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Starting LDN tonight, any suggestions?

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I think it was in 2007, a doctor started me on LDN. I knew very little about it and he should have known better, but he started me off on 4 mgs right off the bat. Needless to say I didn't sleep and never went back to it.

Now I have .5 mgs and I'll stay with that for 2 weeks and then go again in 2 more weeks. I've been through a bad spell with sleep lately and I'm not looking forward to the possibility of not sleeping again. I've read some people here said they went really slowly and took a long time to get to the full dose they can tolerate so I'm wondering if I should have gotten .25 mgs. But if I have to I can always open these and do it that way.

I know I have to take it at night. Can someone tell me when, with food? I turn off the lights at 10 pm.

Thanks for the help.
 

jstefl

Senior Member
Messages
250
Location
Brookfield, Wisconsin
We are all different, but I have the best results taking it in the morning. I have been on it for over three years now, and still limit my dose to 1.5 mg.

I would suggest taking your dose every other day for a week or so to see how it goes. LDN has never helped my sleep much, in fact it keeps me awake, and that is why I take it mornings. It is quite possible that I am not taking a large enough dose to help with sleep, but the 1.5 mg dose seems to help a little, and any higher dose makes me feel worse, so I don't push it.

I needed to back off the dose when I started to .2 mg every other day. I very slowly worked my way up to where I am today over the course of several months. It is amazing to me that the normal dose of Naltrexone is 50 mg. To me, that dose sounds lethal! I have found that you can't force it, that the best approach is to start very slowly, and work your way up to a dose that you can handle.

I realize that that is not much of an answer, but the dosage really needs to be determined by each individual user, and what works for one won't work for the next.

John
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
@jstefl I appreciate the information. I know we are all different. I wanted other's experiences to gauge what I want to do.

I have heard from a lot of people that it messes up sleep. I just wonder why they say take it at night?

I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning. I just can't deal with not sleeping again after almost a week of only 3 hours a night. I'd rather be miserable during the day.

Thanks

What I'm reading is that you have to take it with one of the 2 endorphin peaks. A.m. or P.m. Some people are saying (on MS forums) that if they are up 15 minutes after taking it they start to have lucid dreams.

If I take it at 9 pm. and am up til about 10:30, maybe I'll be ok. Maybe I'll try that. Hmm.
 
Last edited:

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
@jstefl I appreciate the information. I know we are all different. I wanted other's experiences to gauge what I want to do.

I have heard from a lot of people that it messes up sleep. I just wonder why they say take it at night?

I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning. I just can't deal with not sleeping again after almost a week of only 3 hours a night. I'd rather be miserable during the day.

Thanks

What I'm reading is that you have to take it with one of the 2 endorphin peaks. A.m. or P.m. Some people are saying (on MS forums) that if they are up 15 minutes after taking it they start to have lucid dreams.

If I take it at 9 pm. and am up til about 10:30, maybe I'll be ok. Maybe I'll try that. Hmm.

I believe it is because the rush in endorphins will make you feel worse, so it is better to sleep throught this. Try it during the day if you don't mind being miserable during the day.

GG
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I did some reading and you want to take it during one of the two endorphin peaks so it works better. ( don't ask me to repeat the science) The better one is at night.

I think I'm going to suck it up and take it at 9 tonight and hope whatever happens happens early enough so that I can get to sleep. If not it only stays in you for 4 hours.

Some said they liked the hallucinations from the endorphin rush. We shall see. I just know I'd rather feel like crap if I've had some sleep then not sleep and feel even worse.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I don't feel like screwing around splitting capsules. I'll give .5 a shot. If that's too much then I'll see.

When I took 4mgs yrs ago the only problem I remember having was not sleeping.

Granted that was a long time ago but I'll know soon enough.
 
Messages
2,573
Location
US
I don't feel like screwing around splitting capsules. I'll give .5 a shot. If that's too much then I'll see.

When I took 4mgs yrs ago the only problem I remember having was not sleeping.

Granted that was a long time ago but I'll know soon enough.

It builds for more than a day :( I had trouble sleeping the first night of .375 mg but it was nothing compared to the next night.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
As we know, we all react to meds differently.

For me It takes feeling worse to start to feel better. Ive got nothing to do this week so I will try this and if its too much after a few days I'll contact my doc.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
As it turns out, not sleeping was the least of my problems. I am nauseous and I have a headache that imitrex won't even touch.

I need to find out what the filler is and try again.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
This isn't just a headache. It's 4;30 and its still hanging on even after Imitrix. The nausea is gone thankfully.

I need to find out what fillers were used because this isn't tolerable I hope that's it.