Low dose Naltrexone

[ChrisD]

I've just started LDN at 1.5mg at around lunch time ten days ago; the first few days were fine - I maybe felt a bit better in the afternoons/evenings. Then the third day I had a severe ''adrenaline attack'' and could not get to sleep, constant jerking response from my limbs when dropping off. So I dropped down to 1 but had a couple of days of headaches and feeling really drowsy and out of it, then I dropped down to 0.5mg (and started taking first thing in the morning) and had a good few days run of feeling 'normal' but yesterday evening I just had another one of these adrenaline nights that I used to experience a year ago often as part of PEM. Has anyone else had this?

I read so much mixed info on LDN and how you should persevere through negative side effects but its quite disconcerting to experience something I thought I had overcome. Also I have bad hayfever at the moment and may have taken antihistamines around those adrenaline days - contraindication?

 

[ahmo]

When I started LDN, I was using capsules. I started w/ a match-stick amount of powder. Even at these levels I felt unwell, and needed to follow up w/ coffee enemas. I slowly worked my way up, eventually my body tolerated it. My symptoms were more about irritability, can't remember what else. I've been at 4.5 mg for a year or 2. I consider it a key aid to reducing inflammation. good luck.

 

[Ejw18]

My Stanford CFS doctor has encouraged me to try LDN but I am scared. I am already on Welbutrin and Cymbalta and very hesitant to add another drug.
* Has anyone been on antidepressants and then added LDN? What was that like?
* Has anyone that was on LDN then gone off of it to try to get pregnant?
Even though I have CFS (and maybe Lyme, depending on which doctor you ask), I am 30 and still have hopes of having a baby someday within the next few years. But I am afraid of what going on and off LDN will do to my body, especially with the lack of longitudinal research around it.

 

[Sushi]

@Ejw18 LDN is in a totally different class than SSRIs. It simply blocks opiod receptors for a few hours and the dose you would take is miniscule compared to the normally prescribed dose of 50 mg. Naltrexone is an old drug--you should be able to find quite a lot of research on it.

 

[EtherSpin]

My Stanford CFS doctor has encouraged me to try LDN but I am scared. I am already on Welbutrin and Cymbalta and very hesitant to add another drug.
* Has anyone been on antidepressants and then added LDN? What was that like?
* Has anyone that was on LDN then gone off of it to try to get pregnant?
Even though I have CFS (and maybe Lyme, depending on which doctor you ask), I am 30 and still have hopes of having a baby someday within the next few years. But I am afraid of what going on and off LDN will do to my body, especially with the lack of longitudinal research around it.

yeah I know of maybe 5-6 people on LDN who had been on mood/depression/anxiety drugs prior and remain so now and I don't think there was ever talk of a major problem, just whether they tolerated starting at 4.5mg or started smaller (some people have trouble, I didnt for whatever reason) - no issues coupled to pre-existing drugs that any of my friends have been on.

I think LDN clears and you revert to a fairly normal state within days of being off it

 

[knackers323]

I've been taking .5mg of LDN. I feel much better after about 3-4 hours.
Shouldn't this be when the period when I should feel worse if anything?

I've also found that I can only take this small dose about once per week or it's too much

Anyone else have similar effects or know why one would feel better when the opiod receptors would be blocked?

Would this have anything to do with why myself and others also get good results from buprenorohrine?

 

[Sherpa]

I have been symptom-free and fully active for months at a time but under periods of travel and heavy stress my neuroinflammation would occasionally come back and become noticeable. I would get brain fog. In addition - while I was functional -- I wasn't that much "fun" and sparkly like a naturally happy person with a zest for life and adventure. I was hoping LDN could help just a little.

I started on 0.5mg of naltrexone a week ago but at the low doses I got a herx / immune reaction but not that much positive benefit.

I felt increased inflammation and brain fog for periods in the same day, followed by moments of clarity and upliftment,

I quickly bumped it up to 1.5, 1.75mg on subseequent nights and last night I took 2mg at 9pm.

