Hi, Carrie, I think all listservs, message boards, etc. go through a life cycle. First there's a lot of activity and then it tapers off. Every single online group I have been in has done the same. The key for the administrator is to just keep things going, so that both new people and old people can find what they need when they need it. How much activity there is on a message board has much more to do with how old the message board is than anything else, such as whether GSH is effective or not.

Concerning that question, I just got an email from a little girl who has been on GSH since almost birth. They did a CT scan of her lungs, and the radiologist said he would never have diagnosed CF looking at her scan, because it was so clear. Over the years, I have had many reports of astounding success come to my inbox--even cases where folks were taken off the transplant list because their PFTs had improved so much.

But GSH is a maintenance therapy. It is used to slow the rate of decline. It cannot halt the rate of decline, because it is not a cure. But it will help you hold onto your health and your weight as we all wait for drugs that will correct and potentiate defective CFTR.

The conventional treatments for CF are a double-edged sword. Use a lot of inhaled abx? Expect fungus to grow. Using antifungals? Expect renal problems. Etc.etc. GSH is one of the few therapies for CF where you do not have to worry about the double-edge. Hypertonic saline is another.

The trial of inhaled GSH in Germany is nearing conclusion, I am told, The trial in Italy of oral GSH for weight gain in CF children has just begun, and will have results in approximately 6-8 months.

GSH is a background to all of our lives. Sometimes the background isn't noticed; it becomes part of the wallpaper. But if I could only take 2 things to help my CF kids on a desert island, it would be GSH and enzymes. My family uses lots of things for our CF children, but GSH is a backbone of what we do for them.