Saturday, April 26, 2008

Low Dose Naltrexone

I've had crappy Ulcerative Colitis for 4 years now, really had enough of it now. The conventional treatments are nasty, scary with horrid side effects. I also don't agree with how they work. Just suppressing the immune system because it's playing up and dumping a load of unpleasant side effects on you. Not actually doing much good in my opinion!
So it's lucky I found talk about Low Dose Naltrexone online. The way it works makes perfect sense to me. It temporarily blocks some receptors in my brain that respond to endorphins, tricking me into making more. Hopefully these lovely endorphins will make my immune system behave itself! It did after giving birth to Jenson (he turned 2 yesterday!), that lovely natural homebirth released shed loads of endorphins and I was in remission for a few weeks after.
I started taking LDN last night (I had to sign a disclaimer about it being off licence to get it on the NHS), fingers crossed it works!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please keep us updated on your experience with LDN. With blogs like yours, we can all learn more from first-hand accounts, instead of relying on medical reports. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I don't agree with anything which suppresses the functioning of the immune system.Its an artificial
way of dealing with the problem.
Have you tried alternative medicine,Tracy?

tracy said...

Yep, that's what I've been doing for the past 4 years...trouble is I can't afford it! I found a few things that helped but the cost was too much and the NHS won't help with it.
That's why I like LDN, it boosts the immune system. Kind of helping the body help itself.
I'm in remission now! First time ever!

Anonymous said...

What does LDN consist of?

tracy said...

Naltrexone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naltrexone

but in this case a dose much much lower than that used in the treatment for addictions is taken so the opioid receptors are blocked just for a few hours at night. Making the body think it needs to make more endorphins.