Low Dose Naltrexone Therapy

Low dose Naltrexone is the 1/10th of the routine dose of a drug called Naltrexone – so small that it needs to be compounded. It has an immunomodulatory effect that can decrease the negative inflammatory response in auto-immune diseases and help increase the immune response in chronic diseases. It does this through opioid receptors (opioid receptors on immune cells help modulate the immune system).

Opioids are known to operate as cytokines, the principal communication signalers of the immune system, creating immunomodulatory effects through opioid receptors on immune cells. A popular immune classification method is referred to as the Thl/Th2 balance: Th1 cells promote cell-mediated immunity, while Th2 cells induce humoral immunity.
Simplistically, the inability to respond adequately with a Thl response can result in chronic infections and cancer; an overactive Th2 response can contribute to allergies and various syndromes and play a role in autoimmune diseases,… which most autism spectrum children show on immune testing.

Bernard Bihari, MD, New York physician studying the immune responses in AIDs patients, discovered that a very low dose of naltrexone, approximately one-tenth the usual dosage, boosts the immune system and helps fight diseases characterized by inadequate immune function.
The temporary inhibition of brain endorphins when given a very tiny dose of naltrexone results in a reactive increase in the production of endorphins, tending to normalize the immune system with this elevation.

– Studies in human cancer patients show that LDN acts to increase natural killer cells and other healthy immune defenses
– Hundreds of multiple sclerosis patients have totally halted progression of their disease for up to 8-10 years or more with regular use of this medication.
Restoration of the body’s normal production of endorphins in those with cancer or autoimmune diseases is the major therapeutic action of LDN.

The use of LDN for children with autism spectrum disorders was previously studied in the 1990s, with researchers using from 5 to 50mg daily or every other day. In these trials, researchers were looking for opioid antagonism. Pankseppi Shattock and other researchers noted better results with low doses; studies on higher doses were more equivocal in children, and non-compliance due to the bitterness of the drug posed a problem for children who could not swallow capsules.

The full and optimum dose of Low-Dose Naltrexon (LDN) for children is 3mg, and pharmacies make it in 3 ml syrlnges at 6mg per ml, with 1/2 ml being the regular dose (3 mg), or 6 doses in each syringe.
To try to avoid the side effects of the initial immune transition and probable latent viral activation, some parents have been using half doses for a week and then increasing to 3 mg. All dosing needs to be given only once a day between 9 pm and 1-2 am.
For adults, doses are 4.5 mg and starting dose can be 3 mg.

Side effects are uncommon and mild; chronic toxicity does not exist; naltrexone is considered very safe and has never been reported as being addicting. When LDN is given between 9 p.m. and midnight, the body attempts to overcome the opioid block and the endorphins rise, to stay elevated throughout the next 18 hours.
Nonetheless, some reported side effects are:
– Insomnia and earlier awakening, usually fairly short-lived.
– Irritability, agitation, and restlessness, subsiding as soon as the drug is withdrawn.
– Hyperactivity and sleep changes
– Short-lived viral activation

This is a prescription-only drug. Because of the low dosage, Low Dose Naltrexone must be compounded at pharmacies that are familiar with this drug.

Naltrexone is an FDA approved drug used as an opiate antagonist for treating opiate drug and alcohol addiction since the 1970s, available in generic form as well as in the brand name ReVia in 50mg tablets. At regular dosing to treat addiction, usually 50mg to 150mg a day, it blocks the euphoric response to opiate drugs such as heroin or morphine as well as alcohol.