Starting Dose (4.5mg)

[thefireorgan]

I know it is recommended to start at 3mg or less than work up, but the tablets I ordered only came in 4.5 mg doses and I chose that over the mix-your-own solution for convenience.
I have never really experienced spasticity. I have had considerable stiffness during my last attack. I am not worried about symptoms increasing initially, I will deal with that as it comes.
My question is, will starting straight away at 4.5 mg make the treatment less effective for some reason or is it just jumping on to a rougher ride rather than accelerating up? Anyone out there have good/bad experiences taking this dose. I am male, 22 years old RRMS, main symptoms currently numbness and tingling in hands some "Hug" that comes and goes.

[FLJhawk]

I don't know. The original dose for the FDA-approved application is 50 mg, so you are taking less than a tenth of that.

I have heard someone say it is better to start off at 4.5 mg rather than work your way up, and others say start at 2 mg. Some don't do so well at 4.5 mg but say they do great at 3 mg. Problem with LDN is that a lot of people have opinions, but few (if anyone) really know what the best dosages are.

I don't know how 4.5 mg was derived. Seems that the dosage should be related to weight, and why not 4 mg or 5 mg? I guess a doctor somewhere decided that 4.5 mg was the ideal dosage, but I don't think there were any scientific studies to show what the ideal dosage for MS patients actually is.

If you have 4.5 mg pills, I guess give it a try and see what happens. Let us know. I started off at 2 mg and am working up slowly, getting to 3 mg. No problems so far that I can tell, but some dreams are a bit more vivid and interesting than normal. No nightmares, just wierd things.

[Brenda123]

I have used LDN for 9 months now, (liquid, I low dose it myself) I am still playing with dosage, I can since its liquid. Anything above 3 ml hasn't worked for me, but we all differ. I believe its trial an error with LDN. I have nothing bad to say about it. I will stick with it, since its been the best for me so far! No C.R.A.B.S for me anymore! I have changed diet an supplements, with the help of my GP. My neruo Dr. does not listen to me so I FIRED HIM, sort of. Liquid LDN can be a bother, but I can figure out what works for me. A lil time an effort goes a long way.

Best of Luck!!!!!!

[Kronk]

I did 3mg for a week before going up to 4.5mg. I didn't notice a difference. I have heard that if you have issues sleeping take it away from bedtime. There was a study done that proved there is no additional efficacy in taking it closer to sleep. I take it immeadiately before sleeping with my Copaxone, and have quality sleep every night but as previous poster said we all differ.

[supaguy]

Hi!

I have been taking LDN for just under two years.

Why do you think that the few drug trials of LDN have not been a shining success? Did the drug dose meet the needs of the patient or did the patient meet the needs of the drug trials?

What you should have done is order LDN in LIQUID form. One uses a graduated dropper. Start at 1mg and gradually ramp up by 0.5 ml increments over a period of many weeks or even months. You keep increasing, hopfully feeling better and better until you start feeling worse again ... then fall back to the dose where you felt best. When, and only when, you are stable on that established dose do you fork out your hard-earned money on LDN capsules of a fixed dose.

Any help?

G

[LillyMS]

does usi8ng larger does make LDN less effective? I thought it was other way around? thanks

[LillyMS]

Someone in this thread mentioned: why do you think that the few drug trials of LDN have not been a shining success?

I am totally freaked out by this... what studies? Do you have any links? I just started LDN (have been on it for 5 days) and have stopped taking tecfidera, so no longer on MS drugs. Super worried maybe I'm being foolish?

Also, I took 1.5mg first night. Then the next night I took 3mg and now I'm taking 4.5mg. I have absolutely NO side effects or reaction to taking LDN, which is why the dosage was increased so quickly. Is this unusual to not have any side effects? As it does not affect my sleep at all, nothing!... which is great. I use skip's pharmacy (who are really good) so i know I'm not getting a "bad batch".

[Kronk]

I just started LDN (have been on it for 5 days) and have stopped taking tecfidera, so no longer on MS drugs. Super worried maybe I'm being foolish?

There have been a few studies of LDN on MS and all have shown positive results so maybe Supaguy can explain his post a bit more?

That being said i personally would NOT rely on LDN as my primary treatment for MS. The studies that have been done don't focus on the items i would be most interested in such as disease progression and lesion load. While they do touch on this the primary purpose was on quality of life scores. I would love to be on Tec but my insurance does not cover it so I stick myself with Copaxone every night. I also incorporate diet, exercise and supplements to my regimen. They say one of the best ways to know if your dose is too high is joint pain. I don't have side effects to many meds, LDN being no exemption to this rule so i wouldn't be too concerned about the lack of side effects.

I strongly suggest you read the links below if you are concerned.

http://www.ms-uk.org/choicesldn
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20695007
http://www.tccompound.com/editor/user_i ... l-0309.pdf

[NormB]

To elucidate on dosage 4.5mg was decided for most people as the optimum dose. But everyone being different in size, height ect the dosage for some may be to high or if you weigh 300lbs + you can get prescribed at 5 to 6 mg. The trick to find the right dosage is your body needs to eliminate the drug before one takes the next dosage. Otherwise there is an overlapping effect and the person stop feeling the benefits. I weigh 175lbs and I initially took 4.5mg but I had an overlapping issue so I had to back down to 4.0mg. So as one person stated above one should work up to 4.5mg and if you feel good then stick with it.
Many people quit taking it because they don't feel any benefits and it could be just because their dosage was slightly too high. Skips are very helpful to assist anyone with this drug.

Take Care All

Norm