I get occasional very deep bouts of depression that last only a day or so. I experience it as a deep aching pain in the chest--very real physical pain, the feeling of disappointment and despair, magnified--as well as anhedonia. It's brought on and magnified by stress. I have postulated this is the result of dynorphin, since the CRF provokes dynorphin release (CRF is increased by stress).
So I have been looking for a strong kappa antagonist, and read the threads on here, the problems with JDTic, etc. I have ordered some amentoflavone in the hopes that might be powerful enough as a kappa antagonist, but I am not super hopeful of it being strong enough.
I do have some naltrexone on hand, since I having been experimenting with low dose naltrexone (LDN). On a number of occasions, I have tried a low dose when I am in the midst of one of these episodes. Sometimes it works, and the pain/anhedonia completely lifts. It's like taking a pain medication, it's really amazing--and honestly the way the depression feels, it really does feel completely physical, and something that could be combated with a pain pill of some kind.
BUT it certainly doesn't work all the time, and I wonder if it's because naltrexone blocks mu opiods as well as kappa, and indeed kappa to a lesser extent that mu. I am wondering if there is a stack I can engineer that would balance the MOR antagonism while leaving untouched the KOR, without falling into the trap of stimulating the mu opioid system too much. I would also need something that can easily be obtained. Any naturally occurring MOR agonists that would balance out a low dose of naltrexone antagonism, or something I can get somewhere like alldaychemist, and take a small amount of?