Low Dose Naltrexone & NDT In Hashimoto's Disease & Fibromyalgia Treatment

I was given the opportunity to try LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) last Summer when my hashimoto antibodies were extremely high (in the 1400 range). LDN modulates the immune system, raising the endorphine levels in the brain and creating new cells for the body. You can learn a lot about how it works <HERE>. I for one can tell you, it's an amazing drug. I started my LDN dose at 1.5mg compounded with sucrose from my compound pharmacy. I was a bit of skeptic at the time, as I had already been through so much with my poor adrenal function and several thyroid storms; extreme unintentional weight loss, vitamin deficiencies, and hormone imbalance as a consequence of these two major issues (Thyroid Storm & Adrenal Fatigue) I had been taking Synthroid for years, since 2002, when I was first diagnosed "hypothyroid" and thrown a bottle of Synthroid and told I would have to take it the rest of my life. Little did I know then, there are many other options for underactive thyroid treatment besides "Synthroid", but I was unaware of the other options as my doctors and specialists never gave me any other options. Why? Because Synthroid and T4 only medications are part of the whole "Big Pharma" industy. Doctors of course, as you know, also get kickbacks from big pharma companies for prescribing their medications, so unless you have a really good "open minded" doctor, you have probably never even heard of LDN.  (Big Pharma doesn't have it's hands on it yet, it's cheap, and it's WORKING for lots of people.)

T4 only medications like Synthroid, Levothyroxine, Tirosint, etc. are synthetic, and the most prescribed medications out there for treating hypothyroidism. Unfortunately, these medications are lacking to control the symptoms of hypothyroidism because they only contain T4, which over time, can damage and weaken adrenals. It's so important to have a 24 hour saliva cortisol test done especially if you have been on T4 only meds for a long period of time. Your adrenals are what drives your body's hormone levels, thus, also driving your thyroid hormones. So, when you adrenals become weak, your thyroid gland also suffers as it is not getting enough thyroid hormone to make it function properly. What most people don't know is your thyroid hormones are not just T4 driven. The T4 has to be converted in the liver to it's active form T3. Your thyroid hormones also include T1, T2,T3, and Calcitonin (which are NOT in any T4 only medication), I have recently switched from Synthroid to Westthroid-P (a natural dessicated thyroid medication) and YES, you have a CHOICE, so do your homework on natural dessicated thyroid medications and DEMAND the appropriate care for your hypothyroidism and hashimoto's disease. You will benefit from it greatly to be your own best advocate.

Now that I've covered all of the above, lets get back to the LDN. I was on LDN for 6 months time at 1.5mg. During that time frame my antibodies dropped from 1400 to 145. Fantastic! I still wasn't out of the woods or in "remission" with my hashimoto's disease, BUT, I did feel better. You see, I was also diagnosed with "fibromyalgia" around the same time as I was diagnosed "hypothyroid" and placed on Synthroid. I noticed shortly after being placed on Synthroid that I had terrible body pain. Yes, every joint and muscle in my body just HURT really bad! I never accepted my "fibromyalgia" diagnosis as I knew my body, and I also knew that it HAD to be correlated with either the "Synthroid" or "Hypothyroidism" as both occurred at the same time. So I had been enduring excruciating body pain for years....until.....I found LDN and NDT (Natural Dessicated Thyroid Medication ie, Naturethroid, Westthroid, Armour, Thyroid S etc). After only a few days of switching from Synthroid to Westthroid-P and LDN, my body pain was GONE! Yes....GONE COMPLETELY!

Unfortunately, my doctor got deployed to Afghanistan and I was left with another doctor in his office who was very uneducated about LDN and kept arguing with me about my thyroid labs. I went back on Synthroid and went off LDN because of this doctor, and guess what happened? My thyroid labs looked great on Synthroid, but my pain came BACK with a vengence! For months and months I waited for my doctor to come back from Afghanistan and just a few weeks ago he came back home! I've never been so relieved in all my life! He put me back on LDN 1.5mg and switched me to Westthroid-P (only 2 fillers in Westthroid P, which is now called WP Thyroid). I'm on day 3 of my new regimen and my body pain is gone once again. I will not know what my thyroid labs look like for another 4 weeks since I just started the Westthroid-P, but so far so good on this med for me and I'm finally feeling somewhat like my old self again. The LDN is absolutely fabulous! For those of you who have not read up on LDN, please do so. It is being used to treat patients with all kinds of Autoimmune Diseases, Depression, Cancers, Parkinson's Disease, Arthritis, and many other illnesses with great results from patient experience. It has little to no side effects and I can tell you from my own experience it WORKS WONDERS! So do a little research on LDN and I will post a link <HERE> to the website where you can learn a lot about it. Trust me, you can learn a lot by reading through the links there. If you are on Facebook there is also a closed group called "Got Endorphines? - LDN (low dose naltrexone) that is also very informative and lots of patient experience and support from others in that group, so go there and check it out! Here's a link to that group <HERE>

I will continue to post my results here with LDN, but since I've been on it before, I know what to expect. (Day 3 and no pain) I've never been so relieved in my life to have my pain completely gone. As I mentioned earlier, I never believed my "fibromyalgia" diagnosis. If you read through the website on LDN you will find some links there where they did some studies on people with fibromyalgia and how they benefited from LDN. I believe my "fibromyalgia" diagnosis is actually poorly treated hashimoto's disease, and now that I'm taking NDT for that, I believe I'm going to feel better and better by the day as I get my thyroid levels balanced. Of course, it's very nice to not live in pain! Thank you LDN!

Stay tuned for what's next for Alicia! There's a light at the end of the tunnel folks! Don't get discouraged, your best bet is to be your own best health advocate. Do a little research and print out some info on LDN and take it to your doctor. Ask the docs to let you try it, and if they say no.....try a natureopath or a functional medicine doctor as they are more apt to give you a script. I'm just thankful that my fabulous open minded doctor has returned home safe from Afghanistan. I'm back in business. Cheers to wellness! ;-)