Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN): Miracle Drug!
By Neenah Payne
DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Book recommendations contain Amazon affiliate links, but all other products and services are offered solely upon the recommendation of the article’s author for informational purposes.
Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN): “Wonder Drug”! shows that although LDN is a safe medication that has been used by tens of thousands of people around the world for several decades, many doctors are still not aware of it. LDN is an inexpensive prescription drug that has proved helpful for people with a wide variety of autoimmune diseases. LDN can be taken as a pill, liquid, or cream and is usually taken just before sleep. LDN shuts down the production of endorphins for about four hours. When the body notices that, it produces endorphins for the next 18 hours – enhancing the immune system. LDN has no negative side effects except “vivid dreams” or insomnia for some people – both of which quickly abate.
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Documentary: The LDN Story
The LDN Story is a documentary by the LDN Research Trust which explains how Dr. Bernard Bihari, a neurologist in New York, discovered Low Dose Naltrexone in 1986. Dr. Bihari discovered that a low dose of Naltrexone induces the body to produce endorphins and triples a patient’s immune system.
Dr. Patrick Crowley in Ireland says neurologists claim there is no treatment for Multiple Sclerosis. However, he discusses his success in using LDN in treating MS starting in 2004. He gives LDN to all his MS patients and they’ve gotten better – they’re stable. He mentions Up The Creek With a Paddle: Beat MS and All Autoimmune Disorders with Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) by Mary Boyle Bradley, an MS patient.
Dr. Crowley says that LDN also dramatically improves fibromyalgia for most people. Sarah Morton, a fibromyalgia patient in Carlisle, England, explains that drugs made her pain worse. She could barely see. Her doctor said she was the worst case of fibromyalgia he had ever encountered. Sarah learned about LDN in a book. However, most of the doctors she saw refused to prescribe LDN for her.
Fortunately, Sarah found a doctor in London who did a phone consultation and prescribed LDN for her. Now, she is healthy and has a very fulfilling normal life. Sarah says that on LDN she feels much better than she did before she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia! She is disturbed that many doctors refuse to prescribe LDN.
Dr. Bob Lawrence in Wales explains his use of LDN to treat over 500 patients for MS, colitis, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, etc. He says a patient with lung cancer who was given three months to live used LDN and is now healthy seven years later.
Dr. Michael Arata in California says LDN is being used for an array of chronic medical conditions including MS, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. He points out that it is impossible to conduct randomized controlled studies without massive funding that is not available for LDN.
Dr. Lilip Boyle, a Fertility Specialist in Dublin, Ireland says that LDN is very inexpensive and very beneficial for lots of patients but isn’t getting the attention of publications like the New England Journal of Medicine. He believes that if the prestigious publications would pay more attention to LDN, smaller publications would also discuss it and more doctors would know about LDN and prescribe it.
LDN For Autism
Dr. Brian Udell is a pediatrician in Miami, Florida who specializes in autism which he began seeing in his patients around 2008. Around that time, he was seeing about 7 autistic children a week. Now, he could see 10 autistic kids per day in this epidemic. In 2006, a paper showed that LDN is a valuable tool for autism. Dr. Udell has been using LDN since 2008 and it has been very successful. LDN is inexpensive and easy to take because he gives it as a cream. Dr. Udell says there are no other choices for autism.
William and Tina Valezquez describe their autistic son, Jacob, as having been aggressive and uncommunicative. When Dr. Udell put Jacob on glutathione, he began to improve. However, when he put Jacob on LDN cream, there was literally an overnight 180 degree improvement. Later, William and Tina found that the liquid form of LDN was even more effective! They say that most people now would never know that Jacob had been diagnosed with autism three years earlier. LDN costs them about $29 a month.
Dr. Udell explains that many autistic kids turn out to be “savants” – prodigies! At age three, Jacob suddenly began playing the piano as his father does. His parents found a piano teacher for Jacob and he now excels. He is playing Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and amazes his parents every day. Jacob performed on Good Morning America, CNN, local news, etc. When William and Tina posted a YouTube video of Jacob playing, it went viral!
In the video 10 Year Old Pianist Jacob Velazquez With The Hallandale Symphonic Pops Orchestra, Jacob performs from memory without a musical score for over 20 minutes! The other musicians have scores!
Video From LDN Science
The short video LDNScience® Presents – How LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) Works explains the simple but powerful mechanism by which Low Dose Naltrexone immediately jump starts the immune system.
Interview With Dr. Jill Carnahan
In Functional Medicine & LDN, Dr. Jill Carnahan who practices Functional Medicine in Boulder, Colorado, provides a very comprehensive understanding of Low Dose Naltrexone and its profound benefits. Dr. Carnahan discusses the use of LDN for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, Parkinson’s, lupus, Epstein-Barr Syndrome, Hepatitis C, inflammatory bowel disease, and infertility. The “side effects” of LDN are that people feel happy and full of energy!
