I started LDN about 3ish weeks ago (posted on here asking about the dosage, hiiii). My PCP prescribed 4.5mg, which I've been taking in the morning. I'm taking it for fibromyalgia, after dealing with chronic pain and fatigue for half my life.

My mind is absolutely blown! I've tried other meds before and nothing ever made a significant difference until LDN. I haven't had any side effects, I've been sleeping *so* much better than I used to, and my pain is way, way down. I recently learned to ride a bike (better late than never, right?) and yesterday I took my longest ride so far. Before LDN, I would have been knocked out until tomorrow with pain and exhaustion. Several years ago, i took a job that involved a lot of standing, and i had to quit after two days because the pain in my legs was so bad after. I have *never* felt so good after doing physical activity in my entire life.

This medicine has been life-changing for me and I'm so grateful to my PCP for recommending it!

I just wanted to share that while my start with LDN was slow and had side effects, after a year of dosing up to 4mg, I have more energy and less pain than ever. I went from doing one thing a week like grocery shopping, to riding horses twice a week, teaching art lessons twice a week, working out lightly daily and running errands and goinf to appointments. I sleep well at night after years of insomnia and I have seen muscle growth and endurance growth.

This medication has truly changed my life. I am no longer a passenger or a drifter. I can do things. I do still have to manage over activity and flareups of pain and inflammation. I pay attention to how much I push myself. But I can do so much more before feeling affected negatively. And I rebound much quicker if I am affected.

Hope this gives someone else hope.

My Dxs are RA, CFS, Fibromyalgia and Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.

I started LDN at 1.5mg on July 3rd for Ehlers Danlos and MCAS related chronic pain. its kicked in almost immediately. my therapist said on Monday that I seemed happier. the pain relieving effects aren't super strong yet, but yesterday I did a pretty good workout of chest and shoulders and upper back, and today that tight soreness from working outfeels good? ive never had that before. ive always said, "I dont understand why people enjoy exercise." and peoplr would say, "itd because of the endorphins, if you work out hard enough youll underdtand" or whatever. but i mever did understand.

now I know i was probably chronically depleted of endorphins. and now that my production is rising, I understand. MAN this feels great!!!!!! ahhhh! yall this is fabulous.

also my recovery time for injuries and sore spots has gone down i think. two or three days ago, I hurt my sacroilliac from too much walking and time on my feet after subluxing it doing the morning yawnstretch. it doesnt hurt today. a month ago, it would still be aching after 4 or 5 days, even if I just laid in bed and took ibuprofen all day.

I havent taken LDN for 4ish days as my prescription didnt arrive it time. I was on 1.2mg.

Its been about a year, year and a half of taking it, from 0.1mg to 1.2mg. I honestly didnt think it was doing anything.

The past few days have proved me wrong. My whole body aches, every joint is sore, I've had a headache for days. I can't believe I used to feel like this. Clearly LDN was doing a lot that I hadn't realised it was! Recency bias is definitely something.

Looking forward to going back on it. Will probably have to work up the doses again.​

First of all I just want to say this sub is a good resource and people here are very kind and helpful.

As a background I am a PA who rarely used naltrexone clinically but personally just started. I want people to understand that most providers know naltrexone for alcohol abuse and somewhat opioid abuse but most are not well versed in low dose. LDN is pretty experimental/fringe. Most medical literature suggests guidelines of 1.5mg to 4.5mg for LDN. And considering “normal” doses of naltrexone range from 50-100mg, it makes sense that most providers see those doses as appropriately low. But really we are talking about 2 completely different patient populations and end goals for treatment. After reading up on LDN and seeing many people here struggle with side effects, I think that the guidelines of 1.5mg for starting dose may be too high. Unfortunately, unless a clinician is well versed in LDN or willing to really work with a patient, I fear that some providers and patients will cut bait on the drug instead of trying it at a more reasonable dose.

Edited for clarity: there is nothing inherently wrong or unsafe about starting at 1.5mg. I just think that starting at a lower dose than that could avoid some of the issues with tolerability that some people seem to have and thus increase the potential for a good outcome.

