of this is summarised on the Wikipedia page which looks to be good quality.

    Overall it may be a useful drug but don’t take it off label or self medicating. Medicine is littered with unexpected effects of drugs that only came out once it was too late. Thalidomide is a good example - a “wonder drug” for nausea used in pregnancy that was not tested and caused horrific birth defects which only became evident when it was too late.

    Your body is not a lab, be careful experimenting with supposedly “safe” drugs.