Dr. Carnahan explains that the optimal dosages for LDN are between 1.5 and 4.5 milligrams – usually given just before going to sleep. However, some patients take it earlier in the day with success. She says that she is a really big fan of LDN and results can be profound although not always immediate.
Radio Interview With Dr. Thomas Cowan
Dr. Thomas Cowan, LDN Prescriber on the LDN is a radio interview with Dr. Thomas Cowan by Linda Elsegood, author of The LDN Book: How a Little-Known Generic Drug — Low Dose Naltrexone — Could Revolutionize Treatment for Autoimmune Diseases, Cancer, Autism, Depression, and More. Linda is also the founder of LDN Research Trust. Dr. Cowan says he has treated thousands of people with LDN and some people experience an immediate positive effect. He says he has never seen any evidence that LDN hurt anyone. The show takes calls from people wanting to know if LDN can help their illnesses.
Dr. Cowan says that LDN is the only pharmaceutical medicine he routinely uses with patients because he doesn’t like most pharmaceutical medicines. He says LDN acts like a natural medicine in that it doesn’t do anything – but it stimulates the body to heal. Linda discusses the LDN app at www.ldnapp.org that allows people to track their medicines. Using the app, people can participate anonymously in the world’s largest LDN survey. See information about the app on the LDN Research Trust site.
Dr. Cowan discusses his book Human Heart, Cosmic Heart: A Doctor’s Quest to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Cardiovascular Disease whose site is at www.humanheartcosmicheart.com. Dr. Cowan explains that the heart is not a mechanical pump and does not pump the blood! He says that blocked arteries do not cause heart attacks! Dr. Cowan’s goal is to create a community of people with a heart-centered way of life. The first step is to get away from the mechanical pump model of the heart. He points out that Rudolf Steiner said that it is crucial that people learn that the heart is not a pump.
Amazon says about the book:
Thomas Cowan was a 20-year-old Duke grad―bright, skeptical, and already disillusioned with industrial capitalism―when he joined the Peace Corps in the mid-1970s for a two-year tour in Swaziland. There, he encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner and Weston A. Price―two men whose ideas would fascinate and challenge him for decades to come. Both drawn to the art of healing and repelled by the way medicine was―and continues to be―practiced in the United States, Cowan returned from Swaziland, went to medical school, and established a practice in New Hampshire and, later, San Francisco….
Cowan dedicated himself to understanding whether Steiner’s claim could possibly be true. And if Steiner was correct, what, then, is the heart? What is its true role in the human body? Dr. Cowan offers up a daring claim: Not only was Steiner correct that the heart is not a pump, but our understanding of heart disease―with its origins in the blood vessels―is completely wrong. And this gross misunderstanding, with its attendant medications and risky surgeries, is the reason heart disease remains the most common cause of death worldwide.
See Dr. Cowan’s video The Heart Is Not A Pump! and site.
Dr. Cowan also recommends natto. See Eat Natto to Protect Your Heart and Bones!
Video Interview Dr. Mercola and Dr. Cowan
Alternative Therapies Tips: Dr. Mercola and Dr. Cowan Discuss Low-Dose Naltrexone is a video in which natural health expert and Mercola.com founder Dr. Joseph Mercola interviews Dr. Thomas Cowan MD, a strong proponent of using low-dose naltrexone (LDN) for autoimmune diseases. Dr. Cowan discusses his use of Low Dose Naltrexone with over 1,000 patients. Dr. Cowan says many patients say that the very first dose of LDN changed their lives! The comments below the video show that patients with a wide variety of symptoms are experiencing relief with LDN.
Low-Dose Naltrexone and Dietary Changes for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases is the transcript of their talk. Dr. Cowan says:
… In the late ’90s, I had a very good friend who was diagnosed with terminal lymphoma. He actually knew Bihari. Bihari put him on 4.5 mg of LDN. He did IV vitamin C, and he went into remission. I went to Hawaii on vacation with them about three years ago. That’s something like 15 years later. That was a situation that got my attention big time.
The transcript adds:
In Cowan’s experience, and he’s prescribed LDN for at least 1,000 patients, the autoimmune diet or LDN alone are typically not nearly as effective as the two combined…. Fresh vegetables, which are high in fiber, also help heal your gut by nourishing healthy microbes. Some bacteria also create short-chain fatty acids from the fiber, which are important for your health.
One key is variety and diversity. Most Americans eat perhaps a dozen different kinds of vegetables in any given year, whereas our ancestors ate hundreds of different varieties. Part of the problem is that most people only have access to seasonal vegetables sold in the grocery store. To amend this situation, Cowan grows his own. He has a large garden with about 60 different vegetable varieties.
In Cowan’s experience, LDN can be an incredibly valuable healing aid. Many suffering with autoimmune diseases like MS, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, pemphigus, or Graves’ disease, for example, have been able to significantly improve or go into remission by incorporating LDN and changing their diet to avoid exogenous opioids found in wheat and dairy, and improving their gut health and nutrition with fermented and fresh vegetables….
