Naltrexone as a Tinnitus Treatment

A few months.

I’m in a setback now after exposing myself to audio everyday for the last 2 months.

 

How do you determine a setback? I don't have hyperacusis so it is hard for me to understand. My tinnitus fluctuates over time anyway... even in silence. So I listen to audio at home or I will go nuts. More everyday sound can give me spikes, but my main problem is that mine fluctuates on its own anyway. Hard to know when it is a delayed spike or just fluctuation.

 

My tinnitus was a non-issue these last 2 months. I was going grocery shopping without earplugs without issues. It wasn’t totally fine, but not bad enough to set me back either. What I did wrong this time is what I do wrong every time. I expose myself to noise from my phone 24/7 even though I know I’m not fully ready for it yet. Now it’s extremely reactive again, can’t eat without serious spikes. It’ll go back to where it was within the next couple of weeks.

 

Anyone else trying Naltrexone? How about sexual side effects?

 

Hi @danielthor -- Here's a story you might be interested in:

Dr Orian Truss

In 1953 Dr Orian Truss discovered the devastating effects of antibiotics in an Alabama (USA) hospital. During a hospital round Truss was intrigued by a gaunt, apparently elderly man who was obviously dying. However, he was only in his forties and in hospital for four months. No specialist had been able to make a diagnosis. Out of curiosity Truss asked the patient when be was last completely well.

The man answered that he was well until six months before when he had cut his finger He had received antibiotics for this. Shortly afterwards he developed diarrhoea and his health deteriorated. Truss had seen before how antibiotics cause diarrhoea. It was known that Candida was opportunistic and thrived in debilitated patients, but now Truss wondered if it might not be the other way round, that Candida actually caused the debilitated condition.

He had read that potassium iodide solution could be used to treat Candida infestation of the blood. So he put the patient on six to eight drops of Lugol's solution four times a day and soon the patient was again completely well.

Soon afterwards he had a female patient with a stuffy nose, a throbbing headache, vaginitis and severe depression. To his amazement all her problems immediately cleared with Candida treatment. Some time later he saw a female patient who had been schizophrenic for six years with hundreds of electroshock treatments and massive drug dosages. He started treating the woman for sinus allergies with a Candida vaccine. Soon she had recovered mentally and physically, and remained well.

From then on he treated his patients against Candida at the slightest indication of its presence. Many of his patients made remarkable recoveries from most unusual conditions including menstrual problems, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, autism, multiple sclerosis and auto-immune diseases such as Crohn'sdisease and lupus erythematosus.​

 

Try another doctor!

 

How are you going? I hope you have seen some improvements.

Is your tinnitus perceived in your head or ears, or both?

Any update Leeroy? I hope you're in a better space.

 

After 3 weeks of LDN I can report that there is no benefit to my tinnitus unfortunately.

I took 5 mg.

 

I think you need at least 12 weeks if it’s inflammation-related.

 

I'm sorry EDDTEKK. I was really hopeful for you.

Are you still on Abilify?

 

Hey @DebInAustralia. I'm hanging in there. Thanks for asking.

I hope you are doing well?

I've put a pause on LDN at the moment. Getting some pretty big spikes and increase of noise that I'm having a little trouble dealing with at the moment, but I don't think it's related to the LDN. Once I settle down, I'll try and get back on it again...

 

Hi Deb,

Yes, I still take it but it's the same as with the LDN, I don't feel it does much for my tinnitus. However, I will continue taking it for some more weeks.

 

My tinnitus is bilateral / head. A little bit louder on the left than the right. It's also reactive and it ramps up throughout the day. It's a loud 7 kHz squeal, like a smoke alarm blaring.

I should have tried LDN first, because full dose Naltrexone didn't help my tinnitus.

A few weeks ago I started compounding my own and taking LDN. There are videos on YouTube that show you how. I have enough 50 mg pills left to last me almost six months at a low dose. While it has had no direct effect on my tinnitus, it has had one or two life-altering effects.

I noticed a remarkable antidepressant effect. I have more energy. I am happy. I can push through this loud tinnitus and hyperacusis.

My tinnitus has gotten louder, but paradoxically, I have been less bothered by tinnitus and hyperacusis than I have been in a long time. I noticed after I started doing 30 minutes of vigorous cardio daily that my tinnitus was louder but bothering me less.

My appetite has been nullified. This has been an effect of Naltrexone. It's documented to have that effect and is even marketed as an appetite suppressant under the name Contrave. I took advantage of the situation and went whole food vegan (I've been vegetarian since 1986) to try and overcome insulin resistance and type II diabetes. I started out at 227 lbs / 103 kg and am now 213 lbs / 97 kg. I feel better than I have felt in years. My blood pressure has gone down. I was just barely diabetic. I don't yet know what effect, if any, my lifestyle changes have made on my blood glucose levels, but I can say that I feel 20 years younger. I am 56. By the end of the year I expect to weigh 150 lbs / 68 kg, where I was in my 20s.

