Anything is possible for sure. We can probably assume that as a motivation behind the FDA warning letters regarding NAC supplements. I guess they were “able to” because NAC was first utilized as a pharmaceutical before it was available as a supplement. It has to be more than a coincidence that they decided now was the opportune time to make it an issue.
Even still, why aren’t we using NAC infusions in the hospital setting when vaccination is off the table and NAC could potentially be an effective tool?
Well, I’m not looking for any extra work either
. We just have to give some of that sh*t through an IV! Nebulized medications of all kinds are discouraged now for everyone in the hospital due to the risk of aerosolizing patients saliva that may or may not belong to an identified positive patient. Through a vent circuit it’s essentially a closed system so that’s a different story.
Nebulized NAC would be very easy for us to incorporate for our vented patients, and probably should be utilized! It’s also a mucolytic which would be very helpful for the vented dude we were all rallying for who now has very thick secretions. I haven’t had the ICU lately, but I do know he is doing horribly now and we can’t safely ventilate him currently. He will definitely die.
Today was absolutely crazy! We were fully staffed and my manager as well as assistant manager still had to help out…and they never do! Our hospital keeps accepting new vented patients from outside facilities that are either China virus positive or drug overdoses. For some reason, they fail to acknowledge the fact that we don’t have the staff to handle them. Today we started off with 7 vents, which is very high for our small hospital that only has 11 ICU beds. We ended up with 5 by the end of the day due to them being withdrawn from support.
Meanwhile, I was out on the floor with the non-critical care patients- many of whom are positive. They ran me ragged! I lost one 90 year old lady who took a sudden turn for the worse, but I was able to gain some ground with a 60 y/o dude who was on >50% oxygen for over a week. I finally got him on 40% oxygen and he was very excited. Win some ya lose some!