Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) How a Small Dose Can Make a Big Difference

When you’re navigating a complex chronic illness, the search for relief often comes with frustration, gaslighting, and dead ends. That’s why at Connective Wellness, we believe in therapies that meet your body where it’s at, and Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is one of the most promising options we offer.

LDN is a gentle, low-risk prescription medication that supports immune regulation, inflammation reduction, and pain modulation. It’s often used off-label as part of a broader care plan for people with EDS, POTS, autoimmune illness, fibromyalgia, and post-viral syndromes, especially when more aggressive treatments have fallen short.

What Is Low Dose Naltrexone?

Originally developed as a treatment for opioid and alcohol dependence, naltrexone in high doses blocks opioid receptors. But at very low doses, typically between 0.5 mg and 4.5 mg, it works differently.

Instead of blocking the body’s systems, LDN gently modulates them. It encourages your body to produce more of its natural pain-relieving endorphins while also calming chronic immune activation.

That makes LDN especially helpful for people whose symptoms are driven by inflammation, immune dysregulation, or nervous system sensitization.

How Does LDN Work?

LDN’s mechanism is still being studied, but here’s what we know:

• It temporarily blocks opioid receptors, triggering the body to produce more endorphins (your natural pain and stress buffers).

• It reduces inflammation by calming microglial cells in the brain and spinal cord, cells that often become hyperactive in chronic pain or fatigue.

• It helps rebalance the immune system, especially in cases of autoimmunity or post-viral reactivity.

That combination makes it a supportive option for people whose bodies are stuck in a state of chronic overdrive, often without relief.

Who Might Benefit from LDN?

Low Dose Naltrexone is most often used to support individuals living with:

• Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)  reduces inflammation and supports connective tissue pain

• Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) modulates nervous system response

• Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS  helps with pain sensitivity and immune regulation

• Autoimmune conditions  including Hashimoto’s, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis

• Long COVID or post-viral syndromes reduces neuroinflammation and reactivity

• Chronic pain and neuropathy especially in cases of allodynia or burning pain

Because LDN is low-risk and usually well tolerated, it’s often used as a foundation medication in multi-modality care plans. It doesn’t solve everything, but it can lower the volume of symptoms enough to make other therapies more effective.

What to Expect with LDN

LDN is taken as a compounded prescription, typically once per day. Your provider will start with a very low dose and titrate up slowly to find the right balance for your body.

Common experiences include:

• Improved pain tolerance

• Better sleep

• Less inflammation or brain fog

• Mood stabilization

Side effects, if any, are usually mild and temporary, and may include vivid dreams or sleep changes in the beginning. At Connective Wellness, we work with you to adjust timing or dosing as needed to reduce side effects and improve outcomes.

Complementary Therapies

LDN works well as part of a broader care plan, and pairs especially well with:

• Red light therapy – for inflammation and mitochondrial support

• Craniosacral therapy – to support nervous system downregulation

• PT or movement therapy – as pain improves

• Anti-inflammatory nutrition – to amplify immune modulation

• Vagus nerve work – to reinforce regulation from the inside out

We don’t expect any one therapy to do everything — but together, these gentle supports can shift the trajectory of chronic illness in a meaningful way.

Final Thoughts

Low Dose Naltrexone isn’t a quick fix, but for many of our patients, it becomes a quiet hero in the background, helping reduce pain, regulate the immune system, and make space for healing.

When you’ve spent years looking for something that actually helps, a treatment this gentle, and this effective, can feel like a revelation.

Ready to Explore LDN?

Let’s talk about whether Low Dose Naltrexone might be a fit for your care plan.
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