All along I've had nightly sleep disturbances, waking up at 2:30 to 3:30am... sometimes falling back to sleep around 4 or 5.

I didn't feel much when I woke up at 3:30 this morning but around sunrise today I started to feel wonderful. Full of good moods and more cheerful and pleasant than Ive been in a while.

I just went jogging for 2 miles and the endorphin afterglow I got was huge... it totally transformed my mood, when it would typically just make me feel mellow.

I think it's starting to work better and am praying it will continue to.

I have been through a lot of suffering the past 7 years and could definitely appreciate some comfort, uplift and ease... and would be a blessing if I could reduce the supplements I've been taking (Longvida curcumin, CBD, andrographis, Niagen, resveratrol, NAC, glycine & thyrotrophin PMG)

 

[Victronix]

I found the exact same thing. Skipping days didn't seem to help me though. 2 weeks on 2 weeks off seemed to work best for me...bit only for a few months. Now when I take LDN I'm not sure I experience anything positive form it anymore

Just wanted to comment that this happens to me on many things - B-12, methylfolate, T3 . . . the first week or two is euphoria, and then it normalizes and I only really notice feelings if I skip a dose by accident, not when I take them. I attribute it, somewhat, to genes.

 

[*GG*]

Anybody have the LDN flyer handy? It was black and white and only 2 pages, think it makes a Pamphlet?

GG

 

[panckage]

Just wanted to comment that this happens to me on many things - B-12, methylfolate, T3 . . . the first week or two is euphoria, and then it normalizes and I only really notice feelings if I skip a dose by accident, not when I take them. I attribute it, somewhat, to genes.

You replied to an old post! Now every time I take LDN (even at 2.5mg dosages) I get depressed and my cognition and other symptoms get worse

 

[CFSTheBear]

I recently had to stop taking low dose naltrexone, unfortunately. After a few days of better mood and mildly better energy it started causing severe nerve pain and intense physical and mental fatigue. I kept taking it in the hope it’d clear but unfortunately after 2.5 weeks had to give up. This was one 0.5mg dose, starting at 0.25mg

 

[Gondwanaland]

I find that LDN gretly increases my need for magnesium due to muscle stiffness and constipation. Sometimes I also have to take B2 and P5P due to itchy eyes and insomnia.

 

[poetessinmotion]

Hi everyone,

I started LDN at 0.25 2 weeks and a half ago and last Monday I raised it to 0.50.

On 0.25 only it has pushed a candida flare already and my sleep just seems to get worse (I used to sleep 7-9 hours per night in a row with no issues mostly --a big gain) and now I'm sleeping 6 and constantly waking up during the night. My dizziness is also becoming worse, I guess because of insomnia. Dreams are more vivid which is not a problem, but sleep deprivation is a bad thing. I'm not able to leave the house much when before LDN I was already going out 4-5 times per week.

I might switch to a morning dose and see what happens. I've noticed some inmune activation (a slight rise in body temp) but at the moment the side effects seem worse than the benefits.

This has possibly been answered but, can LDN be taken with clear autoimmunity?

 

[Bassaur]

Question for people on LDN... I just started taking it, and will be ramping up from 1.5mg to 3mg, then to 4.5 if I tolerate it. 30 days at each level until I get to 4.5.

My biggest concern at the moment is that due to a series of infections, I haven’t been able to really work full time in 6 months, due primarily to declining cognitive function. Secondary symptoms interfering with my ability to do sedentary work from home are whole body muscle pain and fatigue. I’m now on a 90 day 50% short term disability, working 20 hours per week. Looking for hope that this medication will help me get back to full time and feel better.

Do you more experienced LDN people have any words of encouragement or caution?

