Hello all,
As far as I am aware, I am the first person in the world to propose this treatment. I am primarily posting here to get the opinions of people who know more about medicine about the safety of me trying this. The question and concept is pretty straightforward.
Some Background Information
Low Dose Naltrexone (0.5-4.5mg taken once daily) is an established alternative-medicine therapy for immune dysfunction and immune disease, including autoimmune diseases. The mechanism of action is not entirely understood, but the leading theory is that these immune diseases are caused in part by a deficient immune system (not one that is "too strong"), and taking a tiny amount of Naltrexone suppresses endorphin uptake(?) for a few hours which then causes your body to overcompensate via endorphin overproduction. The end result is more endorphins than normal and consequently -- as endorphins regulate the immune system -- essentially an immune system "on steroids" (ie: a much stronger and better functioning immune system).
The top 2 Facebook groups I see for LDN therapy have roughly 18,000 and 15,000 members at the time I write this. This is a treatment that has been utilized for decades. It's very effective, however, many patients stop taking LDN due to side effects. In one survey, almost half of respondents had neurological complaints. [ https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/23965429 ] In my case, the psychological side effects make the value of the treatment questionable, even though it reduces my physical symptoms to an extremely impressive degree!
My Proposed New Treatment: Low Dose Methylnaltrexone
It seems likely to me that some or most of the physiological effects are being directly caused by Naltrexone's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Methylnaltrexone is naltrexone with an added methyl group such that it does not cross the blood-brain barrier. Other than that small difference, it appears to work similarly to Naltrexone. This sounds to me like a promising replacement for Naltrexone in LDN therapy that could potentially have fewer side effects.
Methylnaltrexone is FDA approved, at least as a high-dose injectable formulation with the brand name Relistor. The Relistor side effects list is long and scary, but I think almost all of the side effects can be explained by the fact that it has the potential to cause immediate, strong opioid withdrawal symptoms by removing all opioids from opioid receptors in the body. Is this accurate?
What are the risks of me trying a once-daily oral dose of Methylnaltrexone equivalent to 0.5-2mg of Naltrexone?
Final note: as far as I am aware, I am not an "undermethylator or overmethylator". I put these terms in quotes only because I confess I know nothing about "methylation". I would prefer to keep methylation out of this discussion if at all possible.
Thanks!