How Long Can NAC and Melatonin Be Taken?

How long can I take NAC and melatonin? Can they be taken with an SSRI antidepressant? I have been taking NAC for about 2 months for 600-1200 mg per day. Should I continue?

 

It's important that you discuss this with the healthcare provider who prescribed you the antidepressant. There may be other contributing factors that would affect how these supplements interact with SSRIs.

Regarding melatonin and SSRIs, see this article
Excerpt: Antidepressant medications -- In an animal study, melatonin supplements reduced the antidepressant effects of desipramine and fluoxetine. More research is needed to determine whether these effects would occur in people. In addition, fluoxetine (a member of a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) has led to measurable depletion of melatonin in people.

Regarding NAC and SSRIs, I found this article about when NAC should not be used, here. There are other articles online, just do a search for NAC + SSRI + interaction.

Even if you aren't on any prescribed medication, it's always a good idea to research potential side effects and interactions if you're considering taking any supplement, just to be on the safe side.

 

Some expert whose name I can’t recall (sorry) said NAC was probably safe to take between 200-500mg daily. So more than 600 seems high unless you’ve had a noise trauma I guess and then could take a higher dose only for a while, but I’m no expert. I take 300-600mg but often skip days and a day or two at 1200 if I know I have some noisey situations coming up like travelling. And take with vit c as that article says.

I believe it takes your liver around 9 days to convert it into glutathione.

I wouldn’t take it after alcohol. One study reported NAC can protect the liver from alcohol damage but only if taken prior. They found taking it after actually increased damage.

 

how long do you continuously (continuously) take NAC? I learned from the article that it can damage nerve cells, does not the snail belong to these cells? I thoughtlessly accept NAC for many months

 

That’s at a high dose which I guess must be above 1800mg if they recommend up to that a day.
I typically take 600mg every 2-3 days, or maybe 300mg a day for 2 days and then skip a day. Sometimes after a noise event 1200mg a day for a few days, just in case.

I don’t know if this is enough or even helpful, but I would rather be cautious.