Does it really matter that the Low Dose Naltrexone community is "hung up" on met-enkephalin? That side of the "therapy" is probably just the feel-good factor that reinforces use of the drug, while its method of action in inflammatory disease is as a microglial modulator. At least that's the theory of this Rheumatology paper on it from earlier this year, drawing on the paper cited above: "The Use of Low-Dose Naltroxen as a Novel Anti-Inflammatory Treatment for Chronic Pain"
http://link.springer...2/fulltext.html .
It's extremely easy and pretty cheap to get hold of basic naltrexone (mine arrived 3 days after ordering) and to dilute it yourself. I dissolved 50mg tablet in 16 measures of water to make 3mg per measure -- or you could use 11 measures of water for 4.5mg per measure. Solution must be refrigerated.
The endorphin rebound is not necessarily a bad thing (if that's what's happening), so I don't see any need to synth dextro-naltrexone just to experiment. I guess if you have trouble sleeping due to endorphin suppression at night (following bedtime dose), then dextro would be useful, and it certainly should be investigated for its potential as a disease modifying agent. But for nootropic effects, other than as a kind of anti-oxidant, I'd have thought the endorphin rebound of levo-naltrexone (the one that's available) would actually be a useful effect.
After four bedtime doses of 3mg, I notice the following so far: It suppresses coffee craving (I drank far less coffee than I usually do); I don't feel very hungry (which might or might not be a useful effect); it so far abolishes any afternoon fatigue I usually have (since the endorphin rebound seems strongest in the afternoon following a night-time dose); I feel slightly euphoric towards the end of the afternoon, so far on all four days. It feels a little as if I'm on armodafinil, but without the "forced" feeling modafinil sometimes gives me. Possible negatives: it seems to irritate my urinary tract, particularly early morning; I don't feel that great when I wake up.
I may need to lower the dose, if the opioid receptor blockade is lasting too long (I guess this is where having access to dextro-naltrexone could be a useful comparator). I should declare that I also have a mild chronic inflammation (has been medically investigated) that I'm trying to get rid of, so my motivation is not entirely nootropic. I don't know whether the endorphin rebound is masking the inflammation / myalgia or whether the microglial modification is kicking in, but so far so good (early days / placebo). I aim to have blood work done in early January to see if the anti-inflammatory effects are real (I have raised ESR and CRP).
Edited by Geoffrey, 21 November 2014 - 03:06 PM.
