An Underrated Miracle Drug (for many)

Low dose naltrexone can legitimately be a life changing experience

Naltrexone is classically an opioid antagonist.

At its normal doses (50-100 mg) it’s used to block opioid signaling in conditions like addiction, which reduces dopamine output from drugs.

This makes it easier to get off the drugs.

However, when used at lower doses it has some amazing other actions.

When used in low doses of 1-5 mg - this opioid receptor blockade has an interesting effect on the immune system.

Essentially, by blocking the mu opioid receptor, the body responds with an upregulation of endogenous opioids - mainly endorphins.

Endorphins have anti-inflammatory properties on a number of immune cells.

Perhaps more importantly, naltrexone has an antagonistic effect on the toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) - a receptor that scavenges for bacterial endotoxin and is probably the primary receptor for initiating inflammation throughout the body.

This is HUGE since these systems can cause symptoms in essentially every tissue throughout the body.

We can see these benefits borne out in research.

There aren’t a ton of trials on it - but some like this one show remarkable results.

People with IBD given low dose naltrexone (LDN) had massive benefits:

➠ 74.5% had clinical improvement
➠ 25.5% saw remission

The drug was also able to reduce ER stress and improved cell migration processes, both important for overall gut health.

Naltrexone can be literally life changing in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Here is one woman’s experience - recovering well after barely being able to function!

Makes sense - this condition if often inflammatory in nature.

Another study here showed LDN has benefits in the inflammatory skin condition psoriasis.

In fact, scores of:

◈ Body Surface Area (BSA)
◈ Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI)

Were both reduced even more with LDN than with conventional treatment methods.

Many doctors have come forward and talked about their own experiences with LDN.

This article caught my attention - calling it a bona fide miracle drug.

She talks about using it often in her GI clinic - with improvements in things like IBS, IBD and psoriasis.

As I said the clinical trial data isn’t super robust. There’s not a ton of incentive to pour millions into trials as it’s a pretty old drug and is now generic.

But from what I can tell, it’s pretty safe overall and has the potential to be helpful in a multitude of chronic conditions.

But I’m not your doctor so this is not medical advice!