Great News! Glutathione Now Available as a Nasal Spray!

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I wrote a post here about a year ago about Increasing Glutatathione in ME/CFS and Related Illnesses and about the improvements my son and I have seen from adding glutathione injections to our treatment regimen. You can read that post for more details on exactly what glutathione does, why it's important, and what roles it plays in our illnesses.

The bottom line is this: glutathione is a naturally occurring compound that people with ME/CFS, fibro, Lyme, and similar illnesses don't make enough of. Glutathione is crucial for methylation, energy production, detox, improving exercise intolerance, and immune function, so increasing glutathione (helping to give our bodies more since they're not efficient at making enough) can have ample positive effects on almost all of our symptoms. Oral glutathione supplements are poorly absorbed and don't get into the cells well, where they need to be to help. Until now, the best approaches were IVs or intramuscular injections. That post also explains the improvements we've personally seen from glutathione.

So, fast-forward to today. I have kept up the twice-weekly glutathione injections and have seen great benefits from them. Among other things, I went from getting bacterial bronchitis 4-6 times a year to not getting it at all for over 18 months! The downside is that intramuscular injections use a large needle and are painful...though I've gotten better at it with practice. My son hasn't kept up with his glutathione injections regularly, in large part because of the difficult and painful injections.

So, I was thrilled to hear recently that glutathione is now available as a nasal spray! I checked with our ME/CFS specialist, Dr. Susan Levine, who confirmed that it was true and assured me that the nose spray is even more effective than IV's or injections - and no needles!

Glutathione nasal spray is available through any compounding pharmacy (Skip's Pharmacy in Florida, a well-respected compounding pharmacy that provides many ME/CFS patients with low-dose naltrexone, is one option). The price is similar to what we were paying for injectable glutathione. We immediately filled a prescription for the new nose spray for my son.

He has been using the glutathione nose spray for a few weeks now. He just uses one squirt in one nostril each day. Because it's daily, it's much easier for him to remember it consistently than the twice-weekly injections...and he's not avoiding it because of pain. He says he is already noticing improvements in energy and how he feels overall. I am hoping this will also help with his recurring bronchitis, as it did for me. I am finishing up the injectable solution we have, and then I will switch to the nasal spray, too.

Glutathione can help improve SO many different aspects of our illnesses. Now it will be more accessible to more people - that's reason to celebrate!

NOTE: That earlier post on glutathione also lists additional ways to boost glutathione.

UPDATE 4/12/18:
If you can not get a prescription for glutathione nasal spray, there appear to be two commercial brands on the market called GlutaQuick and GlutaStat, which you can search for online, but it is a bit more expensive (I've included links to two sources).

NOTE: Do NOT buy glutathione mouth sprays - the pH in our mouths immediately render the glutathione unusable, and it never gets into the bloodstream where it is needed - these are just a waste of money (and if you search for glutathione nasal sprays on Amazon, a bunch of mouth sprays will come up, so read carefully).

Our experience after 2 months? My son switched to the nose spray back in February, as soon as we found out about it. He admitted to me that he hadn't been doing the IM injections because they hurt too much (they definitely take some practice to master), so we switched him immediately (I am using up the last of the injectible solution we have and then I will switch, too). So, it's been about two months for him. His energy is improved, he remembers it most days, and he is still using that first bottle we bought, so it lasted awhile. Best of all? He came home from spring break two weeks ago with some chest congestion, which for him always means bacterial bronchitis. This time, though, he felt fine after a few days of coughing, and he did not need to go on antibiotics - hurray! So, the glutathione seems to be having the same positive immune system effects for him that is has for me...and the nasal spray is much easier, more convenient, and far less painful for him to use. I'm switching, too!

UPDATE AUGUST 2021: 

We have both been using glutathione nasal spray daily for three years now, and it still works very well for us. My son also periodically gets glutathione IVs, which are very effective and give him a big boost, when he visits his Lyme specialist. More info on other ways to increase glutathione here. It's absolutely essential for healthy immune function, detox, energy production, and more!