Alternative Treatments for Autoimmune Diseases: LDN Therapy

Autoimmune diseases result from an immunodeficiency where our body’s immune system is not able to distinguish “self” from “non-self”. Lower doses of Naltrexone only partially block your body’s opioid receptors during the time when your endorphin levels are typically the highest (3am to 4am). Your body sees this as a signal that your endorphin levels are low, so it increases production of your endorphins, increasing your overall levels. Higher levels of endorphins improve your body’s immune system response. LDN has been found to improve numerous autoimmune diseases, neurological diseases and even some cancers. 

At Blades Wellness and Aesthetics, we are seeing a huge number of our patients with autoimmune diseases find improvement in their signs and symptoms of disease with Low Dose Naltrexone. According to lowdosenaltrexone.org, studies show that LDN has been found to improve numerous health issues including:

LDN Treatments help: 

  • Crohn’s Disease
  • Ulcerative Colitis
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • Celiac Disease
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • Chronic Pain
  • Migraine Headaches
  • Multiple types of Cancer
  • Mold Toxicity
  • Sleep Disorders
  • GastroIntestinal Disorders:
    • IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
    • SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)
    • Eosinophilic Esophagitis
    • Gluten Sensitivity
    • Gastroparesis
  • Chronic Infections:
    • EBV (Epstein Barr Virus)
    • Varicella Zoster (Shingles)
    • Herpes Simplex
    • HIV/AIDS
    • Lyme Disease
    • Long COVID
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Sarcoidoisis
  • Scleroderma
  • Wegeners Granulomatosis
  • Autism
  • Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Neuropathy
  • Multiple psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Mass Cell Activation Syndrome
  • Woman's Health Issues
    • Endometriosis
    • Infertility
    • PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome) symptoms
    • Dysmenorrhea (Painful Menstrual Cycles)
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 Naltrexone Therapy FAQs

What is Naltrexone?

Naltrexone is a medication that was FDA approved in the 1980s for the purpose of treating patients addicted to alcohol and opioid medications including prescription medications such as Dilaudid, hydrocodone, codeine, and Percocet.  Naltrexone blocks the effects that alcohol and opiate medications have on the receptors in your brain and other body tissues, including virtually every cell of the body’s immune system. These receptors are meant to respond to your body’s natural endorphins which are your “feel good” chemicals. When activated, these receptors block pain, slow breathing, and produce a calming, anti-depressing effect. Because naltrexone blocks the endorphins stimulated by alcohol and opioid medication use from binding to the receptor sites, it prevents patients from experiencing the “high” associated with these substances.  In doing so, naltrexone can prevent the patient from relapsing while they are being treated for addiction issues. Naltrexone is prescribed in doses of 50mg to 100mg per dose for alcohol or opioid addiction. 

In 1985, a New York City physician, Dr. Bernard Bihari, began studying the effects of a much smaller dose of naltrexone on the body’s immune system. By administering a dose ranging from 0.5mg up to 4.5mg (low dose naltrexone or LDN) once a day at bedtime, he was able to enhance a patient’s response to the infection caused by the HIV virus. Dr. Bihari later discovered that patients in his practice with multiple types of cancer and autoimmune diseases (lupus, Chrohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, etc.) often showed significant improvements in their disease while taking LDN. 

Blades Wellness and Aesthetics will work with you to help you find your optimal treatment level. LDN is usually taken before bedtime (around 9pm) so that its peak effect will take place when your endorphins are at their highest level (around 3am-4am). We typically start patients on a 0.5mg dose and slowly increase the dose every 2 weeks to reach a therapeutic dose of LDN, which is typically between 1.5mg-4.5mg daily at bedtime. 

Low dose naltrexone is only FDA approved to treat alcohol and opiate addiction at this time: therefore, it is not available for purchase at commercial pharmacies. Blades Wellness and Aesthetics uses several compounding pharmacies in the area that are familiar with compounding low dose naltrexone.

Lower doses of naltrexone only partially block your body’s opioid receptors during the time when your endorphin levels are typically the highest (3am to 4am). Your body interprets this as a signal that your endorphin levels are low and increases production of your endorphins and your overall levels. Higher levels of endorphins improve your body’s immune system response, reduce pain/inflammation, improve mood, increase energy and improve sleep. 

  • Vivid Dreams: LDN can help to improve REM sleep. As a patient’s sleep improves, initial side effects can include vivid dreams. If the dreams are too vivid, the dose can be reduced, and the vivid dreams will usually resolve. If reducing the dose does not improve the vivid dreams, taking the dose in the morning can help.
  • GI Side Effects: Constipation can be seen at the higher doses. Mild nausea is infrequently reported. 

LDN should be used very cautiously with patients on narcotic pain medication. The effect of the narcotic pain medication will be blunted by LDN. LDN should be held 72 hours prior to any surgical procedure.

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