LDN Video Interviews and Presentations

 

Linda Elsegood: Today we're joined by pharmacist Dr Dawn Ipsen who's the owner of two pharmacies in Washington state. Kuslers Pharmacy and Clark Pharmacy. Could you tell us what it was that inspired you to become a pharmacist? 

Dawn Ipsen: I knew early on as a high schooler that I wanted to have a doctorate degree in something and was sort of a little bit torn between pharmacy and optometry and with long heartfelt discussions and soul-searching I became a pharmacist and very early on in my career not only was I trending towards being a pharmacist but I had an opportunity to intern at a compounding pharmacy and just absolutely completely fell in love. It was the art and the science and the way of being able to help individual patients in manner of which no other pharmacist in my area was able to do so, of providing very personalized therapies. I was able to really listen to patient needs and work with their doctors, to formulate the exact therapeutic tool that they needed to improve their quality of life. That is really what has driven me in my career. 

Linda Elsegood: When did you open your first pharmacy? 

Dawn Ipsen: I had been a pharmacy compounding lab manager for about 10 years for the Kusler family. When they were ready to go do other things in their life I was given the opportunity to purchase Kusler's Compounding Pharmacy. It had been a pharmacy I had worked at as a staff member for 10 years and took over as the owner and I've now owned that pharmacy for almost 10 years. In January it will be 10 years. That was my first pharmacy. 

I was doing all my good work up at my Snohomish Pharmacy and suddenly had a random phone call on a Friday afternoon in which the Clark family was looking for a new owner for their pharmacy. They were ready to retire and go do other things as well. I've also owned Clark's compounding pharmacy down in Bellevue Washington for six years. I've been an owner for almost 10 years total and have had multiple locations now for about six years. We service not only the entire state of Washington but we also work within nine other states as well. Our boundaries go quite deep and it's a really great way to help all types of patients all over the nation. 

Linda Elsegood: What would you say is the most popular form of LDN that you use the most? 

Dawn Ipsen: I would say primarily we use the most customized strengths of capsule formulations of low dose naltrexone (LDN). It gives patients really great consistency yet opportunity to get the doses titrated in appropriately where they need it to be. What's really great about how we approach our making of capsules is we use hypoallergenic fillers. We're also able to work specifically with patients who have sensitivities. We can customize what that filler might be and I think that's really what sets our pharmacies apart and why doctors and patients choose to work with us. 

We are experts in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases and therefore we're very used to working with patients where the normal just isn't what they need and isn't what's best for them. We can customize that to be appropriate for them. Along with capsules of course, we are able to do transdermals. That's really popular in pediatrics, especially for patients with an autism spectrum disorder. We are able to make flavored liquid tinctures of it so patients are able to use various small doses to titrate up doses. We also make sublinguals. I would say capsules are pretty popular for us. 

Linda Elsegood: What kind of fillers are you asked to use? 

Dawn Ipsen: Most of the time I will steer a patient towards microcrystalline cellulose (which is a tree based cellulose). It is very hypoallergenic for a lot of patients. However, some patients know they have tree allergies and those patients primarily prefer rice flour. I do have a couple of patients, but very very rare that actually do better on lactose filler. They tend to not be my autoimmune patients. They tend to be patients in the chronic pain spectrum area. 

We have also worked with other fillers, like tapioca flour. We can be very customized into our approach of how patients need it. I've got one patient that comes to mind that loves magnesium as their filler and that's very relaxing for their muscles. I've also seen probiotics being used. There is not one right answer to how we do things. We are that pharmacy that is able to have a conversation with a patient. We talk about what their needs are and customize it based on that approach. 

Linda Elsegood: From the prescribers that you work with, do you have many consultants that you fill scripts for? 

