"in summary, if you have one
of the many diseases that have been reported
as benefiting from LDN and have neither of
the improbable contraindications that I’ve
noted above, then by all means, why not
consider getting started on LDN.”
"I was recently asked to write an article
about low dose naltrexone for a USA magazine
called Natural Solutions. The editor planned it
to be a response to a person with an autoimmune
disease, who is wondering about possibly using
LDN. Here is that piece, with a few minor
modifications. It contains the sort of
information that might be useful for any new
potential user of LDN:
“Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) is
just an off-label use of the FDA-approved drug
naltrexone. Any physician can write the
prescription for you. Rather than the original
50mg daily of naltrexone for those addicted to
narcotics or alcohol,
LDN is used at doses no
higher than 4.5mg (nor lower than 1.5mg) and is
generally taken at bedtime.
The major mechanism of action of
LDN involves blocking the body’s opioid/narcotic
receptors for just a very few hours (rather than
the all-day blockade caused by the 50mg dosage).
Those are the same receptors used by the body’s
endorphins. The body responds to this by greatly
increasing its endorphin production, and those
higher levels last all day -- far after the
blockade by LDN has ended. Endorphins turn out
to be the major normalizer/upregulator of one’s
immune system.
This is of critical importance to
anyone who has an autoimmune disease. Published
studies have demonstrated that all autoimmune
disorders thus far tested are marked by weak,
dysfunctional immune systems (in contrast to the
common belief that they are probably too
strong). This makes good sense, because the
first commandment of the immune system is “Thou
shalt not attack self!” Only a dysfunctional
immune system attacks self. When the LDN
normalizes one’s immune system, it halts the
further progression of any autoimmune disease.
When one takes LDN, one is regaining a
normalized immune system – and it is the immune
system that has such a positive effect on such a
wide variety of conditions.
We have already noted positive
benefits from LDN in those with HIV, any
autoimmune disorder, many cancers, Parkinson’s
disease, motor neuron diseases (such as ALS),
COPD, and in childhood autism.
LDN has been especially popular
for a great number of people who suffer from MS
because it is beneficial in a high percentage of
patients and it is the antithesis of the
spectrum of “approved” anti-MS medications,
which are questionably effective, often painful
and problematic to use, are sometimes dangerous,
and are always expensive. LDN, in contrast, is
almost always effective, easy to use, non-toxic,
easily affordable and it has virtually no
significant side effects.
Because naltrexone has been a
generic drug for many years now, no large
pharmaceutical company will invest any money in
the large research costs needed to gain FDA
approval of these special new off-label uses of
the medication. No one makes any significant
money from sales of LDN! Nonetheless, there have
been many small clinical studies of LDN
performed at outstanding medical centers, all
showing it to be safe and effective. Check my
website for detailed information on the research
[www.ldninfo.org/ldn_trials.htm].
In MS alone, there have been two
very promising studies. One, out of a group of
hospitals in Milan, Italy, showed that of some
40 patients with Primary Progressive MS (for
which there is NO recognized treatment) who were
treated with LDN over a period of 6 months, only
one patient showed any sign of progression! The
other study, performed by one of the best
neurology departments in the USA, at UCSF, was
very brief, but showed that within 8 weeks of
LDN treatment there were already statistically
positive improvements.
There are only two substantial
contraindications to LDN’s use. The first is
that the potential user must not be dependent on
daily narcotic-containing pain medications.
Remember that naltrexone is a pure opioid
antagonist, so even one little capsule of LDN
taken by such a person might well lead to a
prompt and dangerous withdrawal reaction. The
other contraindication is based on a
supposition: we believe that anyone who has had
an organ transplant, and thus must take daily
immunosuppressant medications, ought not start
using LDN, which reliably strengthens one’s
immune system.
Use of LDN is generally
compatible with all other treatments or
medications, with these few caveats:
Use of any narcotic-containing
pain medication during the same few hours (about
5 hours) of LDN’s activity is unwise because LDN
will block that drug’s effect.
Use of immunosuppressant
medications for any length of time will act to
counter LDN’s benefits, most of which are based
on its ability to normalize the immune system.
Because LDN is a prescription
drug that is made by compounding pharmacies, and
because there is a rather high rate of error in
compounding the occasional drug, I strongly
recommend using only compounders that are
recognized for their expertise in compounding
effective supplies of LDN. On my website’s home
page [www.ldninfo.org],
there is a list of pharmacies in the USA,
Canada, and the UK, highly recommended for LDN,
which have proven themselves over many years.
They all ship it to you promptly and are
inexpensive.
