I took my first very low dose of naltrexone last night before bed. For all the background info read my previous blog entries.
I took 100mcg naltrexone at midnight and went to bed 20-30 min after. I had been having a lot of anxiety for the whole evening, feeling restless and having difficulty concentrating. Not too long after taking the naltrexone I actually felt more relaxed. I had been fearing the opposite would happen. I went to bed and continued feeling more relaxed and was just falling asleep when my partner came into the bedroom and started turning on lights and loudly banging around under the bed with a broom because he was convinced my cat was hiding under there (he doesn't like her to be in the bedroom, especially at night). I was like, "No she isn't," but he said he couldn't find her anywhere and she must be in there. After some time of this I got frustrated and went to look for her - she was sitting peacefully in her cat bed in the living room, lol. So now I was pretty awake. Normally because of my difficulties sleeping I would be very distressed if something/someone woke me up just as I was getting to sleep, but I wasn't that bothered about it this time. Lying in bed, I started looking at stuff online on my phone (I know, not a good idea) and I was reading Lamebook and finding it absolutely hilarious. I was in a good mood. I also noticed that I wasn't in any real pain. I decided to try to go to sleep again and quickly fell asleep (this was maybe somewhere around 2am).
I did not have a good sleep, I kept waking throughout the night and tossing and turning, but this is definitely not at all unusual for me and was about the same as the previous (naltrexone-free) night. I woke up (for the last/proper time) at 8:30am. I did not feel any better or different than usual (pessimistic, groggy) in the morning and woke up with my usual "bone" pain. As usual I had to go to the bathroom soon after waking but I didn't have diarrhea (but it was not quite what I would consider "healthy" either without going into TMI).
I am feeling better now (early afternoon) but that's pretty normal for me too.
So, I don't think that the positive things I felt after taking the naltrexone were likely placebo, but they could very easily just be a coincidence. Why I say I don't think it's placebo is because I am generally more prone to "nocebo" effects - where I think a drug isn't working or I think anything negative might be due to the drug (although since I understand this about myself I compensate for it) - than placebo effects, and because if I expected anything from the naltrexone it was that it might make me feel bad after taking it and better when I woke up, neither of which happened. So, all in all, very inconclusive except I can safely say the 100mcg naltrexone did not have any noticeable negative effects or cause withdrawal-type symptoms (note for anyone who hasn't been reading my earlier entries I am not currently taking any opioids).
I am going to take a higher dose tonight.
I will update this entry later, if I have the time, to say how I felt for the rest of the day.
I took 100mcg naltrexone at midnight and went to bed 20-30 min after. I had been having a lot of anxiety for the whole evening, feeling restless and having difficulty concentrating. Not too long after taking the naltrexone I actually felt more relaxed. I had been fearing the opposite would happen. I went to bed and continued feeling more relaxed and was just falling asleep when my partner came into the bedroom and started turning on lights and loudly banging around under the bed with a broom because he was convinced my cat was hiding under there (he doesn't like her to be in the bedroom, especially at night). I was like, "No she isn't," but he said he couldn't find her anywhere and she must be in there. After some time of this I got frustrated and went to look for her - she was sitting peacefully in her cat bed in the living room, lol. So now I was pretty awake. Normally because of my difficulties sleeping I would be very distressed if something/someone woke me up just as I was getting to sleep, but I wasn't that bothered about it this time. Lying in bed, I started looking at stuff online on my phone (I know, not a good idea) and I was reading Lamebook and finding it absolutely hilarious. I was in a good mood. I also noticed that I wasn't in any real pain. I decided to try to go to sleep again and quickly fell asleep (this was maybe somewhere around 2am).
I did not have a good sleep, I kept waking throughout the night and tossing and turning, but this is definitely not at all unusual for me and was about the same as the previous (naltrexone-free) night. I woke up (for the last/proper time) at 8:30am. I did not feel any better or different than usual (pessimistic, groggy) in the morning and woke up with my usual "bone" pain. As usual I had to go to the bathroom soon after waking but I didn't have diarrhea (but it was not quite what I would consider "healthy" either without going into TMI).
I am feeling better now (early afternoon) but that's pretty normal for me too.
So, I don't think that the positive things I felt after taking the naltrexone were likely placebo, but they could very easily just be a coincidence. Why I say I don't think it's placebo is because I am generally more prone to "nocebo" effects - where I think a drug isn't working or I think anything negative might be due to the drug (although since I understand this about myself I compensate for it) - than placebo effects, and because if I expected anything from the naltrexone it was that it might make me feel bad after taking it and better when I woke up, neither of which happened. So, all in all, very inconclusive except I can safely say the 100mcg naltrexone did not have any noticeable negative effects or cause withdrawal-type symptoms (note for anyone who hasn't been reading my earlier entries I am not currently taking any opioids).
I am going to take a higher dose tonight.
I will update this entry later, if I have the time, to say how I felt for the rest of the day.