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Is it Best to Take Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) at Night Or in the Morning?
A patient reports taking 4 milligrams at bedtime for PPMS. They are wondering if the half-life is four to six hours than is it being absorbed as I sleep or should I be better taking it in the morning and let it work for me throughout the day?
Unlike Tylenol or a paracetamol or acetaminophen you take a dose it works for a period of time. It wears off. It's time to take more. That isn't how LDN works. LDN works very differently. For PPMS (I'm assuming that is the one of the forms of multiple sclerosis that has remissive issues), the half-life of LDN is four to six hours. It might be better absorbed while you're asleep because it's sitting there longer. It depends on you as an individual. Taking it in the morning isn't necessarily going to work better throughout the day because when we're using LDN for autoimmune issues, and it's being taken once a day, it's basically interacting with those receptors that causes other chemicals in the body to release more of over the next eight to even 18 hours. You could take it at night and still have great benefit throughout the next day. You could take it in the morning and have benefit again throughout the next day.
It just really depends on you as an individual. If it's working well for you taking it at bedtime then leave it there. If it's not working for you as well at bedtime because you have sleep issues, vivid dreams, upset tummy, if you know if you're waking up because of all the vivid dreams then move it to the morning and see if that's better. It's about you and how this is going to work best for you. Your provider will allow you to move that around then please do and then just document your symptoms and how well you're doing at your bedtime dose. If you do move it to the morning then you have something to compare it to and then make decisions for yourself as to what time of day is going to work best for you.
To clarify that issue, the time of day, has nothing to do with the half-life of this medication and how long it's going to work.