 

[wookielove]

@Bassaur start with extremely low doses to see if you tolerate it. I got strong nerve pain in some very sensitive areas which prevented sitting, and it didn't go away until I had it out of my system for a few days. I'm sensitive to everything, so my standard thought is to start slow and test. Cognitive function was not impaired at small doses for me.

 

[Dechi]

@Bassaur start with extremely low doses to see if you tolerate it. I got strong nerve pain in some very sensitive areas which prevented sitting, and it didn't go away until I had it out of my system for a few days. I'm sensitive to everything, so my standard thought is to start slow and test. Cognitive function was not impaired at small doses for me.

@wookielove I just started myself too. At what dose did you get nerve pain and did it go away once ypu tapered down and went back up ?

 

[Sherpa]

Question for people on LDN... I just started taking it, and will be ramping up from 1.5mg to 3mg, then to 4.5 if I tolerate it. 30 days at each level until I get to 4.5.

Do you more experienced LDN people have any words of encouragement or caution?

@Bassaur

I started LDN at extremely small doses and had bad effects. I started again at 1.5mg and got positive effects. I am currently at 2mg and tried bumping it up to 3mg and I got bad effects again (brain fog, neuroinflammation).

At 2mg my brain fog is gone and I am working full time at a high functioning, high paying job for the first time since I fell ill in 2011. I am feeling fine and don’t need to increase. I would say my neuroinflammation has been reduced at least 80-90%. LDN was basically the last big piece of the puzzle I needed to solve for wellness. On LDN I was able to quit taking a large daily stack of supplements and I can get by on Life Extension Mix (multivitamin), fish oil and a little bit of Niagen.

I say start with the classic dose (1.5mg) and increase it very slowly if necessary and don’t increase it if not. Too little can stir up your immune system without any endorphin boost to level it out. That’s why I think MicroLowDose naltrexone has a lot of negative reports.

With LDN it’s not the effect of the drug that you feel, it’s your immune systems reaction to it.

A lot of times less is more.

Take “just enough” within the recommended range of 1.5 - 4.5mg for the best effect.

Good luck!

 

[juniemarie]

@Bassaur another part of this may be genetics. I know when I had my DNA tested for all sorts of drugs Naltrexone was on the list and it said I would react positively to it. I had already been on it for 3 yrs at that point and it was by far the most helpful thing I had ever tried....it made a profound difference. But if the genetic aspect is true it would be difficult to know what the outcome would be for an individual

 

[NickMDal]

I started LDN 3 months ago (8 months after ME onset) and have had a huge recovery. My ME was caused by mental and physical overexertion. I wasn't bedridden, but was in bed 16 hours/day and felt sick 24/7.

Within a few days on 3mg, I felt the urge to get outside and be active. It improved from there. On the switch to 4.5mg, I experience a tremendous improvement. At the worst, I believe I had 20% of my normal function. Now I am at 75%.

I do still experience post-exertional malaise, but it is much more tolerable and short lived. Using an elliptical trainer still causes a bit of a crash. On the positive, I can now ride the mountain bike for nearly an hour. The aerobic boost from returning to this activity outweighs the malaise. I think that it is easier to tolerate because high heart rate is not sustained. It is also an enormous mental boost.

Still not drinking any alcohol (my usual 1 drink/day). Also I am very cautious about sleep and heat. Missing sleep and overheating remain my mortal enemies. When outside, a waterbottle with a built in spray mister is a godsend. I take generic lunesta and a bunch of supplements. Testosterone gel is tremendously helpful, especially with the quality of sleep.

 

[BadBadBear]

I'm at about 5 weeks into LDN. I started with a lower dose at 0.5 mg and have slowly moved to 1.5 mg. So far, the only thing I notice is how much more tired I am in the morning, and my daytime fatigue is increased. Also seems to be making me feel emotionally flat. I am really not sure at this point whether to soldier on or discontinue it.

No idea how much its helping the muscle soreness, etc. because I'm sleeping so much and not motivated to do anything.

Rats.