Well, the reason that you haven't heard of this from your docs is because Low Dose Naltrexone is 'bleeding edge' treatment for IBD or MS (if you'll pardon the play on words). As yet, in the US, the treatment hasn't received FDA approval for these uses which weren't the original intended or prescribed use. There have been successful preliminary studies, and the results of those have been extremely promising. But for most medicos, straying outside the realm of FDA approved usuage or treatment is a bit scary... (Not so much for the patient, more for their own lawsuit exposure). As for the actual risk to the patient, Naltrexone has been around for a long time, and was primarily used for the treatment of alcohol or drug addiction. And the dosages used in those cases were MUCH, MUCH higher than a typical dosage regimen for IBD. I haven't researched the MS connection, so I can't tell you what those dosages are like, but for IBD it's typically only 1/100th what an addict would be presribed. I am desperately trying to convince my doctors to trial me on it. Ethically, it is within their capacity to prescribe this regimen, but I have no idea what it would mean as far as the doctors insurance providers are concerned. There are a number of doctors who have adopted this treatment, and the various sites on Low Dose Naltrexone can provide you with info, if you want to pursue it. I have found an American doctor who will take Canadian patients remotely, and also a US pharmacy that will ship to Canadian patients, just in case my local doc isn't in a position to prescribe this for me. There are several members here who are considering this, some even pursuing it. However, none of us here are medically qualified to recommend this for others, it's just something we feel in strongly enuff to pursue on our own. Do your research, and you may feel likewise.
