Naltrexone Shortage Disrupts Addiction Treatment

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

An inexpensive drug used to manage chronic pain and treat substance use disorders has joined the growing list of medications that are in short supply in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) both recently added naltrexone tablets to their drug shortage lists. It’s not clear what caused the shortage, but the ASHP says “there is insufficient supply for usual ordering.”  

Naltrexone is FDA-approved to treat both alcohol and opioid use disorder, and is also used off-label in low doses to treat some chronic pain conditions.

In 50mg doses, naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain and reduces cravings for opiates or alcohol. But in smaller doses of 5mg or less, patients have found low-dose naltrexone (LDN) to be an effective pain reliever for interstitial cystitis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, fibromyalgia, and other painful conditions.

LDN advocates believe the drug modulates the immune system, reduces inflammation and stimulates the production of endorphins, the body's natural painkiller. Because it is an opioid antagonist, naltrexone should not be taken with opioid medication.

So far, the shortage only affects 50mg naltrexone tablets. Pain patients usually obtain LDN by prescription from compounding pharmacies, which make the low dose versions in-house.

Several drug makers are reporting short supplies of 50mg tablets, including Accord Healthcare, Major, Elite Laboratories, SpecGx, Sun Pharma, Tagi Pharma, and Avet Pharmaceuticals. The companies didn’t provide the ASHP with a reason for the shortage, but said the tablets are on back order and would be released when they become available.    

The naltrexone shortage comes at an inopportune time, as more people abused alcohol and other substances during the pandemic and sought treatment. The drug that helps them stay sober is now hard to get.

"People are coming in with more cravings," Dr. Aviva Zohar, an addiction medicine provider, told Philly Voice. "Even the feeling of, 'I don't know when my medicine is coming in,' is a huge struggle. It's horrific (and) causing a lot of stress.”

To make up for the shortage, some providers are giving patients Vivitrol, an injectable, extended-release formulation of naltrexone taken once a month. A single Vivitrol injection costs about $1,700, while a month’s supply of 50mg naltrexone tablets costs about $48.

The cheap price of naltrexone may be responsible for the shortage. Most drugs in short supply are low-cost generics with slim profit margins. Some manufacturers have reduced or stopped making generics because they’re not worth the cost of production or the risk of litigation.   

Three generic opioids commonly taken for pain — immediate-release oxycodone, oxycodone-acetaminophen, and hydrocodone-acetaminophen tablets — have been on the ASHP shortage list for nearly a year, with no end in sight.

Low-Dose Naltrexone Gaining Recognition as Chronic Pain Treatment

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) is finally getting some recognition from the medical community as a treatment for chronic pain. The December edition of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) features a cover story on the use of LDN by dentists – not to manage short term pain during dental procedures – but to treat chronic oral and facial pain conditions such as temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ).

“Low-dose naltrexone provides an alternative in medical management of chronic pain disorders as a novel anti-inflammatory and immunomodulator. It can offer additional management options, as orofacial pain conditions share characteristics with other chronic pain disorders,” wrote Elizabeth Hatfield, DDS, corresponding author and clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.  

Few mainstream medical organizations have recognized the benefits of naltrexone as a pain reliever, largely because the drug is only approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for substance abuse. In 50mg doses, naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain and decreases the desire to take opiates or alcohol.  

But in smaller doses of 5mg or less, patients with a wide variety of pain conditions have found LDN to be a surprisingly effective pain reliever. PNN columnists have shared their positive experiences using LDN to treat everything from interstitial cystitis to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome to fibromyalgia.  

How naltrexone works is not exactly clear – more research is needed – but LDN supporters believe the drug helps modulate the immune system, reducing inflammation and stimulating the production of endorphins, the body's natural painkiller.  

The lack of good quality research on LDN is evident in the JADA article. Hatfield and her colleagues reviewed nearly 800 studies, but could find only eight that met their criteria for evaluation, most of them focused on treating fibromyalgia. Nevertheless, they say LDN could be an effective and less risky alternative to opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for treating chronic oral and facial pain.

"The unique antinociceptive properties mediated via glial cell modulation, as opposed to previously identified pathways of opioids and anti-inflammatories such as NSAIDs, is attractive as it bypasses certain side effects and concerns with long-term NSAID and opioid use," said Hatfield. "Further benefits include reduction in reported pain levels and measurable increases in quality of life for patients with chronic pain disorders. Additionally, it offers an option for prescribers managing temporomandibular joint disorders with a centralized pain component.”

