Low dose Naltrexone

[minkeygirl]

I was never able to take it at night. After 8 months I didn't see any benefit so I stopped

 

[bsw]

I got my hands on some naltrexone but i'm unsure about how to get the microdoses right. The 50mg tablet are tiny as is, trying to cut them into 10ths or 12ths seems almost impossible. What is a good way of breaking it down into powder, how should I store it once I have reduced and what should I use to measure it out?

Thanks

 

[SOC]

I got my hands on some naltrexone but i'm unsure about how to get the microdoses right. The 50mg tablet are tiny as is, trying to cut them into 10ths or 12ths seems almost impossible. What is a good way of breaking it down into powder, how should I store it once I have reduced and what should I use to measure it out?

Thanks

Dissolve the tablet in a known amount distilled water and keep that in refrigerator. You can then take a small amount of the liquid which contains the dose you want.

For example, dissolve a 50mg tablet in 50ml of water. Each ml of water will contain 1mg of naltrexone. If you want to take 4mg of naltrexone, take 4ml of the liquid. This makes it easy to adjust the dose if you are trying to increase or decrease.

Be aware that many PWME need to start at very low doses -- 0.5 mg or less, to avoid difficult symptoms. They increase a small amount every week. Some people have reported taking months to get up to the desired dose.

I found the naltrexone in water to taste very nasty. Once I got up to full dose, I had a compounding pharmacy make it up into pills of the right dose.

 

[ahmo]

I dilute mine as above. I then filter the liquid through cloth into another container. The results have very little bitterness.

 

[Sushi]

I dilute mine as above. I then filter the liquid through cloth into another container. The results have very little bitterness.

I do the same re: dilution, but don't actually mind the bitter taste so I haven't tried filtering it. It is just so much less expensive to use the 50 mg generic tablet which is covered by most insurance (in the US anyway).

 

[outdamnspot]

Someone a little earlier in the thread said that LDN was bad for people who have 'adrenal fatigue'. I suspect my cortisol is low -- and that I might also be hypothyroid (subclinically, at least). My endo didn't want to prescribe thyroid treatment yet, but gave me LDN to try and improve my energy.

I'm a little nervous since my system seems to be quite fragile and I crash very easily. I'm going to start 1.5mg tomorrow night, but am not very hopeful.

Did anyone here with 'adrenal fatigue' do okay on LDN?

 

[panckage]

What ON/OFF dosing schedule do you good ladies and gents use?

For me LDN works good for about a month (taken daily) before it loses its effects. If I stop taking taking it for 2 weeks then the full effect comes back. So that's my current approximate dosing schedule - 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off. What are your schedules?

 

[helen1]

I' ve taken it almost every night for a year. The nights I forget to take it, I sleep a lot worse.

 

[MEPatient345]

@panckage I seem to have similar benefit from stopping and starting. I've been gradually trying to increase dosage over 4 months but am still only at .75mg. I just took 2 weeks off because I was seeing no benefit and when I restarted, got a nice bump in energy and mood. My first few months, the initial days after starting would be good but it would then go bad, making me foggier, sad and more exhausted. I also tried alternate day dosing but again wasn't seeing benefit. But now after 5 days restarting after a 2 week break, all days have been better. So, maybe that's the trick to increasing dosage for me too.

How much are you up to, how long for, and what sort of benefits are you seeing?

 

[panckage]

@ellesbelles I went up to 7.5mg a day but that was too much and just made me worse. I think the effective range for me is somewhere around 2-4.5mg. The amount needed goes up over time. It really helped my brain fog the first couple times I used it, so much so that I was able to have hobbies again .

This third time I've tried it I'm not sure it helped the brain fog but my mood has been really good... I don't know it's hard to find drugs that work consistently for cfs for me!

 

[AlmostEasy]

What ON/OFF dosing schedule do you good ladies and gents use?

For me LDN works good for about a month (taken daily) before it loses its effects. If I stop taking taking it for 2 weeks then the full effect comes back. So that's my current approximate dosing schedule - 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off. What are your schedules?

Interesting, LDN was good for me for about 3 weeks in terms of reducing brain fog (probably neuro inflammation / microglial inhibition). It slowly faded to me not noticing it at all.

What did remain though is that it completely cured my impotency problem which had been becoming progressively worse and would absolutely clinically be considered E.D.. I do wish both would have stayed!

Maybe I'll try taking some time off. It was a real blessing when it first started working.

Just for documentations sake, I did experience some rather intense depression for a few days when I first started. This went away over time. It doesn't seem to help with sleep and I haven't noticed any increase in energy or a boost in mood.

 

[panckage]

What did remain though is that it completely cured my impotency problem

Yes this was amazing I was horny like a teenager again haha. Actually the loss of this effect is what made me realize it stopped working for brain fog too. My brain fog makes my brain so unreliable I can't notice these changes but the loss of the secondary effect made me realize there was a real change!

 

[WildAtHeart]

Hello everyone, this is my first post to the forum, as I am just about to start down the LDN path. First hurdle is to get hold of it, but hopefully it won't be too difficult.
I have been working for about a year with Marek Doyle of Blueprint Fitness here in the UK on adrenal fatigue, and neurological problems, trying to up regulate my methylation cycle, which is how i first came across the forum. I have stalled several times in the process, but am curious and hopeful about the LDN, and will post my findings.

Thanks for all comments and the forum.

 

[temple88]

For what it's worth, I felt a little better on LDN for one day, then experienced a huge exacerbation of symptoms. Full on crash. So I tried different doses, skipping days, taking it at different times, etc and each time I had the same experience. This exact same thing also happened when I tried taking pine bark extract (pycnogenol).

On to the next trial therapy!

 

[WildAtHeart]

Hi temple88, thanks for posting, that sounds awful. Was LDN recommended to you by a professional, or self directed? Were you hoping to address any particular symptoms or just for general support.

Also, what dose did you start off with? My therapist is recommending 2g as a minimum, as he says that below that I will likely get the Herxheimer type symptoms but no endorphin increase to offset these.

 

[Snowdrop]

@WildAtHeart

You might want to show your Dr this: http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/index.htm#What_dosage_and_frequency

This is where (I think) the idea got started and has spread from there. There are a lot of pages for you to look over here.

 

[WildAtHeart]

Hi Snowdrop, I sent all sorts of information through to my GP, but she wasn't convinced. I am in two minds myself, as so many people in this thread seem to have struggled with implementing the LDN, maybe those who have not had problems have just not felt the need to get on to the forum, because they have felt so well as a result of taking it!

Have you taken it?

 

[Snowdrop]

@WildAtHeart

Sorry I'm having big cognitive issues. I meant that you should maybe show your therapist that you mentioned who suggested 2g unless that's a typo. The LDN site suggests starting at 1.5 to 4.5 mg and many here at PR have started at much smaller doses.

Some have done well on it others not. No one has responded so well that they are now without symptom to my knowledge. It's hard to judge from this one thread as there are several LDN threads here.
Good luck

 

[WildAtHeart]

Snowdrop, you are right, my mistake, it was 2 mg he recommended not 2g.

 

[temple88]

@WildAtHeart The MD brought it up as he takes it himself and I was given the full 4.5mg dose to start with but I was too chicken to start there! I initially started at 3mg, then went down to 1.5, then 0.5, then even 0.1 (diluting in liquid). I was crawling toward the end of it all and so, so much worse. Luckily, it only took a couple of days for the effects to wear off. I work full time so I don't have much leeway for treatments that make me worse.

I don't have FM so I was hoping to help some of the ME/CFS symptoms. Namely- fatigue, brain fog, and exercise intolerance.