Dawn Ipsen: We definitely do. What's also kind of a little side thing that I do. I've always been very passionate about teaching. I'm on faculty at University of Washington School of Pharmacy and also Bastyr University which is one of the top naturopathic doctor schools in the nation. I teach there during summer quarter. I teach nationally to providers continuing ed-based content that is often LDN in nature or ties into LDN. Especially with autoimmune and chronic pain and chronic inflammatory conditions. We consult a lot with doctors. I probably work with three or four hundred functional med type providers on any monthly basis even on being able to customize therapies for their patients. We are really big in the post COVID syndrome arena of helping patients that are really struggling and LDN. We're finding it pairing quite nicely in that condition as it's very inflammatory based. 

We work quite heavily within the MCAS arena for patients who have a lot of mast cell instability and need other therapies. LDN is one of the tools that is used quite frequently by those types of providers and for those specific kinds of patients. 

Linda Elsegood: Do you work with any pain specialists, dermatologists, rheumatologists, gastroenterologists? 

Dawn Ipsen: We do. Honestly, I'm quite proud of our little Seattle area of Washington because we do have MDs that are pain specialists that are now really turning towards using LDN in their toolbox of things they have available for patients. They're getting quite savvy at it. They're doing a really great job. It is super exciting. I have some dermatologists. I consult a lot with my functional med providers that are seeing dermatology conditions like psoriasis. I have an email I need to work with a doctor on after this to help them with this patient with a psoriasis case. We are seeing it in the GI world as well for Crohn's and irritable bowel disorder. Those chronic inflammatory conditions. I would say the MD pain specialists are really turning around over here. Obviously with the opiate crisis that has occurred in our nation I think most doctors of any type of credentialing or medical training or experience are quite interested in what LDN is doing for their communities and what opportunities it affords for patients who are trying to make sure they aren’t addicted to opiates but yet have something to improve quality of life and their day-to-day living. Low dose naltrexone (LDN) has been an amazing tool for that. 

Linda Elsegood: I'm always excited to meet different LDN prescribers and nurse practitioners who are providing lots of scripts. When you get an MD or a DO that is prescribing LDN and it is completely out of their comfort zone, I always think yes, you know we've got another one on board. We're making it right. We're getting it. MDs are already working outside of the box. That is normal for them to look into LDN it's not normal for MDs to look at LDN but as you know I've interviewed so many people and so many MDs when they have a patient that they can't help and fix their issues. They've tried everything and they feel as if they've failed this patient and then they try LDN. Once they have had amazing results with the first person it's then so easy for them to look into prescribing not only for other patients with that condition but for any autoimmune disease, chronic pain, mental health, etc. I mean it's really amazing and this is where people like yourself come into play. The hand-holding with doctors because a lot of them haven't got time to do the homework. They're very busy and they need somebody to tell them exactly what it is, how to prescribe it, what to look for, what to do and have somebody on hand to say, like you said, I've got a patient with psoriasis. What do I do? Can you help me? That is the way to get more doctors involved is the pharmacist doing the hand holding. 

Dawn Ipsen: There is a local psychiatrist in our area that works with younger adults with substance abuse disorders and teenagers that are having a lot of trouble with mental health. I had an opportunity to get him thinking about LDN and his patient population. I love when I get to reconnect with him every few months because he just raves He finally has a tool that actually does something. He felt the antidepressants and all these other things were not really fixing any of the issues or fixing the symptomatology. We still have the same abuse issues, we still have the same addiction issues and we still have the same levels of depression and suicide risk. But with LDN he's finding that he's actually causing positive change in his patient population and that's the only thing he really changed within his practice. 

We're really affecting the health of our community in a very positive manner with something that's really safe and low risk and not expensive. It doesn't get any better than that. It's the best compliment I could ever have. 

Linda Elsegood: It's really nice when patients take all their information to the doctor. Once you've got a doctor really hooked on prescribing LDN they can change the lives of hundreds of patients. Dr Phil Boyle uses LDN in his fertility clinic He also uses it in women's health for things like endometriosis, polycystic ovary, painful periods, heavy periods. Right across the board he uses LDN. He gets patients coming to see him with women's health problems who also have Hashimoto's or long COVID etc. 

