Naltrexone
ABOUT LDN
Naltrexone is a medicine sometimes used to treat people with narcotic addiction and alcoholism. In very low doses (less than 10% of a usual dose), however, naltrexone is believed to help regulate people’s immune systems, helping with several different disease processes.
HISTORY
In the 1980’s, naltrexone was developed as a medicine to help heroin addicts. The action of the medication is to block the effect of opiates and opioid medicines, to prevent people from getting high while taking heroin. A researcher by the name of Dr Bihari found that the lowest dose of naltrexone didn’t help the addiction, but did prevent his AIDS patients from getting sick. Since then, this therapy has been successfully used not only for HIV but for many other diseases / conditions.
HOW LDN WORKS
SOME CONDITIONS TREATED
(per the Low Dose Naltrexone website)
Neurodegenerative Diseases
ALS, Alzheimer’s, Autism, MS, Parkinson’s, PTSD, etc.
Autoimmune Diseases
AS, Behcet’s, Celiac, Chronic Fatigue, Crohn’s, Fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s, IBS, MG, Pemphigoid, Psoriasis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, etc.
Cancers
Bladder, Breast, Carcinoid, Colon/Rectal, Liver, Lung, Melanoma, Ovarian, Pancreatic, Prostate, etc.
Other Diseases
Common Colds (URI’s), Emphysema (COPD), HIV/AIDS, Depression (Major; and Bipolar)
Visit Low Dose Naltrexone Website
HOW TO GET IT
Because LDN is a lower dose of a standard medicine, it needs to be specially made at a compounding pharmacy. This can also mean that the cost is higher than what you’d find at a regular pharmacy. Each patient has their own particular dose that works best for them – it’s definitely not a “one size fits all.”
DOSING AND SIDE EFFECTS
LDN is usually taken at night time just before going to bed. Occasionally patients take it in the morning. Most people tolerate it very well, with the only common side effects being:
- decreased sleep for the first couple of nights (after that patients often sleep better than they’ve slept in years)
- vivid, “funky” dreams (not nightmares). These may or may not go away after a while, but are typically not bothersome to patients.