How To Get Over That Lingering Cough That Won't Respond to Inhalers or Antibiotics (Updated)
How two inexpensive supplements resolved a patient's chronic cough that persisted for six weeks.
I am not a medical doctor, and this is not medical advice. Please see the full disclaimer at the bottom.
Over the last few months, I’ve had a handful of patients come in with mid-back pain caused from a chronic cough. They all have been to their doctor and had the major issues ruled out (covid, pneumonia, bronchitis) and were all told they were dealing with a virus. All the patients were put on an inhaler, steroids, and an antibiotic to clear the cough. None of these patients responded to conventional treatment but were still struggling with a cough for weeks to months after its initial onset.
One patient's cough has been ongoing since August, and he’s got bruising under his ribs due to the cough. Another patient says his cough has been lingering since mid-September and they have “thrown the kitchen sink at it,” but none of the drugs have been helping.
A 38-year-old female presented to my office with a cough that has been ongoing for six weeks, and she tried multiple inhalers and a couple courses of antibiotics with no results. She was tired of coughing every minute of the day and now she was starting to have severe mid-back and rib pain from coughing. She also said her daughters were struggling with the same cough.
This year, 2024-25 we’ve seen a lot of patients with a cough that won’t go away with antibiotics. I highly recommend giving these supplements a try. Boosting your bodies glutathione is great way to get your immune system working well along with improving your lung health.
I had her take NAC and liposomal Vitamin C and Glycine. I advised her to take 1500mg of NAC 2x’s per day on an empty stomach and 1g of liposomal vitamin C 2x’s per day on an empty stomach. Her cough cleared up in 2 days! She was very impressed. These two supplements can be purchased in our office.
How is this quick of a recovery possible? NAC and Vit C both boost glutathione levels, which helps keep your immune system working at its peak efficiency. NAC also thins the mucus in the lining of your bronchioles, so you can cough and get rid of the mucus that’s lingering after a cold or infection. The combination of those two processes of boosting glutathione and thinning the mucus can help your body then overcome whatever lingering “gunk” is left in your lungs and heal.
NAC for Reducing Severity of Influenza
NAC has been well studied in the elderly for six-month periods of time to help lessen the severity of illness from influenzas. Attenuation of influenza-like symptomatology and improvement of cell-mediated immunity with long-term N-acetylcysteine treatment - PubMed (nih.gov)
This is a quote from the above study: NAC treatment was well tolerated and resulted in a significant decrease in the frequency of influenza-like episodes, severity, and length of time confined to bed. Both local and systemic symptoms were sharply and significantly reduced in the NAC group.
The GlyNac Protocol to Boost Glutathione
NAC is not a very well-known supplement. It’s an inexpensive amino acid that’s safe to take daily if you have issues with chronic breathing issues (like COPD, asthma, or allergies). I personally take 600mg daily to help keep my glutathione levels higher as I age. A recent study shows how taking a combination of glycine and NAC restores glutathione levels to youthful levels.
Higher glutathione levels have a number of very positive health effects: Published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, the study shows that older humans taking GlyNAC for 16-weeks improved many characteristic defects of aging. This includes oxidative stress, glutathione deficiency and multiple aging hallmarks affecting mitochondrial dysfunction, mitophagy, inflammation, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, genomic damage, stem cell fatigue and cellular senescence. These were associated with improvements in muscle strength, gait speed, exercise capacity, waist circumference and blood pressure.
My advice is that you can safely take 600-1200 mg of NAC along with the same amount of glycine daily to keep your glutathione levels topped off. Both supplements are very cheap and can be bought at our office.
If you do come down with a virus or pneumonia that causes a cough, you may want to double or triple the doses above and spread them throughout the day and take them on an empty stomach before each meal.
Below is what I recommend at this time. I try to recommend good quality brands at a good price. The liposomal vitamin C is a bit spendy, but it’s absorbed very well by your body. I highly recommend keeping a couple of bottles of each item in your medicine cabinet at all times.
Please refer a friend or family member if you think this information would be useful to them. Thank you!
Disclaimer
I am not a medical doctor, and this is not medical advice. My goal is to empower you with information. Please make all health decisions yourself, consulting sources you trust, including a caring health care professional.