This is not going to be a lengthy entry. It’s one I wasn’t even planning on writing, but I wanted to share something with you all. I get e-mails from time to time from readers asking about how things are going for me with using low-dose naltrexone (LDN). My LDN posts also typically get the most hits.
I think LDN is one of those tricky treatment options where you don’t know exactly how much it is helping until you aren’t taking it. It is also tricky in regards to managing the side effect related insomnia that comes with it.
Well, it took me the better part of two years or so, but I was able to get around the sleep issue just by titrating my dose up slowly over the course of about eight months.
Then I came off it.
And it’s been hell.
Friggin’ nightmare actually.
Long story short, I had to stop taking it because I need gallbladder surgery. Because I started a new job the exact same week I was told this, I am putting the surgery off. They wanted me to have it in early September and it’s scheduled for Thanksgiving week. You have to be off LDN for 1-2 weeks before surgery and/or taking narcotic pain medications. My surgeon was concerned that if I urgently needed to get my gallbladder out sooner than November, he wouldn’t be able to do the surgery if I was on LDN.
So I have been off it for about six weeks now and all I can say is…
I miss it.
Like, really bad.
I thought because I was still having pain while on it, it wasn’t working well. Not true because now, my pain levels are on a much worse level, like pre-diagnosis level. There are several other factors affecting my pain levels, but stopping the LDN was a huge contributing factor. I am trying some other pain control alternatives to get me through.
If you don’t know about LDN or are skeptical, please check it out. There are a ton of resources online. I have written several other blog entries about it and you can access those by going to the right side column of my blog and clicking the label for LDN or low-dose naltrexone. It is not a miracle cure for Sjögren’s, but it is definitely a vital component to my treatment plan.
And relatively speaking, it’s cheap.
And safe (just don’t take narcotics at the same time).
And completely underutilized because well, the health care industry cannot make a fortune off of it so they blow it off as a snake oil remedy.
Go check it out.
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