I actually independently arrived at the conclusion that naltrexone might be a good thing for me to try a number of months ago (to treat my anhedonia, emotional numbness, and to upregulate BNDF expression in the hopes of improved cognitive functioning). I went to my doctor, asked for some, and was given several months worth of 50mg tablets, and my insurance covered it (probably because the doctor purposely misrepresented in my chart what the purpose of its prescription was). Wary of unpleasantness, I started with what I thought was a low dose of 25 mg (since in the literature, 50mg is described as the starting dose for treating alcohol dependence and other addictions.) I really didn't find it all together very unpleasant. In fact, for the first hour or so it was euphoric to me (of course, at the same period of time I was finding opioids, such as hydrocodone, to be
extremely dysphoric).
Anyways, enough rambling. Onto my question: Has anyone else experienced lucid dreams taking the stuff?
The second time I tried it, I think, I took 12.5 mg before going to bed. A half an hour before I woke up I suddenly starting gaining lucidity in my dream. I had been dreaming of being back in high school, walking through its hallways as I heard the din of a throng of students chattering away all at once, when suddenly I became aware that I was asleep and that the high school of my dream, which only moments before I had been convinced was my own, was not, in fact, mine - being merely a product of my imagination and reflecting the appearance of the archetypal high school. As soon as this realization sunk in and the lucidity of my dream reached its zenith, I looked ahead of me to find that the hallway abruptly opened to an exotic and extremely beautiful oriental landscape with verdant rolling hills, tall sheer mountains, exquisitely arranged boulders of varying size, and a twisting distinctly oriental tree bereft of its foliage and floral ornamentation. Suddenly, I looked at the sky and saw a homogeneous layer of clouds perfectly concealing the firmament, which, though I intuited was unimaginably thick, nevertheless admitted of the passage of a great deal of light due to its sheer intensity. Though not in any way religious or spiritual, I interpreted this light as being god and felt overwhelmingly profound and powerful emotions and began screaming as loud as I could, afraid that the clouds should part and reveal that light of inconceivable intensity in full. At this point I woke up.
Prior to this I had had only, perhaps, two lucid dreams in my entire life. To this day it remains the most interesting dream I've ever had. It's strange that when on no pharmaceutical regimen I happen to dream, which occurs rarely, those dreams are almost invariably nightmares, but when I take naltrexone, which you would expect to cause dysphoric experiences only, the dreams tend to be of a far more positive nature.
Edited by togameru, 04 April 2010 - 03:57 AM.