I also sleep like a baby these days. I used to have insomnia, and took Doxylamine nightly. I now have "Naltrexone crazy dreams," but that's okay. Someone asked about sexual side effects. No impairment there.

I'm not by any means cured. I still intend to use Dr. Shore's device when it is available. I still drive a car with earplugs and Peltor earmuffs. But the rest of my life is much better, so the tinnitus is not enough to ruin it. Consequently, I've been happy enough that I've forgotten to visit Tinnitus Talk as frequently.

 

What is your daily dose please?

 

I vary the dose between 1.5 mg and 4.5 mg, and sometimes I skip a night. This was suggested by this Naltrexone user:

Compounding/making your own (LDN) low-dose...

One commenter responded: "The alternating dosage is a great piece of advice. I've watched the LDN & Cancer doc on YouTube and Dr Wai Liu talks exactly about the fact that many patients don't respond when LDN is given continuously. Basically for many people LDN works best if they are not taking it every day. It also explains why people respond so differently."

 

Hi linearb,

I vaguely remember asking you what effect 3 mg LDN had on your tinnitus?

 

Any updates on your trial of Naltrexone/LDN?

 

Is your tinnitus in your head or ears?

I'm trying to work out why my head noise is worse and what I can do about it.

 

Have you persisted with the LDN?

I hope you are experiencing longer lasting quieter results...

Is your tinnitus perceived in your head, ears or both?

 

I suppose it depends on how widespread the inflammation is. I know someone on this forum who experienced much quieter head noise after a few days on 1 mg LDN.

 

Hi @DebInAustralia, I just started LDN again yesterday. Will let you know how I go. I've got noise in head and ears.

 

Hi @DebInAustralia -- I have head tinnitus, and I use reflexology to try to reduce it. In reflexology, the head corresponds to the big toe. If you start massaging your big toes, it's likely you'll find a number of tender spots. Work on these for a short while for a few days, and you'll notice the pain starts to get worked out. There are testimonials out there on reflexology helping with tinnitus.

I can't say whether or not it helps me, but I believe it does. It's just that I do so many things to try to help things, that I can't tell what's helping to what degree. I just know that my tinnitus is about 50% better than it was at onset about four years ago. A lot of steady persistance with a number of therapies since then seems to have helped. Here's a POST of mine that elaborates a bit on my take on reflexology, and how I think it can mimic some of the effects of deep brain stimulation.

 

Too long ago and that was back when I thought about my tinnitus constantly in a way, which, knock on wood I just haven't since I went back on Klonopin in 2017, so it's gotten pretty hard to relate to what my state of mind was like in those days, it's sort of like looking back on a nightmare that I'd prefer not to.

 

Are you still taking Klonopin? How many mg?

 

2 mg of Klonopin + 600 mg of Gabapentin, daily.

Not ideal. So far, substantial improvement over dealing with this bullshit unmedicated. If it eventually stops working, well, I think capitalism itself has maybe 15-25 years left and after that we're just dealing with escalating wars over diminishing resources until a combination of climate change, insect collapse and basic thermodynamic limits cause the actual collapse of civilization (my guess, 2080 or so with an over/under of 50 years).

So I am not worrying too much about what happens when I am old and gray, other than making sure my children know how to operate firearms and setup perimeter IEDs. The future looks like it's pretty likely to be shitty, hyperbole aside, so I am focused on enjoying the moment! Carpe carp, seize the fish.

 

How many % has your tinnitus reduced from the Clonazepam?

 

It's pretty hard to answer that because I just don't think about it in the same way anymore, or, really, much at all. It's just a thing, it's there, it's like my foot, I can feel it if I think about it and usually I am not.

The high pitched frequency beeps mostly seem suppressed by the Gabapentin. The constant 14 kHz squeal may or may not be any quieter than it was before I was back on these drugs but it's seldom painful anymore and I just don't think about it (knock on wood). When I notice it I am rarely bothered. Occasionally I have unpleasant dreams about it but that's less scary than the dreams where my kids are hurt or something, or I am living 30 years in the future fighting off desert hordes of climate refugees with an AK-47 trying to protect the last water supply in Vermont

And, again, I have a long relationship with these drugs going back to well before my brain was done wiring up. I expect they hit me differently than they hit other people. Some few other people have had good success on this cocktail but it's hardly universal, seems like 75% of people think it makes them feel tired/drugged with no clear advantage.

I think in Japan you can still buy Restas over the counter? That's a decent, moderately long half life benzo. I have ordered it from Japan on occasion.

 

Did you ever get around to trialing high dose Curcumin?

 

Interesting reading your posts from over the years.

Do you split the Klonopin dose over the day/night?

I'm guessing it got into the loud severe range (7-9) that stopped you from concentrating and you thought that's enough of this bollo$?

 

Nope, 2 mg 1st thing w/glass of water. Long half life. Splitting dose barely matters.

I wouldn't say it got worse as much as I got sick of dealing with it unmedicated and then having kids pushed me completely over the edge of "drugs are fine, probably".