Low-dose Naltrexone is the use of Naltrexone in low doses to block endorphin receptors for a few hours, usually while sleeping. This causes a chain reaction in which the body produces extra endorphins to make up for the block.

This extra production of endorphins appears to be important in improving immune function and stimulating repair of the mucosa layer in the intestines [1].

LDN is quickly becoming popular among empowered patients for the treatment of their inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Benefits

LDN has been reported to help with:

• Increased energy
• Decrease in pain/diarrhea
• Prevention of colds and the flu
• Improved healing of the intestines confirmed via colonoscopy

Side-Effects

It has a low risk and minimal side effect profile, which tend to be vivid/nightmarish dreams or if the person takes too much, feeling emotionally down because it’s blocking too much of their endorphins, the feel good hormone.

Cost

Because it is not patented by a pharmaceutical company, very cheap compared to the other conventional drug treatments.

Delivery and Dose

LDN can be taken in liquid, powder capsule, or transdermal cream. Typical doses are between 3 to 4.5 mg, taken once just before bedtime.

How to Get It

Because it is not FDA approved for treatment of IBD, nor is it backed by a large pharmaceutical company, gastroenterologists are highly skeptical or completely unaware of LDN.

It is not uncommon for patients to have to educate their gastroenterologists before obtaining a prescription. Failing that, patients may have better luck seeing a naturopathic doctor (ND), who tend to be more open minded in treatment options.

Patient Experiences

I have tried transdermal cream and capsule powder in doses ranging from 1 – 5 mg.

I have had better luck with the transdermal cream, I felt like I didn’t get any colds, despite poor sleep, and did not experience sleep disturbances.

With the powder capsules, I am battling back a cold that won’t fully develop nor go away completely, some nights my sleep is restless. I am still experimenting however. The best health improvement has been that my acne is controlled much better now. Something I have struggled to do since a teenager. I am absolutely thrilled at this unintended benefit.

Here are a couple Facebook LDN groups where you can ask patients using LDN about their experiences with it:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/IBDLDN/

http://www.facebook.com/groups/162953643802938/

SOURCES
[1] http://live.psu.edu/story/53494

“The medical establishment today reminds me of the Catholic Church in the days of the Inquisition, rigid, all-knowing, and yet with compassion for no one. Yes, there are still good and even great individual physicians, but their hands are ligatured by politics.”

-Donna Beales

My last update was December 29th, 2011. I am long overdue in letting you all know how I am doing.

Since then, my bowel movements have been up and down, like a roller coaster. One week I’d have 1 to 3 movements of diarrhea then the next I would have solid bowel movements (BMs). I have found that eating homemade fermented yogurt, as usual is what helps me a lot.

I also experimented with Low-dose Naltrexone a little. I think it helped me enjoy all the bad food during Christmas, but eventually it was too much for the LDN to help. That’s when the roller coaster of symptoms started. Soon after the start of the symptoms, I ran out of LDN.

Then a month later I had a research study to participate in that required I eat food according to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. After I finished sending my last stool sample to the study, I got back on LDN. For the month of March I did fantastically well.

Though, on March 28th I had a couple bouts of diarrhea and then the next day I was back to normal and have been since.

I’ve been very happy with the LDN. I have not had any changes in my sleep either positive or negative that I have noticed. My skin however, is really clear, something to celebrate on its own for me as I have struggled with acne since a teen. I believe my acne and crohn’s are related to intestinal permeability.

When I had the D on the 28th, I didn’t panic at all. I had looked at my data and found that I was steadily making improvements over the long term. When I look at the long term improvements, a setback on a given day doesn’t bother me. It will have to be weeks of daily setbacks to change the direction my health is headed in before I start to worry. It’s important to see the long term trends and not the daily roller coaster ride.

Nothing like surfing the information super digi-tubes and finding… fart facts?

Click image for a higher res version.

A doctor prescribing an NSAID for an IBD patient needs to have their head examined by someone other than their own ass.

SOURCE: Wikipedia.org

IBD Talk are posts featuring the random online writings of director Reid B. Kimball as he talks to others about inflammatory bowel disease and the use of effective, alternative natural treatments for them.

Like many of you, I am eagerly awaiting when my documentary will be done. I can’t wait until I can share it with the world!

So many of you have given me much needed support in terms of time, money, and information. The real pay off will be when you get to see the finished film!