Dawn Ipsen: I refer to his work all the time. I get questions a lot from local providers such as we have somebody who wants to become pregnant or they did become pregnant and they're on LDN and they want to know what the standard of care is and can we continue, and what's the risk and benefit are. It is so great to have providers like him out there that have been doing this work for so long that we can very confidently share those case experiences and history of using the medication long term for those patients. 

Linda Elsegood: There have been so many of our members who were skeptical about using LDN during pregnancy. Doctor Boyle is always very generous with his time. I will send him details and he will answer the patient and share his experience. You know we used it once up until birth rather and breastfeeding, etc. We have those people who have done two or three pregnancies using LDN who are happy to talk to other people. This is my experience with 20 years as the charity next year, which is totally amazing, but I’ve found that word of mouth and with the education it is just spreading. 

Dawn Ipsen: Linda, you've done an amazing job with the LDN Research Trust and I thank you for that. You have made the Research Trust, its website, resources and its books into a trusted referral point that I can use with our doctors and our patients who are wanting that next level of information beyond what I'm able to say to them. They want to go see those studies themselves. They want to go read the book themselves and I know that without a doubt I can send them to your resources for them to receive complete in-depth and correct information. Thank you, Linda. You're doing amazing things and this is all because of you. 

Linda Elsegood: How can people contact you? 

Dawn Ipsen: We have two locations in Washington State. We have Kusler's Compounding Pharmacy in Snohomish Washington and the website there is www.Kuslers.com; and then we have Clarks Compounding Pharmacy in Bellevue Washington. That website is www.clarkspharmacywa.com. The WA stands for Washington. We are happy to help patients all over and talk with doctors that need guidance and assistance in learning more. I love being an educator and I love being here to support my community. 

Linda Elsegood: Any questions or comments you may have please email me Linda linda@ldnrt.org. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for joining us today. We really appreciated your company. Until next time stay safe and keep well.

 

 

Welcome to the LDN Radio Show brought to you by the LDN Research Trust. I'm your host Linda Elsegood. Today we're joined by Ray Solano from PD Labs. He's also a nutritionist. Could you tell us a bit of background about yourself?

 I am dedicated to getting out the word on personalized medications. We have a specialty pharmacy located in Cedar Park, Texas that's north of Austin, Texas. We focus on being able to help people in the community who have mold and Lyme conditions and autism so they can get special medications in the right dose for them. We have a full-size clinic, that lifestyle medicine clinic as well, to really be able to help people learn their nutrition balance as well. We're located in 48 states and soon to be in our brand-new facility here in Cedar Park. It is a 7,500 square foot building that will be able to grow with the community, to service them, because personalized medicine is going to be here to stay.

Wonderful. So what got you into pharmacy? 

Fortunately I've been involved in pharmacy since the early 70s. I have been able to really take medicine to a different level. l have a background in nuclear pharmacy, a very advanced technology at the time, and found my way back into compounding pharmacy over about 25 years ago, and realized that traditional medications are just not going to be able to serve people the way they're supposed to. Medications have to be personalized. Different forms, different dosage forms, different routes of administration. Previously I did a lot of sterile compounding. It is important for people to get better as opposed to just taking 15 or 16 different medications a day. Can you believe that some people still take that many medications? This is the reason why we started to be able to do this. We very recently expanded. We've merged with Hopkinton Drug, who's really been one of the leaders in low dose naltrexone for years. We merged our companies together and are able to give first class service and quality to all the patients nationwide. 

You were saying about people taking 16 drugs. I've known many people who start off with two or three and then they would take the fourth medication and of course every drug carries a list of potential side effects. You probably will never get any of them or you might get one or two of these side effects, but when you start putting a cocktail of medication together, the chances of getting a side effect becomes higher. 

I know many people who have taken four or five, and then they have to take another medication to combat the side effects. As the number grows, then they're taking like seven or eight; they take another medication because they've got more side effects. It's really not helpful for the patient to continue down this route. Not only that but they still don't get the wellness they're looking for. Sometimes they get worse. 

