I have a check-up with my doc on Wednesday and I'm planning on starting this treatment. I've done s significant amount of research about this Tx but there's still a lot I have to figure out. I know that it won't interfere with any of the medications I'm already on and that's reassuring. This definitely falls under "experimental Tx" and so I"m getting used to the idea. I think I'd like to start with a small dose of about 1mg and slowly increase based on tolerance. Not sure what my doc will recommend. Apparently some ME/CFS folks have such a low tolerance for medication that they have trouble with this one too. This website says an optimal dose is 4.5mg, but a lot of the research I've done about people with CFS say that they are happier on 3mg. The only way to tell if it will work for me is by trying it. Of course I"m excited about a possibility that this might really help me to feel better, to get through my days with less fatigue and especially I'm interested in improved mental focus, reduced neurological symptoms, improved memory, reduced anxiety, etc. This is an experience that may or may not work or help. It's not up to me. But good Goddess...what if it helps!!! I'd feel SO much more confident about school...my life could change dramatically....again. :) I do plan to journal about my experience with it, and I hope that maybe this journal will someday help someone else to make a decision around trying this Tx.
How does LDN work?
> LDN boosts the immune system, activating the body's own natural defenses.
Up to the present time, the question of "What controls the immune system?" has not been present in the curricula of medical colleges and the issue has not formed a part of the received wisdom of practicing physicians. Nonetheless, a body of research over the past two decades has pointed repeatedly to one's own endorphin secretions (our internal opioids) as playing the central role in the beneficial orchestration of the immune system, and recognition of the facts is growing.
Witness these statements from a review article of medical progress in the November 13, 2003 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine: "Opioid-Induced Immune Modulation: .... Preclinical evidence indicates overwhelmingly that opioids alter the development, differentiation, and function of immune cells, and that both innate and adaptive systems are affected.1,2 Bone marrow progenitor cells, macrophages, natural killer cells, immature thymocytes and T cells, and B cells are all involved. The relatively recent identification of opioid-related receptors on immune cells makes it even more likely that opioids have direct effects on the immune system.3"
The brief blockade of opioid receptors between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. that is caused by taking LDN at bedtime each night is believed to produce a prolonged up-regulation of vital elements of the immune system by causing an increase in endorphin and enkephalin production. Normal volunteers who have taken LDN in this fashion have been found to have much higher levels of beta-endorphins circulating in their blood in the following days. Animal research by I. Zagon, PhD, and his colleagues has shown a marked increase in metenkephalin levels as well. [Note: Additional information for Dr. Zagon can be found at the end of this page.]
Bihari says that his patients with HIV/AIDS who regularly took LDN before the availability of HAART were generally spared any deterioration of their important helper T cells (CD4+).
In human cancer, research by Zagon over many years has demonstrated inhibition of a number of different human tumors in laboratory studies by using endorphins and low dose naltrexone. It is suggested that the increased endorphin and enkephalin levels, induced by LDN, work directly on the tumors' opioid receptors — and, perhaps, induce cancer cell death (apoptosis). In addition, it is believed that they act to increase natural killer cells and other healthy immune defenses against cancer.
In general, in people with diseases that are partially or largely triggered by a deficiency of endorphins (including cancer and autoimmune diseases), or are accelerated by a deficiency of endorphins (such as HIV/AIDS), restoration of the body's normal production of endorphins is the major therapeutic action of LDN.
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