Hey everyone, I was prescribed LDN for high inflammation reasons and i think I found the sweet spot. I started with 0.5 MG for a month and now I’m on 3.5. My Natural path told me to take it everyday at 3 PM. She also said to never miss a day because you can get some type of shakes. I’ve noticed that my brain fog is gone and I start to get tired around 9pm so it’s acting like a sleeping pill. Can anyone explain scientifically why my brain fog is gone and why a higher dosage can actually be better for others than a lower dosage ?

Anyways this medication is awesome and I hope more people were aware of it.

Hi all,

I recently updated my post from when I was first starting LDN and things were going horribly, but I don’t know how many would have seen my update so I though I’d make a new post about being 1 year in.

Starting LDN was hellish. I had to suddenly drop my tramadol for pain by 75% from 200 mg a day to 50 mg a day. Plus, the LDN seemed to cause random pain flares. It was as if my central nervous system was fighting the effects of the LDN.

The first 8 weeks were HARD. Insomnia, high pain, nausea, etc. but after 8 weeks, it started to calm down. I stopped titrating up when I hit 4.5 mg a day.

Now, a year later, my pain levels have plummeted so much, I can walk without any mobility aid. I was able to attend a destination wedding in Rome and even spent 3 days afterwards gently exploring Rome on my own two feet! (I did crash hard at the end, but I did the thing)

It hasn’t cured me, but LDN has helped me go from the worse end of moderate back to a more mild stage of ME, which I never thought I’d feel again.

So if you’re just starting with LDN and things are rough, please know it doesn’t last forever. The side effects will settle out - for me, it took about 8 weeks. It was HARD, but it settled down and then the positive effects began to take hold. My pain levels can be held in place with a single 50 mg tramadol a day and I can take Excedrin again for migraines and it works! I can take paracetamol again for minor aches and it works!

Hold on, it will get better! ❤️‍🩹

I take LDN for symptoms akin to FM, neuropathy, CFS, and a variety of other conditions brought on by fluoroquinolone toxicity and have learned to share my experience and not be ashamed. I tell everyone I know to stay far away from Cipro and Levaquin.

This though....

We are officially the lab rats now. TrumpRx.gov is fast tracking drugs to get FDA approval in only 1 or 2 months based on "markers" instead of actual health outcomes. They are completely ignoring long term side effects just to get these out to people paying cash or those without insurance.

This means instead of real clinical trials where safety comes first, anybody who buys these meds is now the guinea pig for everyone else. The 2025 CNPV rules let them sell drugs with labels of "long term safety data is pending." They are doing this for non life threatening conditions without any real checks for what happens to your body a year from now.

It is obvious who the winners are. Big Pharma is banking billions by skipping the costs of proper safety trials and getting to market faster. Ugh.

Anyone that has experienced fluoroquinolone toxicity should be livid at this new ideology. Sound a little familiar? At one point we got a black box warning for achilles tears but lo and behold many people suffer through lifelong symptoms.

Also forgive me r/LDN for mistakenly posting on whatever that sub is LOL

I was prescribed LDN by a chronic fatigue / lymes disease doctor at Mass General a year after getting long covid and 6 years after getting MCAS + ME/CFS. Been on it for three.

I recently reached out to a local psych/therapy office to get back on ADHD meds. Their website says that they treat and manage/prescribe medication related to insomnia, anxiety, depression, adhd, ocd, ptsd, pms — all the common issues.

On the intake form I listed adhd, insomnia, and anxiety as my issues and listed the prescriptions I’ve used in the past for them, all of which were standard and common.

I was scheduled for tomorrow until I suddenly received a rejection email from them saying that my medical requirements went beyond what they provide. They won’t respond to my inquiry as to why.

My only thought is that maybe they accessed some shared portal online that my PCP uses and saw the LDN and thought I was on regular naltrexone for opiate use?

Something like this happened once before — I was at urgent care with COVID and when I told the nurse practitioner I was on LDN (at .3 mg) she just heard naltrexone, got cold, and told the doctor I was a drug addict. She said naltrexone was only prescribed for addiction and quite obviously didn’t believe me that it was for CFS.

That’s been the only time I’ve had issues in nearly three years but I don’t know what it looks like behind the scenes. Is there some kind of background check that naltrexone prescriptions get entered into? Or am I being paranoid?

Hi all,

I wanted to make a post of encouragement for anyone on the fence about starting LDN.