Unfortunately their core metabolism just becomes nutrient deficient. Their core levels of metabolic rate decreases. They gain weight and their self-image goes down. They're also finding out that their ability in energy level decreases. Unfortunately we usually have a shell of a person. It is unfortunate but you know the worst part about it is there's no end in sight. This is why many times we get to the root cause of the problem and this is many times what we're finding in low dose naltrexone is a good starting point because then they can start to corral some of the problems and get people off of some of these medications. 

This has done an amazing thing in the pain community and the chronic alcohol community. It is just amazing when we start to unravel all of these chronic conditions of how we start with this therapy and we're able to really change people's lives. It also helps people wean off of opioids. It is a really big thing. 

What doses do you go down to? 

We go down to as low as one microgram. We were a sterile pharmacy so we can do micro dosing. We do a lot of vasoactive intestinal peptide as well. We are used to micrograms as well. Low doses are something we're familiar with. One of the things that we have done that's unique is being able to take these doses and be able to make a special tablet. It is the pharmaceutical industry that uses these ingredients, but they call a cyclodextrins to be able to enhance absorption through the cell walls for these pharmaceuticals take these large molecules and give them a little bit of it an accelerator for the body to absorb them. We use these beta cyclodextrins and we make them into a special tablets so that patients could be able to change the dosage for themselves. Being able to get to the drug we get the right amount of drug and have the least amount of side effects. You know many times when people take low dose naltrexone they start in one dosage form, in a capsule form. Usually sometimes 0.25 milligrams or a 0.1 milligram, and then they have to titer their way up, and then have to get another prescription. They have to get a different strength. This is a way that people to take a half of a tablet and get started and then be able to use the full dose three four weeks from now. It ends up being less expensive for the patient. 

Special technology is making tablets, which is a specialty in itself. We feel that we’ve been doing it for the last 10 years and we were able to really make a difference in getting the best therapy tablet for patients. 

Can you do a sublingual LDN? 

Yes, we can do sublingual drops. We've been doing that for patients, especially children and some of our seniors. Being able to master all these dosage forms for patients is something that specialty pharmacies are able to offer for patients. Sublingual tablets, sublingual drops or something that is very important for many people. 

Dr Jill Smith discovered with her Crohn's patient that taking sublingual drops, that it was absorbed, bypassing the stomach. It was more effective for those patients. There are other patients now that are choosing the sublingual. We find that sublingual is more expensive in the UK. I don't know whether different dosage forms at your pharmacy are more expensive than others. 

We are specialists in these sublingual tablets. We've been doing oxytocin sublingual for many years, and being able to use these tablet forms and to able to change up the bases that are absorbed, special ones, sublingually is very easy to do. It's not really more expensive at all, not that I have seen. Sublingual routes and nasal sprays are just a great way to bypass the stomach, because many of these patients are having a very difficult time absorbing. We use the special tablets, they get absorbed sometimes much better than capsules. 

Do you find the nasal spray helps with dry eye? 

We haven't seen very much of that. We definitely think that nasal sprays bypass the blood-brain barrier with special additives. They get absorbed so much faster. Unfortunately we haven't seen a huge increase of that here in the US yet. It is something that we're going to be promoting. because there are so many patients who would like the LDN eye drops. but because they have to be made in a sterile facility they have to be made per patient. There's not a shelf life on them. They are probably expensive, too. It makes the unit price exorbitantly expensive 

I've yet to find out myself and I've not ever tried any LDN nasal spray. and I suffer with dry eye that the nasal spray possibly could help the dry eye because it goes up the canal. 

We've made low dose naltrexone nasal spray in combination with ginsenoside R3. It's a special neural regenerative compound to stop the combination of brain inflammation. We've done a combination of those and launched that about two years ago. We have the experience to be able to do LDN nasal sprays. It's a very stable compound. It's very easy to work with. It has good dating for patients so it's something that they can be able to put in the refrigerator and be able to hold on to it for many months. That makes it economical as well which is important. Sometimes these medications can get quite expensive. 

What would the shelf life be on nasal spray be if you kept it in the refrigerator? 