The transcript says:
Good resources where you can learn more about LDN and find doctors who use it include: LowDoseNaltrexone.org and LDNScience.org. Linda Elsegood’s book, “The LDN Book: How a Little-Known Generic Drug Low Dose Naltrexone Could Revolutionize Treatment for Autoimmune Diseases, Cancer, Autism, Depression, and More” is another great resource. To learn more about growing and eating vegetables, pick up a copy of Cowan’s new book, “How (& Why) to Eat More Vegetables.” You can also find more information on his website, drcowansgarden.com.
Dr. Cowan’s Garden
Dr. Cowan sells his garden products at Dr. Cowan’s Garden. I use his Threefold Blend Power Savory with red potatoes in the winter.
More Views on LDN
Dr. Joseph Mercola says in Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN): One of the RARE Drugs that Actually Helps Your Body to Heal Itself:
It is not often that I advocate the use of prescription drugs, but low-dose naltrexone (LDN) is one of those rare exceptions that may hold the promise of helping millions of people with cancer and autoimmune disease. As a pharmacologically active opioid antagonist, LDN works by blocking opioid receptors, which in turn helps activate your body’s immune system.
Dr. David Gluck explains in Low Dose Naltrexone: a very promising drug for treating cancer and 200+ other diseases:
LDN is absolutely unique. And that’s part of its problem, in that it’s a brand new paradigm, a new way of thinking of treatment. Instead of the medication actually doing the work, LDN goes into the body and essentially tricks the body by forcing it to double and triple its output of endorphins and metenkephalin, also known as opioid growth factor (OGF). Those endorphins and metenkephalin, in turn, cause the immune system to strengthen. A nice way to think about LDN is that it is not like any other medication whatsoever. It is a way to strengthen the immune system.
LDN and CBD Oil: Better Together!
In Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) and CBD oil. Better together!, Cheri Garvin, Rph owner and CEO of The Compounding Center in Leesburg, Virginia discusses the use of LDN and CBD oil and says that the combination provides better results. Cheri explains that the compounding pharmacy is licensed in NY, PA, MD, VA, DC. WV, NC, GA, and FL. LDN is available from compounding pharmacies in the form of topical creams, capsules, tablets, and sub-lingual/oral liquids.
Most patients start with a dosage of 1.5 mgs and progress up to 4.5 mg. but that can vary with patients and conditions. Cheri recommends keeping a “Symptoms Diary” to record the symptoms. Every day, document on a scale of 1-2 the level of the various symptoms. For a sample Symptoms Diary, email Cheri at [email protected]. Cheri says patients should give LDN 3-6 months to judge its effectiveness and 3 months for CBD Oil.
Cheri refers people to the LDN Research Trust site for LDN Guides.
LDN is not available from local pharmacies and must be purchased from a compounding pharmacy.  Skip’s Pharmacy in Florida is highly recommended and ships the pills in the dosage requested.
Don’t Use LDN With Opiates!
In Dr Phil Boyle LDN Prescribing Doctor Low Dose Naltrexone SD, Dr. Phil Boyle discusses the use of Low Dose Naltrexone for Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia, systematic sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.
Dr. Boyle warns never to take Low Dose Naltrexone with an opiate! He says that it’s also important to confirm normal liver and kidney function before taking LDN.
No Opiates Bracelet
LDN for Parkinson’s Disease: Low Dose Naltrexone recommends the DVD Heal Your Immune System: Heal Your Parkinson’s Disease” Low Dose Naltrexone – “a Modern Wonder Drug?”  Unfortunately, that DVD is not available now. The DVD shows that Marlene Lindstrom got off all her Parkinson’s medications except one and has no signs of Parkinson’s now. The DVD includes not only Marlene’s testimonial but that of another Parkinson’s patient who has had great success using LDN. Marlene warns that anyone who is using LDN MUST also wear a “No Opiates” bracelet because LDN blocks opiate pain medicine.
Dr. Pradeep Chopra explains in Low Dose Naltrexone and chronic pain:
LDN can be taken with other medications or supplements as long as they do not contain opiates or synthetic narcotics, examples of which include fentanyl, meperidine (Demerol, Pethidine), tramadol, morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Naltrexone blocks the opioid receptors. Therefore pain medications will be blocked from working and could lead to withdrawal problems. Check with your doctor and pharmacist to make sure that none of your medications are contraindicated. They can also advise you on stopping pain medications that might interfere with LDN and offer advice and amount of time to allow between stopping opiates and starting LDN.
After starting LDN, if you have surgery scheduled or a procedure that may require pain medications, consult with your doctor to determine the amount of time needed to clear again from your system so that it does not interfere with anesthesia or pain medications. LDN must also be stopped if your doctor plans to prescribe opiate-based medications for postoperative use. The time required to clear naltrexone for the body may vary, based on dosage and body weight. After a procedure under anesthesia or requiring pain medications allow adequate time for the opiates to clear from your system before restarting LDN.
If an LDN user is taken to a hospital in an emergency, the “No Opiates” bracelet will help alert the hospital staff not to give opiate pain killers. The bracelet is available from Etsy for about $4.
