How do I wean off opioids while taking Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)?

LDN Specialist Pharmacist Michelle Moser
Pharmacist, Michelle Moser 

How do I wean off opioids while taking Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)?

It's going to be a while before I'm off long-acting morphine. I can stop taking it for a day or a few days, perhaps intermittently, and start taking LDN on those long-acting free days toward moving to only short-acting. I currently take one 15mg morphine ER mid-morning and two 5mg oxy short-acting daily variably as needed. The first oxy is on waking. My conditions include fibromyalgia. 

Whenever we're trying to wean someone off of their opiates, we move everybody to intermittent or immediate-release products. We get everybody off their long-acting. We put them on the short-acting or immediate-release products, and then we can start with microgram dosing. There was a study that was published in 2007, I believe it was, called OxyTrex, and it literally was one microgram along with five milligrams of oxycodone. 

A lot of people are like, wait, what? You put Naltrexone in with an opiate? Yes, even a synthetic opiate. What we found in that study is that one microgram, MCG, tiny, tiny dose of Naltrexone, along with five milligrams of Oxycodone, the one microgram actually enhanced the analgesic effect of the Oxycodone, and people could take less pain medication. 
Again, microgram dosing, tiny. Even with microgram dosing, we have to be careful taking it more than once or twice a day because of how much other pain medication is there, but it can be done. It needs to be done with a provider who really understands the ins and outs of Naltrexone, especially at microgram and very low dose, as well as pain control, and the patient has to be 100% bought in if they are wanting to get off of their opiates, and then start using LDN for pain control.