Many of the regulatory law requires studies to be able to give the dating information, but we have found that at least 30 days is a minimum. We're looking at expanding that to 90 days stability. It's something that we're looking forward to. 

One of the things I didn't mention is the topical form of low dose naltrexone for many different dermatological conditions. Conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. It is a perfect additive of oral and topical as well. It's very stable. It's really important to get to the right pharmacy that understands the correct technology of being able to get penetration through that dermis skin layer. That's something we've really worked on extensively and looked to have tremendous results. I have spoken to dermatologists and pharmacists to compound LDN in topical as well as the capsules or tablets. Some doctors use both in conjunction with each other. For some conditions they prefer that people just take oral. 

The doctors that you deal with, what would you say is the most common for dermatological? 

We have a special relationship with our practitioners. It's a collaborative practice. We look at the patient to see what's best for them. We look at a case-by-case basis and they ask our opinion what's the best choice for the patients. Many times, by the time they come to us, these people, the patients, have conditions that have been ignored by many years. We'd like to be able to be aggressive at first. We recommend a combination therapy initially because it seems that they can turn it around much quicker as well. I found speaking to patients who take it for let's say psoriasis, alopecia, Behçet's syndrome, Hailey-Hailey disease to name a few, that the dermatological conditions take longer to respond than autoimmune conditions as in Crohn's disease or MS, chronic fatigue. It seems as though it needs to get into the system for quite a few months. Sometimes it takes six months. 

People have told me before that they have reverse of symptoms. Have you found that to be true? 

Yes, it is really important to be able to have the technology to get past the dermis layers. PD Labs has really started a patented process for the use of transdermal Verapamil for Peyronie's and planters fibromatosis and Dupuytren's contracture. They are all the same fibrotic tissue disorders. We've really been able to perfect the absorption across many types of different layers of subcutaneous tissue to be able to get localized absorption at the source. We've been able to take LDN and put it with transdermal Verapamil for Dupuytren's. We find it to be incredible at how fast it works. It’s important to get the right condition to have the right special base that gets absorbed and penetrates, and there's a number of different products out there that have special qualities that can get very quick absorption. It's really important because you don't want people to suffer. You want them to be able to get quick absorption. Unfortunately many of these special bases can be a little bit pricey because they're very proprietary and they're very unique. You're pushing the limits of transdermal absorption that almost rivals the fast blood levels like an injection. To be able to get people turned around quickly we find that these patients do so much better with being able to target that area very quickly because you don't want to suffer for six months at a time. 

If somebody had alopecia would they have to rub the preparation on their scalp as well as taking it orally? 

That's what we recommend. We use a combination therapy because we're able to get blood levels quicker. All these topical conditions are usually linked to gut dysbiosis and many other conditions that ultimately are able to express themselves as a skin condition. Any type of skin condition we're looking to repair the gut first. We have a number of different peptides that are used to be able to repair the gut as well. Once we are able to do that the skin heals so much faster and that's why it's so important to do both. 

Would rubbing something in your hair which makes it greasy and then that makes you want to wash your hair more be beneficial? 

No, it doesn't have to be greasy. There's cosmetically appealing lotions that we do a lot with patients' hair. They don't have to be oily. They have to be somewhat moisturizing to the skin and not drying the scalp. You can get absorption and have that smooth cosmetic feel, because nobody wants to put on something makes their hair look greasy, especially women. There's no way we're going to be able to tell them that your hair is going to look greasy. They just won't do it. Because then you'd want to wash your hair, which would be pointless of putting it on if you're then going to wash it off. There's ways to do it, and you know, it's really important when you partner with a pharmacy who has a can-do attitude and has a big tool chest. 

What are the tools that we have available? We've got a number of consultants that work for us and we've got a number of patented medications under our corporate umbrella. So we're very fortunate that we keep on digging until we can find a solution. 

Does PD Labs make their own supplements? 