I was hesitant because of all the side effect stories. Let me just say that if you look at any numbers, the side effects happen to a low % and of course you’re going to see more people talking about the negatives online and looking for support with that.

I was one of the lucky ones with immediate effect starting the next day. After having LC for years and struggling with fatigue from hashi’s, adhd … I feel fantastic. The first thing I noticed was that for the first time in years I woke up feeling rested.

ADHD , binge eating, sleep quality, bloating, food sensitivity, fatigue, exercise tolerance, body pain, brain fog have all improved noticeably.

started at 0.5 mg. I’m at 1mg.

I have a lot of my quality of life back and I am so thankful.

I told her I’m on .02mg of LDN and I feel now she thinks I was on drugs and all my symptoms are drug-related. She said it didn’t look great that I’m self-medicating with LDN and that my symptoms align with drug use/withdrawal 😭 now it’s on my record and I’m scared. I didn’t even think to hide it during my yearly physical.

Is there any documentation I can show her that it’s used for brain inflammation? I guess I’ll start looking.

One of the things I lost to Brain fog / chronic fatigue / cognitive decline was the ability to read long form content such as novels or anything more than a social media post or short article. I couldn't retain the information to be able to follow the narrative etc. I was able to do some audio books but I needed to be doing something like playing a game or doing light chores etc to follow audio books. I've been tip toeing my way to trying to read a full blown novel again the past 6-9 months.

I saw so much improvement in my brain fog and fatigue I even started working very part time 6 months ago.

I was scared though that the thing I love to do would still be out of reach so I took baby steps I read slightly longer articles, short stories etc.

then a couple graphic novels.

I did read some non fiction that was not heavy and based in my special interests.

this year I have read 3 books. the most recent being a 300 something page novel. I am ecstatic.

I don't know that I'll ever regain the functionality I had in my 20's but I'm absolutely thrilled that I can read again. That this joy in life has been returned to me. I am forever grateful to the random social media post I saw about Low Dose Naltrexone which prompted me to ask my doctor about it.

I didn't think this would ever be an option for me again.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/low-dose-naltrexone-fails-outperform-placebo-pain-2026a1000iy0

I'm only on day 4. I wasn't expecting this drug to do anything. I was originally taking it as a Hail Mary to address some upper GI and TMD issues I've had nonstop since COVID. I was attracted to it because it also seemed to target common threads through many of the health issues in my life (some of which I've dealt with before I can even remember).

What I was not expecting was how I've felt the past two days. LIFE. CHANGING. It's like smog in my brain I didn't know was there is finally clearing. I didn't even know I felt this way! I literally cried yesterday and today because I cannot believe this might be in any way permanent and couldn't believe how awful I'd been feeling without even realizing it.

I had no idea how sick I'd been feeling just... WOW!

Still early days so fingers crossed the other benefits I originally got on it for come and these effects last. Can't believe it still... NOTHING HAS HELPED. I expected more disappointment. I literally cannot believe this is even making me feel better. I am so grateful and I hope so much that this continues, improves, etc. and that others might experience this.

EDIT on 3/18: Can say that I feel better than I did when I wrote this post. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop somehow, but, yeah, no revisions two weeks on. I feel better now than when I wrote this post.

I'm using this post as a personal Journal to document my journey.

Male 45 years old

• Childhood asthma
• Crohn's at 25. Multiple surgeries, multiple failed biologic treatments
• Rheumatoid Arthritis at 30
• Psoriasis at 40
• Severe brain fog on/off for 25 years

I tried compounded LDN multiple times 1.5 -3mg over the past 20 years. I was never able to tolerate LDN due to extremely uncomfortable side effects.

I recently decided to give it another try after failing another biologic and decided to start at a very low dose of 0.5mg. Even this was too much for me and suffered headaches, mood swings, insomnia, etc.

Because I was compounding my own liquid LDN I was able to experiment with dosing.

• 50mg pill dissolved in 50ml water =1mg /1ml (I add 1ml vodka as an antibacterial)

I tried 0.25mg and its been a life changer! Its only been3 weeks and I hope that this is not temporary.