It’s taken me about two years to develop the film. A huge challenge for me has been figuring how to structure all the interviews and other footage I gathered into a story arc. Neal Miller is a local film producer and he came up with a great story arc for my documentary.

I believe that with this story arc, I have done most of the filming I need and have decided to give myself one more year of development on the film.

It is my goal to have the film finished before the end of 2012!

Here’s hoping I do just that.

Among my video game design colleagues is an Italian word we use often called “fiero”. It describes the sudden rush of happiness we feel when we triumph over adversity.

Many of us have experienced fiero while playing Tetris. You are struggling to keep the stack from building, all hope seems lost, but then suddenly you get a lucky streak of exactly the right pieces and WHAM! BAM! CA-CHING! The stack is drastically reduced and you throw your hands up in the air, yelling with excitement!

And then the stack builds up again, forcing you to hurriedly return to the game.

This whole thing that I’ve been doing since 2004 feels like a game of Tetris to me.

The IBD Healing Journey is like a game of Tetris because before you can fit that long straight block in the perfect spot for a big score, you need another shape to clear rows above.

But until you can clear the space above, the empty space down below is screaming to be taken care of. You fantasize about how much better things will be, if only you could fill in that empty space!

It’s one of many missing pieces to the puzzle to your healing journey. That’s how it feels to me.

Maybe it’s the digestion of fat. Or the tolerance of probiotics from yogurt. Or that medical marijuana for all its pain numbing properties, also makes you paranoid.

Whatever it is, the anticipation is driving you mad. Because, if you could do that one thing, digest fats, tolerate probiotics, and so on; all the other pieces could fall into place. Your health could be so much better than it is right now.

Where is that damn ‘L’ piece already!

In my case, sauerkraut has been highly recommended for me many times for its probiotics and enzymes. However, every time I tried it, my acne would flare to ridiculous, embarrassing levels and I would throw out the jar feeling defeated.

Since starting Low-dose Naltrexone (LDN), I have noticed that my acne, while not perfectly clear, is dramatically better and well controlled. The other day I decided to try sauerkraut again.

And you know what happened?

Nothing, no major acne flare!

After all these years, I realized that LDN is a major piece of the puzzle that I have needed. It fits beautifully. Huge points galore! Plus, the Sauerkraut is looking like a new piece of the puzzle that will fit in without any problems.

The IBD Journey is like a game of Tetris because each treatment is a puzzle piece that will fill in your health gaps and give you the freedom to tackle other health gaps that are deeper down the stack.

It can take years of research, and trail and error, but once that space is filled in, the anticipation that was driving you mad bursts into a feeling of fiero.

Tracking data about my GI symptoms and overall health is one of the most effective tools in improving my health. Though, half the battle is finding the time and easy to use interface to input the data I want to capture. The other half is analyzing that data to create meaningful insights and practical steps to act on.

Ari Goldsmith, a strong supporter of WANTED: Crohn’s End, developed software to allow you to track your GI symptoms using your cell phone and text messaging (SMS). He is looking for any and all feedback on how to improve his software, called GITracked. Get it? GI tract turned into tracked because you track your data!

Go ahead, test it out and let Ari know what you think of it.

I have been taking Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for a couple weeks. The LDN is showing to be of benefit, but is not a magic bullet. I was able to willingly cheat a lot over Christmas break without any serious draw backs. No diarrhea and my acne did not flare much, I think it’s the LDN.

I was super surprised and happy I was able to eat my mother’s apple pie, pizza, a few bites of a Cannoli, some sort of lemon sugar powdered pound cake-like cookie, and sugar powdered truffles. Typically, if I get diarrhea from eating poorly, it happens within 24hrs, but that didn’t happen this time.

While traveling and getting home Tues Dec. 27th I ate too many amazing Specific Carbohydrate Diet legal “Date Brownies”. I’ve had 2 days of diarrhea, Wed & Thurs (today). But I will stop eating those treats and get back to normal in a day or so.

I am no fan of conventional medicine, but I am a bigger fan of everyone having easy access to their treatment of choice. The FDA and the insurance companies that restrict or deny people their right to access treatments are on my shit list. And because I have Crohn’s, you don’t want to be on my shit list.

IBD Talk are posts featuring the random online writings of director Reid B. Kimball as he talks to others about inflammatory bowel disease and the use of effective, alternative natural treatments for them.