Due to regulatory compliance, we don't really make them ourselves. We design them and have a special dietary supplement manufacturer strategic partner that will fulfill, make those to our custom specifications. Many times we're able legally to put a prescription drug with some of these nutritionals so they can combine them together. Many times what we do is take nutritionals and combine them with the specialty FDA approved drugs to be able to solve many of these conditions. Many times we find things like traumatic brain injuries and stroke and many of these patients that we're able to target medications using this type of therapy. 

It is really important to look at the whole body and look at the whole patient because they didn't get sick overnight and it’s going to take some time to get them well. We put a little sprinkle, a little fertilizer, at the same time. 

When you make your tablets do you do capsules as well? 

We do capsules. We do lots of capsules. 

Are you able to put nutritional supplements in those if the patient wants ginger for example. I know some people request magnesium or whatever. Are you able to do that for them or offer advice on which you think is the best? 

We do. We've got a lot of requests for items when people feel that they are having a reaction to the fillers. Many times what we find is that the body is having an over expression of histamine. Many times this over-expression of histamine is due to a metabolic imbalance that is occurring because the body's mesenchymal immune system is offline. If we can turn those systems back on, then their histamine levels or responses are normalized. It's sometimes not the small little filler that's in the capsules that is causing their problems. It's the whole body's over-amount of histamine. We're just sometimes really careful you know, because the absorption of ginger, let's say we put ginger in with LDN, do we know how much LDN is getting absorbed? Or maybe that the problem is that if the dose is too high, then they're going to get some of those same side effects. It could be the dose needs to be decreased, so that we can really modulate those side effects. I find many people feel it's almost a sign of defeat that they have to go backward in the dosing. After listening to many of your lectures it's usually that the dose is too high. 

As you said at the beginning, personalized medicine is what suits that person. Some people have it in their mind they need to be taking 4.5 milligrams. They think they have got to get to 4.5. They will think they did so well on two and a half and then went to three and didn't feel quite as good and now they feel terrible. So they think they have to stop taking it because it doesn't work for them. If on two and a half you felt wonderful then it appears that was probably the right dose for you. You should go back and see how you feel on 2.5. It's not that you're giving in. It's not a case that you've failed to reach the 4.5, you should celebrate the fact that you found the dose that works for you. 

We found that many times people are taking capsules and when they switch over to tablets they say they felt so much better on the tablets or sometimes they say I feel worse with the tablets than the capsules. We have found many people get much more positive effects at one and a half milligrams and two milligrams as opposed to 4.5 milligrams. Sometimes there's kind of a bell curve that sometimes the 4.5 milligram is something that is not really the standard. It should be maybe one and a half milligram. It should be more of a standard because we only want the body to have just as much drug as it needs. Low-dose sometimes is better than higher dose. That's what we found.

It was really interesting talking to you. Can you tell people how can they get in touch with you? 

Yes, we have a website: PD Labs that's Paul David Lives, pdlabsrx.com. You'll find a huge amount of information on LDN and all the other specialty pharmaceuticals that we do. We've got a podcast and also our TV spots. We make it very easy for people. Our phone number is 888-909-0110. We're in the continental US right now. We're looking to see how we can do this internationally, but as you well know there's a number of customs and hoops we have to go through. We're not giving up on it. 

Well thank you very much for being our guest today. 

 

 

The LDN 3: To Purchase with discounts before 1st September 2022 Go to ldnresearchtrust.org/ldn-book-3 for full details

 

 

LDN Webinar Presentation 18 May 2022: Dr Sato-Re - How and why I prescribe LDN in my integrative and general practice

Sponsored by Innovative Compounding Pharmacy https://icpfolsom.com/

 

LDN Webinar 18 May 2022 (LDN; low dose naltrexone)

LDN Questions Answered Live by

Pharmacist Dr Masoud Rashidi - LDN Specialist
Dr Sato-Re
Dr Mathewson

Sponsored by Innovative Compounding Pharmacy icpfolsom.com

 

Tina - US: Jacob and Skylar, Autism (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: I'd like to introduce Tina Velazquez from the United States, whose children, Jacob and Skylar take LDN. Thank you for meeting here, Tina. 

Tina: Thank you for having me. 

