As of opening my computer to write, I am exactly 24 hours into the new course of treatment. I took the first pill last night at 9 pm. As soon as I get enough words on this page, I will do it again. It is way too soon to say anything definitive, but so far all signs are pointing towards this being exactly what I needed. I wrote my friend who told me about this medication earlier today, and told him that he did a very good deed by telling me about low-dose naltrexone. I'm sure that it isn't appropriate for every single person who suffers from the same diseases that I do (singly or in combination), but I'm glad my doctor is giving me a chance to test it on myself. She has other patients who have used it, and the compounding pharmacy that I use (which happens to be the one where they know me by sight and know just about my entire history) makes this for other customers, so it was easy for me to find people willing to go along with me and offer me valuable advice along the way.
There is most likely a little psychosomatic effect helping me here. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing when what I am doing is tricking my brain into producing more of its own feel-good chemicals without adding in artificially synthesized ones. If the power of positive thinking makes that process more effective, then I'll think happy thoughts all damned day.
I worried that I'd have insomnia, as some people reported. Instead, by about 10:30 last night, I was relaxed and sleepy and was ready for lights out. I woke a couple of times (okay, probably seven or eight), but I do that anyway. I didn't feel particularly disturbed by that. When I woke at 7:30, I felt more rested than I usually do. I got up to go to the bathroom, quietly so that I didn't get all the dogs and cats thinking it was breakfast time. I didn't have to limp and hobble as usual, but rather was able to walk flat on my feet. My low back wasn't cramped up upon rising, so I was able to do much more earlier in the day than before. It might not seem amazing to you that I could lean over and set my coffee cup on the side table before I sat down to drink, but to me that was miraculous.
I had a bunch of last minute cleaning to do before the Rotary youth services coordinator came to view my house, and I put in nearly two hours of running around, finding things everywhere I looked that I wanted to clean or merely hide. By the end of it, I was tired and warm, maybe even a tiny bit sore, but I wasn't in pain. The entire day went more smoothly too. My IT band/hip flexors were forgiving. My feet held me up through almost everything I asked of them. I was able to stand up out of chairs without gasping and swallowing screams. All of this from a single milligram of an opioid uptake blocker.
It had a time limit though. Somewhere around seven or eight this evening, all the benefit stopped like a light turning off. I'm hurting again now, but it is almost bedtime. I'm looking forward to trying again, and hoping for another day of minimal pain and maybe a tiny energy boost. I wanted it to be this good, but I was really afraid to hope. It's too early to say this is forever, but it's right now, and that's good enough.
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