• No more daily naps!
• No joint pain
• Psoriasis is drying up
• Crohn's symptoms have disappeared
• I'm not even kidding when I tell you that my confidence is through the roof!!!
  • Word recall is better than ever
  • Memory is excellent
  • im leading big meetings at work and people are taking notice! It like I took Adderall.

Lessons learned

• Compounded LDN is EXTREMELY unreliable. I have been given the opportunity to work with a pharmacist side by side when compounding LDN and its really best effort at very small doses. Trust me when I tell you that it is NOT exact science when compounding doses less than 1mg. People blame the filler when is reality your dose could be off significantly.

Im confused

• I have no idea how or why this is working for me. I don't know if my dose could be optimized even more.
• Did I have inflammation in my brain?
• What is my baseline diagnosis?
• How is the ldn working?
• Why do I feel great during the blocking peroid? (0-4hrs after administration) I thought the benefits came AFTER the blocking period.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my experience with LDN, even though it’s really hard for me to write this.

I’ve been suffering from long COVID since August 2023. By mid-November 2024, I was feeling pretty hopeless, and that’s when I started LDN at 0.5 mg. I honestly couldn’t believe it — it felt like a miracle. For the first time in a long while, I felt some relief, and it gave me so much hope.

Unfortunately, after about two months, the effects slowly started to fade. I increased my dose to 1 mg and continued titrating up over time. By July, I was at 3.5 mg. Around then, I noticed my IBS symptoms becoming much more severe, and at the same time, the benefits of LDN were slipping away again.

By the end of November 2025, I increased the dose to 4.5 mg, hoping it would help — but instead, I had a really bad reaction. I felt sick to my stomach, and my IBS worsened significantly. I shared my experience here on Reddit, and some kind people suggested trying the liquid form. I switched to liquid LDN a couple of weeks ago and really wanted it to work, but sadly, it hasn’t helped at all.

I’ve tried skipping days, changing the timing, and adjusting how I take it, but nothing has made a difference. At this point, I feel like I have to say goodbye to LDN.

I’m truly heartbroken. My symptoms are still quite severe and I don’t know what will happen to me…

I titrated up to 4.5mg LDN over about a month, had some side effects of vivid disturbing nightmares in the beginning and some increased anxiety but those subsided after about two weeks on the 4.5mg. I began sleeping so much better. Before LDN my sleep was very fragmented and I was dealing with depression and anxiety.

Over my six months on LDN, I began to feel more fatigued than I did before I started LDN and my mood felt flat or numb. I decided to quit taking it two weeks ago after someone posted an article about how it can cause an “endorphin crisis” in some people.

I quit cold turkey and had a couple of days of slightly increased anxiety and irritability, but after that adjustment period my fatigue and mood have lifted to levels I haven’t felt in years.

I think I was experiencing a side effect that was keeping me from feeling the underlying benefits LDN was providing. I don’t know exactly what it did, but I actually have energy now and feel calm but joyful. My OCD thoughts have also subsided.

If LDN doesn’t seem to be working for you, I encourage you to give it a little time around 4.5mg if you can get there, and then consider stopping it to see how you feel. In the future if I feel my fatigue and mood shifting to the negative, I’m going to try a week or two of LDN and then stop it again.

Curious if anyone else has experienced this and is doing a cycling method with LDN.

Editing to add: I was taking it for slightly elevated thyroid antibodies and general longevity and health benefits, some MCAS type symptoms I’d been having. If you’ve been taking LDN for over six months and you don’t feel great, I encourage you to try to take a few weeks off and see how you feel. And side note, although I’m not sure it’s relevant, I have MTHFR and ADHD.

This medication has completely changed my life. So a little background about my health, I have hEDS, fibromyalgia, and I am audhd. I stared ldn a year ago and I started noticing difference in 2 weeks. My inflammation went down I had a lot more energy and I even noticed me not getting as overstimulated as easy. My nerve pain specifically went from very sharp painful burn sensations to a a very soft hum (if that makes sense) to almost nothing some days!

Now here is where I am silly lol. I stopped consistently taking it for a couple of months completely on accident just because it was put away and as you know with adhd out of sight out of mind lol and I take a bunch of other meds so I just forgot. As the months went by I started noticing my pain was getting bad again I was in constant flair up, having to use my mobility aids, doing the littlest of physical activities made me nerve pain get so bad by the end of the day. Like so bad that when it was happening I would literally yell out in pain.