Linda Elsegood: Could you tell us Jacob and Skyler's experience with LDN, please? 

Tina: Yes. Jacob was the first one. He was diagnosed with PDD(NOS), which is high functioning autism, at the age of four. And at that time he was very aggressive. He couldn't tolerate noises such as babies crying, hairdryers, toilets flushing, anything like that. And he had lots of sensory issues. We couldn't take him in public. He would just run away from us. He would open the door to the house and just run for the street. But then, the worst part was right after our daughter was born and she was just an infant, and whenever she would cry, to try to make her stop, he would kick her or throw things at her or scream, and he would sometimes cry himself. And he would slam doors. We had holes in our walls. He was just very unhappy. He wouldn't let me touch him. I couldn't hug him or kiss him. If I told him I loved him, he would say, I don't love you. We started seeing a biomedical doctor who treats children with autism in a more natural way. And after a few months of trying different things, and a lot of things weren’t really helping him,  the biggest thing was Jacob's aggressive behaviour. And so, Dr. Dell asked me what was the worst thing? What did I really want? And I said his aggression, especially towards his little sister.

So he said, well, why don't we try something called low dose naltrexone, LDN. And as soon as I heard that, I just thought that sounds like a drug. And remember my eyes started to water, and I thought, how could he even suggest this? He's supposed to be biomedical, more natural. And I didn't want my son on stimulants or any of those things that I had heard about. And so he said, okay, just calm down, let me explain to you what LDN does.

He described that you rub just that a little bit of cream on his wrist at night right before bed, and then it would block his endorphins for the first four hours, and then when his body realized that the endorphins were being blocked, that they would upregulate for the next 18 hours. And that some families were finding that their children with autism who had negative behaviours, that they were doing better on LDN.

And so I thought, okay, it's worth a try. I mean, a cream, how well is this really gonna work? You know, that doctor had really helped us with other things in the past, so we got the prescription, and we rubbed it on his wrist that night. And the next day - typically he would wake up, and we would know he was awake because he would slam the door as hard as he could and get us all awake - I actually went into his room, and he hadn't woken up early like he normally does. I went in to wake him up, and he said, good morning, mommy. And I just couldn't... I thought, okay, this has to be a coincidence, this can't be real, this can't be happening. And from that day, it's so hard to believe though as I'm saying it, that this is the way it happened, but it truly is. I mean, he changed. From that day on, he was calm, and he was happy, and it was just such a natural way. It wasn't as if he was being medicated or anything. He was just the way that I always hoped he would be. And he stopped throwing things or trying to hurt his sister. You know, she would cry, he would just cover his ears or tell or ask me to help Skyler, “What's wrong with her?” But he wasn't aggressive towards her anymore. He wasn't aggressive towards us anymore. Like I had mentioned it to Dr. Dell, when I would start to tell him he would actually even start telling me he loved me. And I remember saying, will you always love me this much? And he would say yes, and I even recorded him. I said I love you. And he said I love you too. And I recorded him because I just was afraid that this wasn't going to last. I didn't see how it could be possible. Eventually, he got a little bit of a rash from the cream, so we switched to the oral liquid, and that seemed to work even better.

He's still on it to this day, since he was four years old. He's seven now. And he's doing great. And his aggressive behaviours haven't come back, and his negative behaviours haven't come back. Still tells me, he loves me. He's very protective of his sister now. 

And now our daughter Skylar, she's three now, and I think it was about a year and a half ago we started her on LDN as well, because she had a little bit of a low immune system and it has helped her immune system, but more than that, um, it's helped her. She was just a very fussy child. She would just follow me around the house, and kind of cry and whine, and she wanted to be held all day. And I didn't really know what was wrong with her because she's speech-delayed as well. And it's a total 360 turnaround for her. She's always happy and very rarely does she whine or cry. She's just one of the happiest children you'd ever meet. So it's really just been life-changing for our family.

Linda Elsegood: Definitely! But then you have another remarkable story to add here, about Jacob being a piano prodigy. Would you like to tell us about that? 

