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Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes pain in the abdomen, lower abdomen, rectum, and in the joints. There is no cure for Crohn's disease. There's no one treatment that works for all sufferer's of this disease. Patients with this condition try the various methods of treatments available, which includes low dose Naltrexone.

If you've recently been diagnosed with Crohn's disease, you may be wondering if it's worthwhile to try low dose Naltrexone to alleviate your pain and symptoms. Here's what you need to know.

How does Naltrexone work?

Naltrexone has been approved to use in the treatment of alcohol abuse and opioid abuse. For these purposes, Naltrexone works by blocking opioid receptors, which decreases the urges people have when they are addicted to alcohol or opioids. When used in high doses, Naltrexone works to help decrease alcohol and drug addiction. 

Low dose Naltrexone works as a pain reducer as well. The medication binds to and blocks pain receptors. This action naturally tells the body to start producing more endorphins, which is a natural pain reliever that is produced by your body. This occurs when low doses of Naltrexone are given, as opposed to high doses of the medication when used to overcome alcohol and drug addiction. 

Low dose Naltrexone for IBD 

Low dose Naltrexone has been shown to improve clinical symptoms and induce remission of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease. In fact, 74.5% of patients saw an improvement in their clinical evaluation after taking low dose Naltrexone during the study. 

Naltrexone was found to improve the wound healing of the epithelial cell layers in the intestine, which resulted in the reduction of pain they felt from the disease. If you are interested in trying low dose Naltrexone, speak with your provider for more information on how it may or may not affect any other medical conditions you may have or other medications you may be taking. 

Naltrexone is manufactured in high dose pills. Therefore, when you're prescribed low dose Naltrexone, you'll need to have your prescription filled by a compounding pharmacy. A compounding pharmacy will grind up the high dose pills and reformulate the medication into pill or liquid form, depending on the prescription given by the physician. Since you will start taking this medication at a low dose, the liquid form may be easier to adjust as you slowly increase the amount of it you take.