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Low-dose Naltrexone for lower back pain

Posted by billweigle @billweigle, Feb 2 9:07pm

I have had low back pain for several years. It is at its worst when I get up in the morning. The only med that is currently working is tramadol 100 mg. If I take it when I get up and then use cold and heat on my back occasionally throughout the day and perhaps lie down with my legs propped up I can manage the pain though it does not go away. I want to get off tramadol and any other opioids. After reading online about low-dose Naltrexone being effective as an off-label use, I found a doctor who was familiar with it and got a prescription from a compounding pharmacy. I haven't taken it yet as the doctor said I should not take it along with tramadol. Also, tramadol works in 1-2 hours whereas I have read that Naltrexone may take many days, and I don't know how long I want to go without the tramadol while I am waiting to see if the Naltrexone will be effective in relieving the lower back pain. I would like to hear if anyone has experience with low-dose Naltrexone for lower back pain relief.

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mikaylar | @mikaylar | Feb 7 8:23am
In reply to @heyjoe415 "Same here. I'm prescribed a bipolar drug to basically "stabilize" my mood, but the real reason..." + (show)
@heyjoe415

Same here. I'm prescribed a bipolar drug to basically "stabilize" my mood, but the real reason is that it helps me sleep. That simple. Fortunately I'm not bipolar.

But damn every time I go in to see my PCP or a specialist, it takes the nurse a long time to read through the list of my meds on my chart. Are they all really necessary? They just kinda piled up over the years.

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Same here. They need to educate these medical people on what goes on. When they see all these medications, they think we are just using the system.

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jigglejaws94 | @jigglejaws94 | Feb 13 5:18pm
In reply to @suzzee3 "I do not understand why they would give you Naltrexone. It's for Opioid withdrawals. That's crazy...." + (show)
@suzzee3

I do not understand why they would give you Naltrexone. It's for Opioid withdrawals. That's crazy. Who gave that to you and why? I look up every medication I get now since I got one from a Doctor that I trusted and it threw me for a loop.

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I see some comments here that let me know that folks aren't aware of low dose naltrexone treatment for pain and various other ailments. When used in very small doses, like 0.1 mg to 4.5 mg, it is an effective treatment for many ailments, including pain. The amount given for opioid withdrawal is 50mg-100 mg or more. Check out https://ldnresearchtrust.org for more information. In this very small dose, it acts as an immune modulator and targets the glia cells and reduces inflammation in the body.

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jigglejaws94 | @jigglejaws94 | Feb 13 5:20pm
In reply to @heyjoe415 "Bill - sorry for what you';re going through. Naltrexone is used to treat opiate abuse. As..." + (show)
@heyjoe415

Bill - sorry for what you';re going through.

Naltrexone is used to treat opiate abuse. As far as I know, it has no pain-relief purpose. Tramadol is an opiate, and if you take naltrexone, the tramadol won't work.

Check with your Dr. I do wish you the best.

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It actually is useful for pain in low doses. It is called low dose naltrexone or LDN. Check out this website for more information: https://ldnresearchtrust.org/

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1 reply
jigglejaws94 | @jigglejaws94 | Feb 13 5:23pm
In reply to @bebold "LDN resets your immune system. Mostly it is used to treat auti-immune disorders. However, they are..." + (show)
@bebold

LDN resets your immune system. Mostly it is used to treat auti-immune disorders. However, they are finding more and more illnesses are auto-immune and at very least, being in pain 24/7, affects our immune systems as we will always have too much cortisol and adrenaline floating about. Fight or flight. It is best for inflammatory disorders and I'm sure, where there is pain, there is inflammation.

Remember, the lower the dose the better and begin very, very slowly. It is also said when you first go on, it can cause your systemic yeast to proliferate which will make you feel back so you will want to get on something to treat yeast overgrowth. You can google and read about that online. Not a lot of drs are aware. Our damaged colons allow yeast to hide in every pocket of our being. We must treat that as well.