A 2019 review by British researchers found that LDN is safe to use, but also recommended that more clinical studies be conducted on its potential uses.

Because naltrexone is only approved to treat addiction, LDN needs to be prescribed “off-label” for pain. Patients interested in trying LDN often encounter doctors who refuse to prescribe it or don’t know anything about it. The LDN Research Trust includes a list of LDN-friendly doctors and pharmacies on its website.

Low Dose Naltrexone Saved Me from a Lifetime of Pain

By Madora Pennington, PNN Columnist

The first place I felt a ripping pain in my body was in my feet, when I was 14 and growing fast. But that’s only because I don’t remember the severe abdominal hernias I was born with. They probably felt the same. After I screamed for the first two months of life, a surgeon repaired them. I still have the scars.

In adolescence, very soon after my feet began to fail me, I was distracted by the snapping of my kneecaps. More trouble walking. Next came the low back aching. Carrying my schoolbooks and sitting in class became unbearable.

My merry-go-round of symptoms could have driven me mad, I suppose, but I was overtaken with such debilitating fatigue, I did not have the energy for big emotional reactions. My clique of junior high friends were agony, isolation and loneliness that I was too tired to accept or reject.

Then my abdomen herniated again. That pain was drowned out by everything else, to be repaired years later when surrounding tissue got caught in it, requiring an emergency operation.

In spite of exhaustive doctor visits throughout my life, no one gave a me a name for what was wrong with me until I was 33: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Ah, so that’s what the other kids had that I lacked: stable collagen. My life began to make sense.

EDS was named for the doctors who first noted it in the medical literature. If it had been assigned a descriptive name, it would be called Contortionist Syndrome.

If I had joined the circus, my job would have been freaky back bender. My spine is impressively loose and a particular source of torture. I spent the last half of my 20’s begging for a guillotine to make the pain in my neck and head stop. No one obliged. Rib dislocations have been another problem. Is this what it feels like to get stabbed in prison? I am in prison in my body, so that would be consistent.

Before you feel too sorry for me, or recoil in horror that a human could be born so flimsy, note that my story has a happy ending. By the end of my 30’s, I got experimental treatment that made my body produce better collagen, strong enough to end my life of disability and begin a new one, functioning in the world.

Pain Changes the Brain

It was one thing to have a more stable body, but I still had a problem. Pain creates a disease state of its own. I had been in chronic pain for about 25 years.

Pain signals danger to the body: Do something because you are getting hurt! But what happens when the pain never stops or cannot be adequately relieved? The more a brain experiences pain, the better it gets at experiencing it. That is how brains are. They get good at what they practice.

Ongoing, unrelieved pain causes a downward spiral of maladaptive changes. Chronic pain triggers fatigue and depression. Sufferers tend to avoid activity, often quite legitimately, out of fear of injury or pain aggravation. Chronic pain also seems to induce troublesome changes in learning, memory, and body perception that are similar to emotional disorders. As pain changes the brain, sufferers are likely to feel less motivated and become less able to initiate or complete goals.

These brain changes are real. Researchers have noted widespread abnormalities in the brain, such as “grey matter density, in the connectivity of the white matter, as well as in glutamate, opioid and dopamine neurotransmission.”

How Naltrexone Works

One promising treatment for disrupting and rehabilitating the vicious cycle of chronic pain is an off-label use of an old drug: Naltrexone. Naltrexone treats opioid addiction by blocking the opioid receptors so drugs like heroin cannot take effect.

However, given at much smaller doses, naltrexone blocks the opioid receptors only slightly. This creates a stimulating, re-regulating effect The result: relief and even healing. Even better news, naltrexone is one of the safest drugs around.

How does low dose naltrexone (LDN) have such a profound effect? Opioid receptors are not just in the brain, they are spread throughout the body in the guts, blood, joints, skin and nerves. The hypothalamus and adrenal glands produce hormones with opioid-like effects, creating a complex hormonal feedback system that governs everything from immunity, pleasure and pain, to how connected we feel to others. Naltrexone in low doses gently interrupts these inter-body communications, which can cause a cascade of healing.

Dr. Linda Bluestein is a pain doctor at Wisconsin Integrative Pain Specialists and host of the Bendy Bodies podcast. She often prescribes low dose naltrexone for her chronic pain patients.

“LDN acts on microglial cells and is a novel CNS anti-inflammatory agent,” says Dr. Bluestein, adding that LDN works well not only on persistent pain (fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome, migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, etc.), but also for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory conditions, neuropathic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis.

“Results are very positive. Many patients get outstanding pain relief. The remainder get moderate pain relief,” said Bluestein. “Some don't really observe much pain relief but want to continue taking the medication because the incidence of infections is lowered. This is because naltrexone given in low doses (1.5 to 4.5 mg) can act as an immunomodulator benefiting both autoimmune diseases and immune function.”

As for side-effects, Dr. Bluestein notes that a patient must be off opioids to take LDN.

“The most common side-effect is vivid dreams. Occasionally a patient will have GI issues, abdominal pain, or even more rarely, loose stools. Cost is sometimes a barrier as insurance rarely covers LDN. Access is another occasional barrier as it must be obtained from a compounding pharmacy,” she explained.

Back to my story, my life of pain interrupted. I have been taking low dose naltrexone for years now. In spite of healthier connective tissue, pain had ravaged me. LDN went far to undo that. Results took time, but were well worth the wait. I would say LDN gave me my personality back, which chronic pain (and also long-term opioids) had altered.

As someone with Ehlers-Danlos, my body is overly-sensitive and overly-perceptive. Activity that is moderate, normal, and completely safe can cause alarm bells of injury and trauma to my brain, even though I am not actually injured.

Why this happens with EDS is not understood, but in my experience, LDN keeps this phenomena from becoming a downward spiral of more pain, depression, fatigue and dysfunction.

Madora Pennington writes about Ehlers-Danlos and life after disability at LessFlexible.com. Her work has also been featured in the Los Angeles Times.

Low Dose Naltrexone a ‘Game Changer’

By Alex Smith, Kaiser Health News

Lori Pinkley, a 50-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., has struggled with puzzling chronic pain since she was 15.

She has had countless disappointing visits with doctors. Some said they couldn’t help her. Others diagnosed her with everything from fibromyalgia to lipedema to the rare Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Pinkley has taken opioids a few times after surgeries, but they never helped her underlying pain. Recently she joined a growing group of patients using an outside-the-box remedy: naltrexone. It is typically used to treat addiction to opioids or alcohol, in pill form or as a monthly shot.

As the medical establishment attempts a huge U-turn after two disastrous decades of pushing long-term opioid use for chronic pain, scientists have been struggling to develop safe, effective alternatives.

When naltrexone is used to treat addiction in pill form, it’s prescribed at 50 milligrams. But chronic pain patients say it helps their pain at doses of less than a tenth of that.

Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) has lurked for years on the fringes of medicine, and its zealous advocates worry it may be stuck there. Naltrexone, which can be produced generically, is not even manufactured at the low doses that seem best for pain patients.

Instead, patients go to compounding pharmacies or resort to DIY methods — YouTube videos and online support groups show people how to turn 50 mg pills into a low-dose liquid.

Some doctors prescribe it off label even though it’s not FDA-approved for pain.

University of Kansas pain specialist Dr. Andrea Nicol recently started prescribing LDN to her patients, including Pinkley. Nicol explained that for addiction patients it works by blocking opioid receptors — some of the brain’s most important feel-good regions. So it prevents patients from feeling high and can help patients resist cravings.

At low doses of about 4.5 mg, however, naltrexone seems to work differently.

“What it’s felt to do is not shut down the system, but restore some balance to the opioid system,” Nicol said.

Some of the hype over low-dose naltrexone has included some pretty extreme claims with limited research to back them, like using it to treat multiple sclerosis and neuropathic pain or even using it as a weight-loss drug.

In the past two years, however, there’s been a significant increase in new studies published on low-dose naltrexone, many strengthening claims of its effectiveness as a treatment for chronic pain, though most of these were small pilot studies.

Dr. Bruce Vrooman, an associate professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, authored a recent review of low-dose naltrexone research.

Vrooman said that, when it comes to treating some patients with complex chronic pain, low-dose naltrexone appears to be more effective and well-tolerated than the big-name opioids that dominated pain management for decades.

“Those patients may report that this is indeed a game changer. It may truly help them with their activities, help them feel better.”

— Dr. Bruce Vrooman

“Those patients may report that this is indeed a game changer,” Vrooman said. “It may truly help them with their activities, help them feel better.”

So how does it work? Scientists think that for many chronic pain patients the central nervous system gets overworked and agitated. Pain signals fire in an out-of-control feedback loop that drowns out the body’s natural pain-relieving systems.

They suspect that low doses of naltrexone dampen that inflammation and kick-start the body’s production of pain-killing endorphins — all with relatively minor side effects.

Drug Companies Not Promoting LDN

Despite the promise of naltrexone, its advocates say, few doctors know about it. The low-dose version is generally not covered by insurance, so patients typically have to pay out-of-pocket to have it specially made at compounding pharmacies.

Advocates worry that the treatment is doomed to be stuck on the periphery of medicine because, as a 50-year-old drug, naltrexone can be made generically.

Patricia Danzon, a professor of health care management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that drug companies don’t have much interest in producing a new drug unless they can be the only maker of it.

“Bringing a new drug to market requires getting FDA approval, and that requires doing clinical trials,” Danzon said. “That’s a significant investment, and companies — unsurprisingly — are not willing to do that unless they can get a patent and be the sole supplier of that drug for at least some period of time.”

And without a drug company’s backing, a treatment like low-dose naltrexone is unlikely to get the promotional push out to doctors and TV advertisements that has made household names of drugs like Humira and Chantix.

 “It’s absolutely true that once a product becomes generic, you don’t see promotion happening, because it never pays a generic company to promote something if there are multiple versions of it available, and they can’t be sure that they’ll capture the reward on that promotion,” Danzon said.

The drugmaker Alkermes has had huge success with its exclusive rights to the extended-release version of naltrexone, called Vivitrol. In a statement for this story, the company said it hasn’t seen enough evidence to support the use of low-dose naltrexone to treat chronic pain and therefore is remaining focused on opioid addiction treatment.

Lori Pinkley said it’s frustrating that there are so many missing pieces in the puzzle of understanding and treating chronic pain, but she, too, has become a believer in naltrexone.

She’s been taking it for about a year now, at first paying $50 a month out-of-pocket to have the prescription filled at a compounding pharmacy. In July, her insurance started covering it.

“I can go from having days that I really don’t want to get out of bed because I hurt so bad,” she said, “to within a half-hour of taking it, I’m up and running, moving around, on the computer, able to do stuff.”

A recent review by British researchers found that LDN is safe to use and more clinical studies are needed on its potential uses. PNN readers have shared their positive experiences using LDN to treat Interstitial Cystitis and fibromyalgia.

The LDN Research Trust includes a list of LDN-friendly doctors and pharmacies on its website.

This story is part of a partnership that includes KCUR, NPR and Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service covering health issues. KHN is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Naltrexone ‘Changed Life’ of Fibromyalgia Patient

By Donna Gregory Burch

The pain in Janice Hollander’s legs was so excruciating that she wanted to cut them off. Diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2013, she’d progressed through the normal litany of prescription drugs doled out by physicians – Lyrica, Cymbalta, gabapentin, muscle relaxers and narcotics – all without finding relief.

Then she happened to catch an episode of the Dr. Oz Show where a guest discussed using low-dose naltrexone (LDN) as a treatment for chronic pain. A few days later, she convinced her doctor to write a prescription and took her first dose of LDN.

“After about seven days, my pain lessened,” said Hollander of Michigan. “It lessened by 10 or 20 percent. That was huge! Even just that little bit of lessening was huge.”

After four weeks, the depression that had been stymying her for years lifted. At six weeks, she saw a noticeable increase in her energy levels. Her brain fog improved, and her memory returned.

Hollander has been taking LDN for about year now, and she’s probably one of its biggest fans within the fibromyalgia community. She regularly shares her success story in online support groups.

Hollander still has fibromyalgia symptoms, but they are more manageable thanks to LDN.

“I would say my leg pain is pretty much gone,” she said. “[LDN] has completely changed my life. I don’t know that I would be here today if it wasn’t for it. I don’t think I could go for another year in the misery I was in.” 

A growing number of fibromyalgia sufferers like Hollander are finding relief using LDN. It’s an unusual discovery since LDN is best known in the addiction treatment community. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved LDN to treat addiction to certain opiate drugs in 1984.

janice hollander

Dr. Jarred Younger, who conducted two LDN/fibromyalgia studies at Stanford University, believes LDN has an anti-inflammatory effect on the brain.

“This is one of the few drugs that can do that in the brain because it crosses the blood-brain barrier,” Younger said.

