There is a drug that is not readily prescribed because it is off patent. Conventional Doctors don’t really know it’s full potential because of this but, Integrative Doctors have discovered some amazing things about it. Here are several Doctors to explain what it has been shown to do. These are my notes of them speaking about it during the summit titled The Thyroid Secret but it does so much more for over 200 diseases. I have included their web page links for you to get further information.
Dr. Izabella Wentz M.D.
Web page Thyroidpharmacist.com
Low-Dose Naltrexone – The only side effect is vivid dreaming that only lasts a couple weeks. No one is told about it because it is off patent and it’s helping autoimmune conditions. The dose used for autoimmune conditions is 2-4 ml. It’s one of the only drugs that seems to help the body instead of just suppress symptoms. Particularly in Hyperthyroid and Graves Disease where the treatments are not nice and the stakes are also higher too because Graves is potentially fatal. I have had patients who have been on thyroid medications for years and were able to get off of them with diet changes and LDN.
Julia Schopick
Web Page Honestmedicine.com
Pub Med has over 100 studies on LDN for you to do further research. Dr. Bernard Bihari discovered that Naltrexone raised endorphin levels and thus modulated the immune system. He was giving it to HIV patients and in many cases it did not progress to AIDS.
There is a video on you tube of Dr. Bihari and LDN just type in his name
Julia is coming out with a book all about LDN including success stories.
Shannon Garrett, BSN, RN, CHLC, CNN
Web Page ShannonGarrettWellness.com
It was Dr. Bihari’s discovery that Naltrexone, besides modulating the immune system, it had no side effects and no ramifications long term compounded into low-dose. As a nurse I have seen so many women with multiple autoimmune conditions and had no quality of life. When we have a medication that is so inexpensive and so available to help them. The way LDN works, it needs to be taken at night and works in concert with the immune system and the immune system works to heal itself while we sleep. It blocks opiate receptors on our cells during the first 2-3 hours of sleep, we have natural opiates in our body know as endorphins. They help us to feel good and they have a lot of functions, modulating the immune system is one of them. When those receptors are shut off it signals the body to release an influx of endorphins.
We will start at these low doses and we’ll stay on them usually a month, with some patients 2 weeks, but I don’t typically recommend that it’s too fat. Then we recheck labs, adjust adjust thyroid hormone accordingly, usually down and when we reach the modulating dose which is the 4.5ml which is what every other autoimmune label can start with we hold that dose for 6-9 months before we check a full thyroid panel for antibodies. The person starts making their own thyroid hormone and thyroid medications can become too much and the thyroid isn’t under the attack by the immune system damaging those cells .
Dr. Mark Mandel PharmD, IACP
Web Page ldnresearchtrust.org
Naltrexone is one of those amazing chemicals in a traditional allopathic sense, it was used for alcohol and drug addiction as they block the pleasure receptor but at a low dose it partially blocks the receptor in the brain. The partial blockade allows the body to increase it’s own endorphin production. By increasing the production of those endorphins and also by increasing the number of receptors and the sensitivity of those receptors it seems to have an immune modulating effect.
The perfect profile of LDN tends to be very limited, the biggest thing we see at the very start of it’s use quite often you will see vivid dreams. They may be nightmares, they may be night terrors at the bad end. The other end it could be feelings of elation as if your flying, some say they have erotic dreams, it all varies from patient to patient. It tends to be very limited, if those patients find it disturbing you can lower the dose which I don’t recommend, or better still take it in the morning instead of the evening. The typical approach to giving LDN at least starting dose is dosing in the evening.
With Graves disease we are able to see patients become pregnant, we are able to see patients have their blood pressure come into the normal ranges, their cholesterol normalize, their blood sugars normalize. No longer suffer from hypoglycemia, have a better quality of life, fall asleep, their adrenals are no longer totally taxed, no longer have chronic and constant fatigue. They have other autoimmune conditions that are going on at once are ameliorated, they’re improved. A patient may have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis or Fibromyalgia and they may have a thyroid disorder such as Graves Disease and these conditions have an impact on each other. They may have Graves and IBS or Inflammatory Bowel Disease or Crohns and many of these become ameliorated down into a place that they can handle. Restless Leg Syndrome another condition that’s modulated by LDN successfully, more so than the conventionally allopathic drugs that are out there at a fraction of the price without the side effects. All these things tend to be improved.
All these patients are not at the beginning of their journey, quite often their using medications that are scary and can be reduced on LDN getting rid of a lot of the side effects. LDN does not suppress the immune system it modifies it making it work correctly. One thing we don’t see with LDN is an increased risk of Cancer, it’s actually sometimes used to treat Cancer.
There is a Doctor in Toronto who has done wonderful work with LDN and Cancer treatments. Dr. Angus Dalgleish on the mechanism of action of LDN and Cancer The benefits of LDN and the people with cancer is it seems to slow down or even reverse progression of the tumor. We know the patients in the clinical study where they had a tumor the size of a walnut that it reduced down to the size of a pea. In a patient who has Breast Cancer it’s not going to eliminate the Cancer but it may cause the tumor to shrink dramatically. A patient with Metastatic Cancer it’s going to slow down the progression of the metastasis. In dogs, mine in particular who had Lung Cancer and Metastatic Cancer it decreased the progression.
It’s incredible we see over 200 different conditions that LDN can have a beneficial effect on from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Graves, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Asthma, Colds, Flu, Herpes, Shingles. Doctor’s around the world are seeing miraculous improvements with LDN making life changing changes.
Here are a few patients that gave testimonials
Within 3 weeks for Hashimoto’s tests came back below normal, 2 months later a retest and I was at zero in remission.
I couldn’t get pregnant, tests showed Graves disease. Used herbals and LDN and it worked to get pregnant and improved overall health.
Thyroid antibodies at 4,000 it worked initially on healing the gut with nutrition protocols after 11 months went on LDN. After 6 months antibodies had dropped by half. When patient reached the full modulating dose we stayed there for 9 months and 6 months after that antibodies were in the normal range. When we returned to the modulating dose and retested a year later patient was still within the normal limits and was now able to conceive before that she couldn’t and stayed on LDN through pregnancy. Went from suicidal to bright and happy.
Was one of the lucky one’s, discovered LDN in 2012 after symptoms had started in 2002. Had Hashimoto’s and says LDN saved his life going from a wheelchair to walking on his own.
Dr. Izabella Wentz
LDN reduces inflammation of the central nervous system and regulates it.
We still have to get to the root cause of why we get sick in the first place and make dietary and lifestyle changes. That’s what Functional Medicine is all about, it asks what the cause is not just what drug will treat the symptoms.
Disclaimer: The information contained on this site is for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for diagnosis or treatment from a licensed physician. It is essential that you discuss with your doctor any symptoms or medical problems you may be experiencing.
M. Scherker medical researcher
Healing On A Budget 