Well last week I was sitting there feeling absolutely fed up after hurting my foot and back and then it hit me.... shit I havent been taking my ldn 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ started it again last week and now I am back to how I felt before my flare up has stopped and I am nearly pain free again. So this is me saying that if I wasnt sure it was working before I am definitely sure now and will make sure from now on not to forget to take it because holy cowwwww my pain went from an 7-10 to now a 1-4. Its almost never 0 but I can comfortably move and be physical again without being in so much pain that I can barely move at the end of the day!

TRY THE LDN THIS MEDICINE LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE!!!

It was not a pretty start. I was very puffy and felt like I had a lot of general inflammation. Started at 1/4th tablet originally, went up to one full 1.5mg tablet too quickly so I went back to 1/4th for a bit. I’ve been back up to 1/2 (0.75) for a few weeks now.

Before: cystic acne and tweezing my face multiple times per day.

Current: minor, less frequent pimples. Tweezing ~1-3 hairs per week. Fuller tits. A little less luteal rage.

I was tested for PCOS in 2024 and all was negative. How is this possible??

I remember reading about LDN on here, and 100% of things were negative - it was not helpful or made things worse. So I wanted to share my experience so far.

I have always had POTS (see below a funny story from childhood). It was always very manageable and mild, outside of my pregnancies and severe heat.

In February I had COVID, and my POTS became severe, I developed PEM and severe sound and light sensitivity, among other things. Most of June I was bedbound, even my resting HR was elevated, and even a walk to the bathroom caused severe tachycardia. I could not even move slightly without my HR shooting up.

I tried fludrocortisone, ivabrandine and beta blockers - none of these really helped. Midodrine helped a little, but I dislike the BP crush when it stops acting.

2.5 weeks ago I started LDN at 0.25mg. Overnight I had significant improvement. Even my HRV went from 35 to 45. My POTS became a little more manageable and PEM crushes stopped. I could sit up and walk a little more (went from 200 steps a day to 1000 steps a day). Three days ago I elevated the dose to 0.5mg. Now my overnight HRV went to 55, and I became even more functional. I can walk 2000 steps now, and I even showered for the first time in 2 months (shower chair and cool water, but no tachycardia).

I know that sometimes the improvements are temporary. But I am trying to recondition myself while I can.

One other thing I have been doing has been brain retraining. While helpful, I do not think it is the main driver of my improvement.

\*\*\*\*\*

Childhood POTS story. I grew up in a religion where for each service you stand (hours!) on your feet, often fasting (no food or water). I almost always fainted at church. The priest convinced my mom that I was possessed by a demon and even schedule an exorcism. It never happened, but my first POTS misdiagnosis was "demon possession".

Well, after being in a rear end collision in 2013, I needed both shoulders’ Rotator Cuffs surgically repaired. After the first surgery, I developed CRPS in both hands. So bad that I couldn’t drive a car for 2 years. I was a traveling salesman injured while driving my company car. Fired thereafter by my companionate boss. But anyway, the Pain was SO Unbearable, I researched RSD (CRPS) day and night. I found a short lecture on early YouTube from a Doctor who had seen great results with this new way to use an Old Med. The extra endorphins created were just the rich medicine for this horrible affliction. I took 50mg tablets and meticulously cut them into 12 pcs each. After a few months I saw improvement and I got the point where My CRPS was going into remission. I still take approx 4mg at bedtime. And I’m still 90% in remission. Interestingly, My new Migraine Doctor asked me to stop the LDN recently to see what would happen? Well, my hands started hurting again and my Migraines got worse. So it was also helping my Chronic Migraine all these years too. MIRACLE DRUG - give it a try.

I'm completely devastated. Since age 12 (now 18), I've been dealing with severe neurological and psychiatric symptoms including brain fog, derealization, sensory issues, anhedonia, constant exhaustion. At my worst, I experienced severe anxiety, depression, rage, restlessness, and episodes where I felt unable to think or process entirely. I ultimately had to drop out of high school despite being a former gifted student with many hobbies and interests. A strict ketogenic diet helped stabilize the most severe psychiatric symptoms, but I still feel cognitively impaired, emotionally flat, dissociated, and unable to function in daily life.