Tina: We recognized Jacob's gift first when he was just turning four. He used to sit with my husband who plays. My husband was in a nineties band when he was younger. And so we have a grand piano in the house. My husband loves to play. And so one day my husband was playing, and Jacob was sitting, watching. And the next morning I heard the song playing that my husband was playing the night before, but my husband was at work. And it was just Jacob and me in the house, so I was confused, and I thought my husband had come home. And so I went into the room, and it was Jacob, and he was three, just turning four. And I thought, oh my goodness! And I called my husband right away, and I said, I can't believe Jacob's playing the song you played last night. So there it was. We were just so surprised and so shocked. So my husband started working with him a little bit. And then we've started trying to find a piano teacher because my husband doesn't really read music. He just plays more by ear. And so we really wanted to get Jacob reading music.

We had such a hard time because, for a little boy who's not yet four years old, everyone said he's too little. His hands are too small. He won't sit, that he would need to be seven. Most people, most places wanted him to be seven, some said five. It took probably about two months or so before we finally found a teacher that was a little bit of a drive, and we just started taking him there once a week. And he was just going through learning two or three songs a week. And then he was just finishing the books and she started him on more and more difficult pieces, and he just was picking them up. We would go to recitals and people were approaching us saying they can't believe how old our son is; I can't believe he's four years old and playing that. 

Linda Elsegood: Could you tell us what songs he's playing? We're not talking twinkle, Twinkle Little Star here, are we?

Tina: That's how it started, but actually he's recording an album right now, and there are ten songs on there. He has Mozart, a sonata by Beethoven, sonatina by Clemente, he's playing a Yanni song, which is a contemporary artist. He has Moonlight Sonata, he has Rondo Alla Turca. And right now he's learning a new artist that he hasn't played, Chopin, the waltzes. They're pretty difficult pieces, so it's pretty fun to watch his little hands going up and down. I'm just wondering how he does. 

Linda Elsegood: I mean, there are pieces of music that I would have thought adults would find difficult, you know, and such a small child can do it. Getting back to autism - both of your children - what would you say to mothers that have got an autistic child who are really scared and frightened and not open to LDN. 

Tina: I don't know if it will work for everyone, but it's definitely worth a try. It's not expensive. We have ours mailed to us; we don't even have to go to the pharmacy. And it feels, to me, it's the most natural thing. It's such a very low dose and I don't even consider it a drug. It just seems so natural and it just, it kind of works with the body where it depletes the endorphins, but then it causes the body to upregulate. It's not like it's an unnatural thing. And I think it's worth a try. As I said, I can't guarantee that it would work for everybody, but it definitely did for both of my kids. I saw the stories, I told you about them. That to me is life-changing, is the only way I can describe how LDN has been for us. 

And we tell everyone we meet about it. We've talked to parents who were considering Ritalin or other things that their doctors had, or Zoloft, or different pharmaceutical drugs that their doctors had recommended for their children if their behaviours were aggressive or they were hyperactive, or things like that. We say, well, why don’t you just give it a try? Those drugs are dangerous, but LDN I think it can only help. And it's worth a try, it's definitely worth a try. It definitely worked for my children. 

Linda Elsegood: And thank you very much for sharing your experience with us. 

Tina: Oh, absolutely. We are more than happy. My husband and I tell everyone we meet because we want to spread the word. People don't know about this. People only know what their neurologist or their psychiatrist is telling them. And unfortunately, LDN isn't what they're telling them. We're just so fortunate that we found a doctor that had really done his research, and talked to me into trying this. I will be forever indebted to Dr. Dell for what he's done for my children.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you.

Any questions or comments you may have, please contact us. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for joining us today. We really appreciated your company. Until next time, stay safe and keep well.

Pharmacist Tarek El-Ansary, LDN Radio Show 10 July 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: My guest is Tarek El-Ansary. He's the owner of Carmel Valley Pharmacy. He's also a doctor of pharmacy. Thank you for joining us today. Tarik 

Dr Tarek El-Ansary: yes, my pleasure. