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Depression on Naltrexone

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
I am in a bit of a bind. Low dose naltrexone is by far the best thing to ever happen to my ME. It is the only thing I have ever used that simply works. The change since I have started taking it has been astonishing. However the good effects of the naltrexone appear to keep wearing off, and as a result I have to keep increasing the dose.

As I do this is becoming apparent that the naltrexone is causing me depression. My mood is increasingly toxic. I have started once again to brood over long-lost relationships. I'm sick of the sight of parents. I don't want to talk to anyone. Yesterday I burst into tears after hearing something that wasn't even remotely sad.

I have never had depression before. Now that my health is improving so much it is a surprise that I am experiencing it now. I can only attribute it to the naltrexone.

What do others think of this?
 

Sidereal

Senior Member
Messages
4,856
Yes, I had surmised that was the case. My concern here is really what I can do about it. Do you have any ideas?

Some people find it helpful to take it before bed in order to sleep through the phase when the mu opioid receptors are blocked and the mood bottoms out as a result. When do you take it?

Personally, I couldn't make this drug work for me. It was great initially but then it caused total insomnia, agitation, mood issues, random crying etc. I had to take it first thing in the morning, otherwise I could not sleep at all. I gave up after a couple of months of tinkering.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
Some people find it helpful to take it before bed in order to sleep through the phase when the mu opioid receptors are blocked and the mood bottoms out as a result. When do you take it?

Personally, I couldn't make this drug work for me. It was great initially but then it caused total insomnia, agitation, mood issues, random crying etc. I had to take it first thing in the morning, otherwise I could not sleep at all. I gave up after a couple of months of tinkering.

I take it in the evening before bed, but for whatever reason it appears that the depression is daylong rather than confined to the period of time that the drug is initially active. I started on 0.5mg and moved up to 1mg at the beginning, but found I could not sleep a wink. So I moved back down and waited, and now I am up to 1.5mg with no sign of it affecting my sleep.

I guess this is going to be a toss-up of whether or not I can handle the depression. I may try lowering the dose to see if I can still see the beneficial effects in my ME, and combine it with DLPA or something.

I actually don't mind the random crying too much. It is cathartic. It's the foul mood that surrounds it which I can't handle. I could also do without thinking about my ex-girlfriend.
 

Sidereal

Senior Member
Messages
4,856
Maybe you upped the dose too quickly. Perhaps going back down to a dose that doesn't cause depression and then titrating upwards veeeeery slowly would work. Some people dilute it in distilled water so they can go up in tiny increments like 0.1.

DLPA makes me very agitated, FWIW.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
Maybe you upped the dose too quickly. Perhaps going back down to a dose that doesn't cause depression and then titrating upwards veeeeery slowly would work. Some people dilute it in distilled water so they can go up in tiny increments like 0.1.

DLPA makes me very agitated, FWIW.

Yes, I think you're right. I need to reassess the dose.

DLPA used to make me really agitated, but I persevered with it for a long while and the agitation eventually disappeared. I can happily take it before bed now without any side effects. I will try adding that into the mix again to see what happens.
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
Messages
2,933
You could try pulsing the drug. Using it one week and then taking a break (or some other arrangement) perhaps that might help.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
You could try pulsing the drug. Using it one week and then taking a break (or some other arrangement) perhaps that might help.

That is a good idea - thanks! Some experimentation is needed to find a good balance between depression and improvement.
 

helen1

Senior Member
Messages
1,033
Location
Canada
I've read that often people find the depression lifts once the opiate blocking prompts your brain to produce more of its opiates. That's what's supposed to happen anyway.

@Cheesus
 

osisposis

Senior Member
Messages
389
:( I kind of fell like crying just reading this , I'm getting ready to start Naltrexone, I really don't need any added depression, are you all working through doctors as far as weither you take higher doses or lower? I'm pose to start at 1mg. witch may be to high for me given what others have reported, I'm very sensitive I was looking forward to the chance this was going to make me fell better, not worse :(
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
I've read that often people find the depression lifts once the opiate blocking prompts your brain to produce more of its opiates. That's what's supposed to happen anyway.

@Cheesus

Yes, I had hoped that would be the case. I am getting the good feeling of the opiates and it is that which seems to be propelling me forwards as my nervous system is so much calmer, but there is a foul mood lurking behind it. It is definitely plausible that the naltrexone is not the cause. Things are changing a lot at the minute. There could be another cause.

:( I kind of fell like crying just reading this , I'm getting ready to start Naltrexone, I really don't need any added depression, are you all working through doctors as far as weither you take higher doses or lower? I'm pose to start at 1mg. witch may be to high for me given what others have reported, I'm very sensitive I was looking forward to the chance this was going to make me fell better, not worse :(

I'm sorry you've been put off by this thread. I would still suggest that you try it. It has done my ME a world of good, and I am not willing to give up on it. The positives still far outweigh the negatives, and I am getting some semblance of my independence back. However I do think that 1mg is a little high to start. I suggest you try 0.5mg instead.

I'm not working with a doctor. My body is a much better judge of dosage than a doctor could ever be.
 

osisposis

Senior Member
Messages
389
Yes, I had hoped that would be the case. I am getting the good feeling of the opiates and it is that which seems to be propelling me forwards as my nervous system is so much calmer, but there is a foul mood lurking behind it. It is definitely plausible that the naltrexone is not the cause. Things are changing a lot at the minute. There could be another cause.



I'm sorry you've been put off by this thread. I would still suggest that you try it. It has done my ME a world of good, and I am not willing to give up on it. The positives still far outweigh the negatives, and I am getting some semblance of my independence back. However I do think that 1mg is a little high to start. I suggest you try 0.5mg instead.

I'm not working with a doctor. My body is a much better judge of dosage than a doctor could ever be.



yes, I think your right and I will start with lower dose regardless of what the doc says because I know myself better too and it becomes very hard to give any drug another chance when you don't tolerate it well. Thanks!
 

JES

Senior Member
Messages
1,320
As well as the dosage, also the timing with this drug matters. You get the best opioid boosting effect from LDN by taking it at night. Since LDN at a standard dosage blocks opioid receptors for a couple of hours, some people tend to feel awful the following few hours after taking it. One way to circumvent this is to take the drug just before going to sleep, if possible.
 

osisposis

Senior Member
Messages
389
As well as the dosage, also the timing with this drug matters. You get the best opioid boosting effect from LDN by taking it at night. Since LDN at a standard dosage blocks opioid receptors for a couple of hours, some people tend to feel awful the following few hours after taking it. One way to circumvent this is to take the drug just before going to sleep, if possible.


ok, will she did say to take at night , hopefully sence it's compounded and wont have any dyes or fillers I will tolerate it, but night is not exactly when I want to be dealing with intolerance or a bad reaction, I may should try first in the morning than if it goes ok than start taking the following night. Thanks for the info.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
My mood is increasingly toxic. I have started once again to brood over long-lost relationships. I'm sick of the sight of parents. I don't want to talk to anyone. Yesterday I burst into tears after hearing something that wasn't even remotely sad.

I found LDN worsened my anhedonia symptoms (anhedonia is a sub-symptom of depression), so I stopped taking it after a while. I did not notice any ME/CFS improvements on LDN, so stopping was no problem.


Your mood changes sound like a combination of depression with increased emotional lability (also called emotional instability, or the pseudobulbar affect), a symptom found in the CCC. Random, unpredictable or unstable emotional responses or outbursts are characteristic of emotional lability.

I find vitamin B2 100 mg helps with the emotional sensitivity symptoms of ME/CFS; it might I guess also help with the emotional lability.


Sounds like you also have some irritability too, which creates the foul mood. Irritability is an ME/CFS symptom listed in the CDC CFS definition. I suffer a lot with this symptom, but fortunately I found very low dose amisulpride fixes 90% of the irritability and foul mood. Amisulpride also have a good antidepressant effect, I find.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
I found LDN worsened my anhedonia symptoms (anhedonia is a sub-symptom of depression), so I stopped taking it after a while. I did not notice any ME/CFS improvements on LDN, so stopping was no problem.


Your mood changes sound like a combination of depression with increased emotional lability (also called emotional instability, or the pseudobulbar affect), a symptom found in the CCC. Random, unpredictable or unstable emotional responses or outbursts are characteristic of emotional lability.

I find vitamin B2 100 mg helps with the emotional sensitivity symptoms of ME/CFS; it might I guess also help with the emotional lability.


Sounds like you also have some irritability too, which creates the foul mood. Irritability is an ME/CFS symptom listed in the CDC CFS definition. I suffer a lot with this symptom, but fortunately I found very low dose amisulpride fixes 90% of the irritability and foul mood. Amisulpride also have a good antidepressant effect, I find.

That is very helpful, thanks! I will look into those options.
 

Mor

Messages
32
Yes, I had surmised that was the case. My concern here is really what I can do about it. Do you have any ideas?

It's probably the LDN, but if it isnt, it may be simply that you now have something to lose? The thoughts of future normalcy, make you think like a normie; the unhappy feeling that comes from desire to gain what is yet outside your reach, and the fear of losing what is inside your reach.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
It's probably the LDN, but if it isnt, it may be simply that you now have something to lose? The thoughts of future normalcy, make you think like a normie; the unhappy feeling that comes from desire to gain what is yet outside your reach, and the fear of losing what is inside your reach.

Yes I had wondered that. It has been quite a shock regaining touch with the outside world. I've been in stasis for years and now that it is thawing I have been exposed to all sorts of things that have been a bit strange and jarring.
 

daisybell

Senior Member
Messages
1,613
Location
New Zealand
I think that if the LDN is doing something for you as it seems to be, then it is probably to be expected that your whole system is changing.... So although physically you feel a bit better, perhaps in your brain, the neurotransmitters have been thrown into disarray... (Perhaps a bit like when your thyroid levels change too quickly). I would hope that this symptom will settle as you find a better 'new normal'.
Fingers crossed!