Posted by Hugh on February 22, 2019, at 10:59:34
In reply to Surprising finding about ketamine, posted by Hugh on February 20, 2019, at 11:16:54
This quote is from the Stanford article: "The authors say that revealing the role of the opioid system in the antidepressant effects of ketamine is critical in the effort to develop new antidepressants. For instance, glutamate receptor blockers may not have rapid antidepressant effects unless they also involve the opioid system, Williams said."
We might not have to wait years and years for these "new antidepressants" to be developed. There's a drug that's been available since 1984 that can activate the opioid receptors in the brain. That drug is naltrexone, and it was developed to treat addiction. At a high dose (50 mg), naltrexone blocks the effects of endorphins from opiates and alcohol, as well as blocking the endorphins that the body produces naturally. At a much lower dose (1.5-4.5 mg), it is used to treat a number of autoimmune diseases and some forms of cancer. Some people find low-dose naltrexone (LDN) helpful for depression. Taken at even lower doses, naltrexone could be even more effective as an antidepressant. Ultra-low-dose naltrexone (ULDN) doses are in the micrograms, nanograms, and even the picograms. At these extremely low doses, naltrexone activates the opioid receptors in the brain.
The following quote is from
"Cotreatment with ultra-low-dose naltrexone at 16.7, 20, or 25 ng/kg, but not at 10 or 200 ng/kg, induced a significant CPP after this 2-h delay. This finding implies that, whereas the rewarding effects of morphine have dissipated by 120 min postinjection, ultra-low-dose naltrexone may extend this effect."
In other words, an extremely low dose of naltrexone enhanced the effects of morphine, and prevented tolerance to it from developing. And it prevented dependence and addiction from developing. A higher, but still tiny, dose of naltrexone didn't have these beneficial effects.
Even if you're not taking opiates, you might benefit from taking ultra-low-dose naltrexone, since we all have naturally occurring opioids -- endorphins. An extremely low dose of naltrexone, taken every day, might improve your brain's response to your naturally occurring endorphins.
So if you aren't helped by 1.5 to 4.5 milligrams of naltrexone, try lowering your dose to micrograms. If that doesn't help, lower your dose to nanograms. If that doesn't help, lower it to picograms. Other than the naltrexone, all you need is distilled water to dilute it with and a calculator.
Naltrexone is water-soluble, so dissolve a 50-mg tablet in 50 ml of distilled water and use a medicine dropper to measure the dose. If refrigerated, liquid low-dose naltrexone will keep for several weeks.
poster:Hugh
thread:1103308
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20190206/msgs/1103334.html