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Low dose naltrexone — anyone tried it?

tiredofit
My pain management doctor just brought up LDN (low dose naltrexone) as something to try for my fibro. I've never heard of it before and when I googled it I got a weird mix of "this is a miracle drug" and "there's no evidence it works" which is not super helpful. Has anyone here actually tried it? How long did it take to notice anything? Side effects? My doctor said it's well tolerated but I've been burned before by that phrase lol. I'm currently on gabapentin and duloxetine and still struggling so I'm open to adding something but I want to hear from real people not just studies and reddit posts from 5 years ago.

5 Replies

christineM

I've been on LDN for about 8 months now. It took about 6-8 weeks to notice anything and at first I thought it wasn't working. But looking back at my pain journal, my average pain level went from about a 6 to a 4, which doesn't sound like a lot but it's actually a huge quality of life improvement. Side effects for me: very vivid dreams for the first 2-3 weeks (wild ones, not nightmares) and some mild nausea. Both went away. Now I don't notice any side effects at all. It's not a miracle drug but it's one of the better things I've added to my regimen.

oldguitarplayer

I tried it for about 4 months. Didn't notice a huge difference in pain but my sleep improved significantly which indirectly helped everything else. I'm still on it for that reason alone. The vivid dreams thing is real. First week I had a dream I was playing guitar with Hendrix. Would almost take LDN just for the dreams honestly lol.

samj_92

been on it about a year. for me it helped with the fatigue more than the pain. like my energy levels definitely improved. pain is about the same but having more energy means I cope with the pain better if that makes sense? my doc started me at 1.5mg and titrated up to 4.5mg over about a month. the slow start is key — dont let them put you on full dose immediately

kate_b

I just started LDN 3 weeks ago so I can't report on effectiveness yet but so far the only side effect is the crazy dreams. Last night I dreamed I was a contestant on a cooking show but all the ingredients were medications. Very on brand. I'll report back in a couple months on whether it's helping the RA.

ellie_v

tried it. didnt work for me. but i know people it works really well for so dont let my experience discourage you. everyone responds differently and its worth trying since the side effect profile is so mild compared to most of the stuff they throw at us

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