In simple terms, the brain contains microglial cells that look for problems within the central nervous system. When they discover an abnormality, these cells release chemicals into the body that cause fatigue, pain, cognitive disturbances and other symptoms common among fibromyalgia patients. In a healthy person, these chemicals are intended to slow down the body, to force it to rest, so that it can heal from whatever has caused the abnormality. In fibromyalgia, some researchers hypothesize this normal central nervous system response gets activated and doesn’t shut off.

“It’s like the central nervous system thinks you have an infection when you don’t,” Younger explained.

Fibromyalgia sufferers often speculate about what caused their condition, and researchers have debated various triggers for years. Viruses (herpes, Epstein Barr, etc.), chronic stress, genetics, obesity, aging and pollution are suspects, but according to Younger, it could be all of these.

He believes LDN works because it calms the microglial cells and reduces brain inflammation.

Penn State University researcher Ian Zagon posits a different mechanism behind LDN. Zagon’s opioid blockade hypothesis surmises that LDN blocks the brain’s opioid receptors, essentially tricking the body into increasing production of natural pain-suppressing chemicals.

Theoretically, both hypotheses could be correct.

Younger’s two Stanford University studies showed LDN outperformed Lyrica, Cymbalta and Savella, the three drugs currently approved to treat fibromyalgia in the U.S., and it did so with minimal side effects. The most common side effects are headache, insomnia, vivid dreams and nausea – all of which usually disappear over time.

“Probably 65 percent of people get an appreciable decrease of symptoms,” Younger said.

But more research is needed to confirm these early findings.

Next year, Younger will conduct at least two LDN/fibromyalgia studies at his new facility, the Neuroinflammation, Pain and Fatigue Lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

One study will try to parse out the most effective dose of LDN for fibromyalgia. Most LDN users are prescribed the drug off-label, between 1.5mg and 4.5mg daily. But some rheumatologists have shared anecdotal accounts that certain patients respond better to higher doses, ranging up to 9mg.

A second trial will pair LDN with dextromethorphan, a common cough suppressant that’s believed to work similarly to LDN.

But many fibromyalgia sufferers aren’t waiting for the research. They’ve found ways to secure a prescription and try LDN for themselves.

Linda Elsegood, founder of the U.K.-based LDN Research Trust, has helped thousands of people gain access to LDN. She credits LDN with stabilizing her multiple sclerosis. At her worst, Elsegood was wheelchair bound, had no control of her bowels or bladder and had lost much of her sight and hearing. After 18 months on LDN, she was able to walk again on her own and had a reversal of most of her symptoms.

After her remarkable recovery, she wanted to educate others on the benefits of LDN.

“I wanted people to know that there is a choice, if you’ve been told, like me, that there’s nothing else that can be done for you,” she said. “Look into LDN. Do your research. … It is amazing the number of people who’ve found LDN works for them for so many different conditions.”

In addition to fibromyalgia, early research has found LDN to be useful in reducing the symptoms of certain autoimmune and central nervous system conditions, including multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and others.

But few doctors know about LDN as an emerging treatment, so it can be difficult to get a prescription.

“Some doctors are too busy to read the information,” Elsegood explained. “Some will not think outside of the box. It’s not what they learned in medical school, so they’re not prepared to consider something that is alternative. Other doctors won’t prescribe it because there aren’t enough trials.”

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that any of the major drug companies will ever study LDN because it’s an older, generic drug and little profit can be made from it. So it falls to innovative researchers, like Younger, who secure donations and grants to fund trials.

Patients often encounter doctors who refuse to prescribe LDN even though it has a proven safety record and a low risk of side effects. The LDN Research Trust includes a list of LDN-friendly doctors and pharmacies on its website. For those who can’t find an LDN-friendly doctor locally, there are physicians who offer phone and online LDN consults.

“My advice is to always research it yourself, and then address it with your doctor,” Hollander said. “And if your doctor won’t agree to letting you try it, then find a doctor who will.

“I would drive to Florida to get it if I had to. It makes that big of a difference. I just wish more doctors would prescribe it, and more people would find help with it.”

For a list of helpful LDN resources, visit www.fedupwithfatigue.com/low-dose-naltrexone.

Donna Gregory Burch was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2014 after several years of unexplained symptoms. Donna is the founder of Fed Up with Fatigue, a blog devoted to helping those with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS live better with these conditions.

Donna is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared online and in local newspapers and magazines throughout Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. She lives in Delaware with her husband and their many fur babies.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represent the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.