It’s been a while since I’ve talked about low dose naltrexone. I credit my MS recovery to a lot of things– there is no one protocol that made the most difference. I’ve achieved improved functioning and stopped disease progression by doing many things that work together to bring about healing. But, LDN is one of the two most effective and influential protocols I’ve used. (The other is diet changes).
Naltrexone is an FDA approved medication, it’s used primarily to help people addicted to drugs and alcohol to break the addiction. Naltrexone is what’s called an opioid blocker. In therapeutic dosages for addiction patients take 50-150 mg. At those dosages, naltrexone works by completely blocking the body’s opioid receptors, eliminating the high from alcohol and drugs.
In low doses, LDN only partially blocks receptors for a short period of time. The key here is that opioid receptors are the same receptors that the body uses to determine how much of various chemicals and hormones to release. So, with those receptors partially blocked the body naturally releases a higher level of the hormones that support good body function. LDN is called an immune system modulator because it helps the immune system regulate itself. For people with auto-immune disorders it can bring auto-immune function closer to “normal.” Low dose naltrexone has been used to successfully treat a wide variety of conditions: Cancers, depression Multiple Sclerosis. Fibro, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ALS, Autism, and many others. Take a look at the link above for a complete list.
People who take LDN take between 1 mg and 3.5 mg each day, usually before bed. Some people have had success with using a daytime dosing schedule. Personally I take my LDN each night between 10 and 11 pm. I’ve also found success using alternate day dosing, in other words I take my low dose naltrexone every other day or sometimes every third day. LDN is the only medication I have ever taken, or will ever take for re
Here is another good LDN resource: https://www.ldnscience.org/