Start at 0.5mg for 2 weeks, 1.0 for two weeks etc. Rarely should anyone need to go higher than 4/4.5. The higher the dose, the less it will help. Please study a lot how it functions. Its not the taking it that helps, its when the halflife gets low enough to kickstart your adrenals again (hopefully ~2 hours while you sleep) that it helps.

You want a short halflife therefore a lower dose. Ive studied and taken it for years. As a nurse, my doctor allows me to crush the 50mg tablet into 50ml of water which equals 1mg/1ml. I am right now taking 3.5 ml, 3 5 mg, at night mixed with a jigger of whatever.

Hope that helps. If you start with a huge dose or go up too fast, you might well suffer insomnia or bad dreams and want to come off. Going very slowly is the answer for success.

This is a long term decision as yoy will need to stop all opoiods. When people cintinue to take pain meds on LDN, they will get no relief and unintentional OD can occur. It could be 6 month or more before you see any benefit. Its a commitment to endure your pain for a while hoping thus will help.

Once you start, know yoy are committing to minimum 2 years. This is not a quick fix.

I've gone off for surgery (you must be off for weeks before surgery and I didn't thinj it was helping a lot till I had veen off if it for a month or more and wham. Pain back. It was indeed helping. It was just so gradual, you forget to notice.

Hope this was helpful.

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Thanks for information about yeast. I was not aware of that. I am considering going on LDN soon.

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heyjoe415 | @heyjoe415 | Feb 14 6:39am
In reply to @jigglejaws94 "It actually is useful for pain in low doses. It is called low dose naltrexone or..." + (show)
@jigglejaws94

It actually is useful for pain in low doses. It is called low dose naltrexone or LDN. Check out this website for more information: https://ldnresearchtrust.org/

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Thanks jiggle! This is very useful info.

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klittr3637 | @klittr3637 | Oct 28 9:21am
In reply to @luvrofthelord "Low dose Naltrexone didn't work for me. I was put on a 4.5mg and took it..." + (show)
@luvrofthelord

Low dose Naltrexone didn't work for me. I was put on a 4.5mg and took it for a week, I had some negative side effects so I asked my compounding pharmacy to reduce the amount to 1mg. They got permission from my pain specialist and I began to take the 1mg. it had no effect wither positive or negative so I went off of it. I do know that a lot of doctor's are putting their chronic pain patients on this medication and I have heard it helps some people. For me, it just didn't work.

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My guess is that you didn’t take it as you should have…starting very low dose and gradually increasing up to 4 to 4.5 mg. And giving it time.

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1 reply
sash | @sash | Oct 29 7:38am

Been on it for years. No help with pain.

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loriesco | @loriesco | Oct 30 9:30am

I suggest going to an orthopedic surgeon. Starting with the foundation (your bones) and making sure there is not something needing repair there, first. Then move on to other things like MFR, PT. I needed surgery. I suffered for 20 years. Lumbar surgery - in my case - was the only answer. These days the medical system is pretty crappy, so I would suggest investigating the core source of your chronic pain so you will know how to effectively manage it.

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bayhorse | @bayhorse | Oct 31 11:59am
In reply to @klittr3637 "My guess is that you didn’t take it as you should have…starting very low dose and..." + (show)
@klittr3637

My guess is that you didn’t take it as you should have…starting very low dose and gradually increasing up to 4 to 4.5 mg. And giving it time.

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You don't necessarily need to titrate up. Many people with chronic pain start at 4.5 mg and stay there.

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1 reply
klittr3637 | @klittr3637 | Oct 31 2:09pm
In reply to @bayhorse "You don't necessarily need to titrate up. Many people with chronic pain start at 4.5 mg..." + (show)
@bayhorse

You don't necessarily need to titrate up. Many people with chronic pain start at 4.5 mg and stay there.

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Solutionspharmacy.com plus my doctors recommended dosage. I do have chronic pain..unfortunately. Whatever works!

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