If you've been struggling to lose weight, consider asking your doctor about low dose naltrexone, especially if you also have chronic pain or inflammation. Naltrexone is a drug used for opioid addiction, but when given in low doses, it can be used to treat a variety of medical problems, including obesity. Here's how this drug might help with weight loss and how you take it.

Low Dose Naltrexone Requires A Prescription

LDN is a prescription drug, and the amount you take is customized for your particular body and medical condition. Therefore, you need to obtain the drug from a compounding pharmacy that makes your prescription specifically for you at the dose your doctor prescribes. However, when taken in low doses, you'll only take a fraction of the amount usually taken for opioid addiction treatments.

Taking The Drug At Night Might Help With Sleep

Your doctor might advise you to take low dose naltrexone at bedtime because it can have beneficial effects on the sleep pattern. Poor quality sleep and obesity are linked, so improving your sleep habits might also have a positive effect on your weight loss journey.

LDN Might Help With Weight Loss In Several Ways

Low dose naltrexone has several effects in the body. It is an anti-inflammatory medication that can also help with pain. LDN affects metabolism, thyroid function, and insulin. All of these effects come together to help you lose weight through better thyroid function, decreased insulin resistance, improved energy, and improved appetite control.

However, low dose naltrexone may not cause significant weight loss just by itself. You'll still need to move more and improve your diet, but making lifestyle changes might be easier when you take LDN. If you have other medical conditions, such as fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis, LDN may reduce pain and inflammation that causes these conditions to flare and create stress that causes you to be inactive or eat a poor diet. Plus, inflammation is associated with obesity, so decreasing your inflammation markers might help with weight loss too.

Naltrexone is used to treat opioid addiction, but it is not an opioid. The drug may have some side effects including insomnia, nausea, and fatigue. The drug can also interact with some other drugs, and LDN should be avoided if you have certain medical conditions. For that reason, you'll want to talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks associated with taking LDN for weight loss.

Your doctor may want to start you on a very low dose and adjust the amount you take depending on how you respond. Fortunately, the amount of low dose naltrexone you take is easy to regulate since each prescription is custom made at a compounding pharmacy just for you.