Low Dose Naltrexone for chronic diseases

[casstony]

I want to point this drug out for those battling chronic illnesses related to a dysfunctional or sub-par immune system. It apparently works by temporarily blocking opioid receptors causing increased production of endorphins which then go on to have systemic effects.

http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/

I don't yet have a personal recommendation for LDN but there is compelling evidence of it's usefulness in a variety of diseases. Read about your particular illness and decide if it's worth a go.

From experience my personal bias regarding non-mainstream treatments is that most are useless but I have found the odd gem.

All the best,
Tony

[wasyoungonce]

Hi Tony.

One of my older Brothers was on this for Crohn's disease treatment.

I think it helped him somewhat but I believe he is a new trial drugs...He doesn't really talk about this much unless pressed.

I believe the Naltrexone worked somewhat but he couldn't be on it forever. Not sure the reasons.

[Lee]

You know what they call something that it claimed to fix/remedy near anything - snake oil.... or male cattle droppings.....

[casstony]

I see you are a medical practitioner Lee. Could you please expand on your statement above? Do you have any experience using low dose naltrexone for treating a particular disease? Have you independently checked any of the information provided at http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/

[casstony]

I can understand not wanting to talk about the Crohn's - having to talk about personal medical problems becomes tiresome. However it would be interesting to know the reason for stopping LDN use when it had previously provided benefit.

Just to be clear, high dose and low dose naltrexone are entirely different treatments for different conditions.

[casstony]

After 3 months of using LDN I can report that it has provided a definite but moderate reduction in my viral-induced joint pain, allowing me to halve my consumption of a potentially dangerous substance which also provides benefit - the point being that this is not just another ineffective alternative treatment.

I would caution that the owners of the yahoo group associated with the link above censor negative posts regarding LDN, giving the false impression that this treatment is free of adverse effects, the main ones in my case being increased blood pressure and sleep disruption. These effects faded after several weeks.

[star1961]

this has been used for treating heroin addicts with deaths reported. it is an untrialed drug being used in western australia. i'd be wary of anything that is untrialed.

[casstony]

I suspect you are referring to the 50mg dose used for drug withdrawal, which is 10 to 20 times higher than the dose I'm referring to. Most if not every medicine we consume becomes toxic at a certain dose, and toxicity levels vary for different individuals. Every treatment is a risk/benefit equation.

I've spent 7 years looking for treatments for my chronic condition for which modern medicine can do very little. Of a hundred things I've tried I found 3 that provided benefit; of those 3 one appears to have a wide range of potential applications; I've reported that here hoping the information may be of use to people with certain chronic health problems. Since a prescription is necessary even to get low doses of naltrexone there are no legal or ethical problems with my post.

On one hand people with serious chronic conditions have to put up with well wishers or charlatans offering useless advice, and on the other hand we have to tolerate condescension from (some) doctors who think they know it all - it is a tiresome and frustrating journey.

[Margaret87]

I've used LDN since April. At first it was for rheumatoid arthritis and I'm thrilled with my improvement. Apart from deformation in the fingers that LDN can't put right, you wouldn't know I have the disease any more. My vision also improved - it had deteriorated badly (macular degeneration) at the same time as the RA symptoms started last autumn. I reckon it's about 90% back to what it was before.

Just before starting LDN I began to have intestinal problems and during the summer they found a carcinoid tumour in the small intestine - as yet benign. The only medecine I'm taking is LDN, but the original problems have gone - I'm waiting for the results of 2 octreoscans I had last week.

The common denominator is the immune system - LDN (in most people) gets the immune system back into working order. LDN does not deal with any particular disease, that's the job of the immune system.

I take 3 mg a night - 50mg tablets dissolved in 50 ml water and I syphon my 3 mg. I was lucky, my gp gave me a prescription and I just got the box of Naltrexone from the chemist.

Just this week the Scottish Petitions Committee met and discussed LDN and a petition with over 13,000 signatures was handed in to N° 10 Downing Street - both petitions asking for trials to be funded that would give gps confidence to prescribe LDN.

The best place to find links and information is at:
http://www.ldnnow.co.uk/

By the way, I'm a co-moderator on the Yahoo rheumatoid arthritis-lowdosenaltrexone group. We encourage our members to discuss their experiences whether they're good or not. LDN is so good and safe there's no need for any censorship. All the same we find it very useful and reassuring to discuss things with other users.