LDN - Low Dose naltrexone

Hi,

Just started LDN two nights ago.

Doc has prescribed 3x 1.5mg tablets, but since I tend to be "Miss Sensitive" and get reactions from just looking at the medications, let alone taking them, I started with 1x.

Night one - slept decently, dreamed a lot, which was rather tiring, sort of like watching movies all night.

I woke up often, but fall asleep again. The rib vibrations that I have not had for a while returned, but fell asleep from those too.

Night two - could not fall asleep (know this can be a known side effect, but still awful to lie there awake for hours on end). Slept horribly. Rib vibrations, faster heart-rate.

Woke up feeling shakey and anxious and uncomfortable and had diarrhoea.

I mean, if this is just 1x tablet out of the 3x I should be building up to, and this was just two nights, then how bad is it going to get?

I'm already feeling anxious and nervous, like I am about to jump out of my hide. Frustrated that I was feeling fine on fluconazole only and now the balance is being rocked.

I feel like such a wimp, which makes it all worse of course.

Scandic,

I was wonderiing if you knew exactly what the flucozanole (diflucan) was treatment for?

fungus? did you test for a fungus that diflucan specifically works for?

or is this a lyme treatment?

The low dose naltrexone if you read about it is for helping jump up your immune system and has been known to help a lot of people.

Naltrexone also I believe is an opiate blocker and does some type trick to your brain in the pain receptor area. I'm not giving the correct medical terminology on this.

There is naloxone and then there is naltrexone. I'm not sure the exact difference.

But it sounds like a brain chemistry has been ticked off here.

and maybe if you were going to do naltrexone to bump up your immune system wait untill you have gotten rid of the fungal infection.

I have heard of a few people that the LOW DOSE NALTREXONE helped exactly and they got their energy back but this was more after having completed a lot of abx therapy or other treatments.

google around about brain effect of naltrexone..not just LOW DOSE . maybe for you even low dose is too much.
or maybe it is the combo.

I really doubt if any company ever checked specifically if LDN and diflucan is a bad combo. It really is not that old of a treatment. but if you google the combo you may find another person this happened to.

Don't worry about the desperate posts, Scandic! LOL! You should have seen my first two years here!! LOL!! Even I was about to give up on me and my desperation! That's why we are here though - to help out when we can, to help ease fears and get each other through the scary parts!

I know exactly what you mean about the choice to go with abx because of the cost of going natural! I did the same thing - only I had disastrous results - so I had to go with the natural. I hope that you aren't faced with a situation like that.

Please be sure to let us know what the doc has to say on Friday! And may you find something to ease things.

@Bucci - our posts 'crossed" each other, I didn't see it till now.

The Diflucan is for systemic candida. I was on abx, and kept having odd heart issues, rapid heart, culminating in screaming nightmares and non-stop rib vibrations.

I made an offhand remark to my LLMD that when I'd been at my house doctor for bloods to check my liver (LLMD is far away, so house doc helps out with some of the 'regular' stuff), I had shown her my tongue as I suspected yeast on it.

He then switched me to Diflucan 2x 200mg/day, without testing first. But, having said that, after 2 days on the Diflucan, my heart rate calmed right down. It had never been under 90, often going up to 120 for no reason, and suddenly I was at 75, 68 even, so it was clearly doing something.

He also said he chose Diflucan as it has some effect for Lyme too, so whilst he wanted to treat the systemic candida and "clear the field", I was not to worry about being left "exposed" to the Lyme.

After 12 days at that dose, I had a horrible 5 day herx with more scary heart stuff, this time skipped beats for hours on end, and my ribs would vibrate for hours on end too, it was like a sleep deprivation program for the Navy Seals at night, it would literally wake me up every 10-20 minutes.

So now it's 1x Diflucan/day, and he introduced the LDN to try to help the rib vibrations, as the lack of sleep was destroying me. To be honest, my energy levels are generally decent, I'm lucky on that front, it's not been a huge issue. He did mention boosting the immune system.

On the Diflucan alone, I've been feeling fine, calm heart, very little rib vibrating, sleeping decently. The Lyme symptoms - pain in left hand, right knee, etc... all gone.

Introduced the LDN and the rib vibrating appears on the first night, and the second night I think the LDN kept me up all night, and this was starting at a low dose, planning to build. I've also herxed today - coincidence, or did the LDN trigger it.

As I am waiting to see my gyno on Friday to deal with a "girl issue", I think I will leave the LDN aside for now, there's already too much going on. Odds are, I may have to come off the diflucan for a week while I take other meds which I suspect the gyno will prescribe. (will cross-check with LLMD though).

@+Lyme, thanks for sharing your experiences with LDN. Did you have difficulties when you started with it? Affect your sleep? Dreams? From what I have been reading online, I gather it makes a big difference for 50% of the folks trying it, but not the other 50%...

If you do some research on LDN, you will see where "most" start out at .05MG and work their way up from there.

LDN has been wonderful for me pain wise, as well as for my thyroid...All my thyroid antibodies have come down, and I will be anxious to see what my new BW shows end of this month. I had not be able to tolerate any type of Thyroid meds for the past 3 years, so this has been GREAT for me!

LDN can effect your sleep.  It takes about 1 month for most to get used to the LDN and their sleep patterns return.  I now sleep well. 

Also, MS patients are normally the only ones Rx'd LDN for more than 1X a day.  Lyme patients should take their LDN between 9-10PM at night.  Those that continue to have sleep issues can take it in the AM, but works best at night.

Are you having your LDN compounded, or are you turning it into low dose yourself?

Yes i also heard that naltrexone helps people addicted to opiates at some course of treatment it helps get the brain chemistry back to normal so if you were NOT addicted to pain meds i could see how it could help brain chemistry for pain also.

I still think a $$$ stool test would be very helpful this far down the line in treatment. I really believe too many people are not specifically treating the parasites and the ticks carry parasites. Why this is not addressed immediately with lyme patients by every doctor is a mystery to me.
I think it may even be part of what we think is herxing. I think some treatments set off the parasites but are not killing them off completely and it is making major reactions and that includes the insomnia and the heart.

Hang in there Scandic, once you have some of these other issues resolved, you might be able to add in these things a little later. If not, it's possible once you've gotten some time in treatment, you might be able to add them in at that time.