Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

Bob Lawrence, 61, is a doctor who has MS himself. He originated the Zenwa Dietary Method for MS and other conditions. He is married with three children and lives in Swansea.

Case-Terry Flanagan, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, diagnosed with relapsing/remitting MS in 2001.

I started the low dose naltrexone two weeks ago. I'm up to 3mg a night, and hope to be at the maintenance dose of 4.5mg a night by next month. For the first couple of days only, I was a little groggy. Since taking it, I have noticed increased stamina, my tingles have stopped, and a never-ending relapse came to an abrupt end.

I've had no troublesome side effects, and feel an incredible sense of hope and encouragement. To me, Naltrexone offers people with MS an awesome possibility, and I wanted to give it a go. I'm also on the Best Bet Diet.

What is Low Dose Naltrexone?

Naltrexone is a drug called an opiate antagonist. Used to treat opiate drug addiction, it blocks the response to opiate drugs, such as heroin or morphine. Doses for this are 50-150mg a day.

The idea of using LDN for MS was devised by Dr Bernard Bihari, a practising neuro-physician in New York, USA. Low-dose Naltrexone (LDN) has been in used in the United States in the treatment of MS since 1985. It is much less used in the UK.

How Does it Work?

In MS, LDN works by briefly obstructing the effects of brain endorphins (the brain's natural painkillers). This has the effect of stimulating the increased production of these same endorphins, which in turn stimulate the immune system, thus reducing the activity of the MS.

What MS Symptoms does LDN help?

Neuromuscular spasm and fatigue. Also, patients who are in the middle of an acute relapse when they start LDN have generally shown rapid resolution of the attack.

Dose

For MS: 4.5mg each day, taken late each evening.

Early research shows that a dose of naltrexone 3 mg is able to increase the level of T-cells by 300%. This benefit lasts around 18 hours.

Does it Work?

Reports show that 98 to 99% of people with MS on LDN experience no further disease progression in both relapsing-remitting and chronic progressive MS.

Dr Bihari has more than 70 people with MS in his practice and all have been stable over an average of three years. The original patient who used this therapy has been taking the drug for 17 years.

In addition, more than 2000 people with MS within the United States, have been prescribed LDN by their own doctors.

Side-Effects

At a high dose (150+mg) the drug has a number of significant side-effects. At the recommended dose of 3-4.5mg no significant side-effects have been reported.

It should be noted that this treatment cannot be used by those people already receiving beta interferon. Because LDN stimulates the immune system, and beta interferon suppresses it, the two therapies are incompatible.

How Soon does it Work?

Around two-thirds have some symptomatic improvement within the first few days.

Where to get LDN

Due to the difficulty of obtaining this drug at reasonable cost, a supply has been established within the UK:

Dr Bob Lawrence,
Dietry Research Ltd,
10 Heol Gerrig,
Treboeth,
Swansea SA5 9BP.
Tel:01792 417514
Email:bob.lawrence@ntlworld.com.

Cost

Ł24.00 for 30 days treatment, or

Ł69.00 for 90 days, plus p&p.

Visit Dr Bihari's website - www.lowdosenaltrexone.org

This article was taken from the Pathways magazine - September/October 2002 edition.

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