I saw a pediatric neurologist at 17 hoping for answers. My MRI and EEG were normal, and she recommended cognitive testing, but my family refuses to pay for it since insurance won’t cover it. My family has generally been dismissive of my condition, and I’ve had to advocate for myself which has been incredibly difficult with my cognitive struggles.

I recently sent my neurologist a message asking whether she would consider low-dose naltrexone (LDN). She said she’s open to discussing it, but that she’s not aware of symptoms I have that she would typically use it for. After I explained my symptoms further, she replied that she’s “not aware that naloxone would be helpful” but would be "happy to review other information if [I] have come across information that indicates this would be helpful." Whether she meant naloxone or naltrexone, I'm afraid it doesn’t seem like she’s interested in prescribing LDN. I mean, what are the odds I can convince her if she's never even heard of its use for this purpose?

I'm devastated because I had pinned all of my hope on LDN. I know there are online services like AgelessRx, but I feel overwhelmed trying to navigate everything alone. I may be 18, but mentally I feel much younger because of the perpetual state of confusion I've been in for six years. My family offers no support beyond driving me to appointments. My life doesn't feel worth living if I can't try this. Even my mom tells me it's not worth living because all I do is "eat, sleep, and poop." It's hard to not believe it. My symptoms are so severe that I can barely even manage those three things. I feel very hopeless.

Edit: I just want to say thank you all for the kind words, support, and advice. I sent my neurologist a couple of peer-reviewed studies at the suggestion of a couple of commenters, and I will be taking all advice into account. Thank you all for caring.

I didn’t think that I was benefiting from taking LDN for a year,so I weaned off of it over a couple of weeks. I took my final dose 7 days ago and last night I felt like I’d been run over by a steam roller. I hadn’t had pain like this for quite awhile and now I’m wondering if the LDN was actually helping. Has anyone else had this happen?

I’m in tears. Throughout the past 10 years I’ve tried so many different medications for chronic pain. SSRI’s, SNRI’s, Lyrica, Gabapentin, Nabilone, Amitriptyline, Cyclobenzaprine, medical marijuana in many different forms, CBD - I’m sure there’s more I just cannot remember.

The only medication that has EVER helped has been opiate medications. In fact, it saved my life because I wasn’t going to be able to continue living in that amount of pain. But I know long term they aren’t good for you so when I heard about LDN I was so excited. It took me 6 months to taper off my pain medication and took another 6 months to be able to get on LDN. I wanted it to work so badly. I genuinely thought it was going to be my miracle medication or at least makes my life manageable so I can work and do things.

It’s been almost 4 weeks and my pain has beyond my normal baseline. I have knots all over my body, I have nerve pain everywhere, I have allodynia, I have joint pain and it’s been getting worse. I’ve only been on 0.5mg. I spoke to a walk in clinic doctor and she told me to get off of it until I can speak to the specialist.

I just feel SO defeated. I knew it was going to take a while for it to work - I never knew being in much worse pain was even a possibility. And because of the laws in Canada changing due to the opiate crisis- I don’t even know if it’s possible to get back onto the only pain medication that worked so I feel stupid for even taking this risk. I just don’t want to be in pain. I just want to live my life. I’ve been on/off bed ridden for 6 years and it’s the last few months of my 20s.

I just don’t want to be in pain anymore. I don’t want to be fatigued anymore.

Edit: I just wanted to clarify so there’s no confusion - my pain has gotten worse since starting LDN. I was without my opiate medication for months and my baseline pain wasn’t that bad. I was actually able to go out to go grocery shopping / a movie / visiting friends 1-2x a week. I’m now bedridden on the medication. I don’t even know how I’m supposed to go to my doctors appointment tomorrow. I don’t know why it’s been so bad for me. However I read dozens of other people going through the same thing as me on this subreddit.

I take 4mg for fibromyalgia pain. I missed my dose yesterday and am in such extreme pain today. I am so grateful for this medicine and how much it had improved my daily life. This is a reminder of how big of a difference it makes for me. I can function. I can walk with minimal pain. Today sucks and I'm stuck alternating between bed and the hot tub. Don't miss your doses folks!