Hesitant to take LDN

[aynurrzepa]

Hi,

I received my LDN…and I look at it every night and cannot pluck out enough courage to take it! I am worried it is a proper drug albeit in small dose and if I will experience any adverse effects… Do I need it? Can I do without? I think the fact Naltrexone is given to alcohol and drug addict really puts me off… Although I understand how LDN works… I guess I need some encouragement from those who take LDN…

[PhilC]

Hi Aynur,

I can understand your hesitation. If I were in your shoes I would be hesitant too. Are there people taking LDN for scleroderma and getting good results?

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[redrock]

LDN is beneficial for all autoimmune diseases. I’ve been on it 3 years and my disease has not progressed one iota. I am looking for a cure, however, which is why I am on Minocin as well. LDN has virtually no side effects. There is nothing to be afraid of. The fact that it is prescribed in higher doses for drug and alcohol addiction should really be irrelevant to your decision. Numerous medications have various applications. For example, high blood pressure meds were found to help hair loss (rogaine). Viagra, used for impotency, is also used for pulmonary hypertension.

For more info go to http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org. You can also post questions on the lowdosenaltrexone yahoo group.

[carries]

Hi! I have now been on it for 3 weeks….no problems sleeping…..and no side effects. I did have side effects the first week…headache or hangover feeling in the am but that subsided after the week. i am only on 1.5mg…next month I will try 3.0mg…cant hurt to try!

[PetRescue]

I have been taking LDN for about 4 months now and I like it. I went from 1.5 to 4.5 pretty quickly as I didn’t notice any effect on the smaller dose. I have missed a couple of doses on days I forget and absolutely notice. I don’t sleep well at all. Some of the nights I do notice very vivid dreams, but I never did experience any sleeplessness. My LLMD says it works for some and not for others. It’s worth a try. I’m not sure what it’s done for my SD, but I like redrock’s claim!

~Jen

[Maz]

@aynurrzepa wrote:

Hi,

I received my LDN…and I look at it every night and cannot pluck out enough courage to take it! I am worried it is a proper drug albeit in small dose and if I will experience any adverse effects… .

Hi Aynur,

Which pharmacy compounded the LDN for you? Were they able to reassure you that the LDN was in the immediate release formulation? This makes a difference and is very important to ensure efficacy.

I was one of the odd birds who needed to increase my LDN dose in really tiny increments…literally .5mg every 2 months. So, I started out on 2mg and it took a long time to get to 4.5mg, which I am just starting. My symptoms from these small dosage increases were a little insomnia for a few days, but also waking with some jittery feelings that were neurological in nature…course, probably due to the darn Lyme. 😈

I can’t honestly say with great enthusiasm that it’s been a miracle for me…its hasn’t. However, I did take a break from it in the summer as I was having recurring migraine headaches and wondered if it was the LDN or the new Lyme protocol I was on. It turned out it wasn’t the LDN causing the headaches and was herxing from my new abx that passed in time, but I did notice a slight increase in joint pain that disappeared when I resumed the LDN, so it is helping, but certainly not in any measurable, quantitative way…possibly because I had to increase so slowly, so the difference hasn’t been dramatic. For me, it’s just been a nice supportive adjunct, I think.

[hopefulmama]

I think the LDN is worth a try. I started at 1.5mg but had a really intense reaction to it, very debilitating. My LLMD said to wait a week and try again. I did wait a week, and when I tried again, it is now at .5mg. I am not having any of the debilitating effects at this dose. I am going to stay at this dose for a week, and then try to increase to .75mg. If that is too much, I’ll go back down for a little while and then try again. The main thing is to stay open and be willing to adjust dosage so that you aren’t getting hit too hard. Everybody’s body is different and mine happens to be uber-sensitive, so a little goes a long way with me. I am sleeping better through the night on this low dose though and I’m willing to stick with it to see if it can help my Hashimotos, Raynauds and lyme. Hoping to get back up to 1.5 by the New Year 🙂 Slow and steady wins the race.

Oh, and my LLMD did say that if I tried the LDN after a week and it was still too much, that she would recommend taking a break for a full month and then trying again. She said that it turns the immune system on so it can “see” all of the spirochetes and that can overload a body, so once you bring down the bacteria/protozoa load a bit, maybe your body will be able to handle it better.

Good luck!

[Nell2]

I’ve been on LDN for a couple of years. The two side effects at the beginning were disordered sleep, and HAPPY when I woke up the next morning. When the sleep trouble resolved in a week or so, I bumped up the dose and got to 4.5 pretty quickly. Unfortunately the HAPPY effect didn’t persist, at least not noticeably like those first few days. But a few times I have had to stop it (colonoscopy, and ran out of pills once) and I definitely had a less optimistic mood as a result.

As for what it’s doing for Lyme, I don’t know.

Nell

[Author]

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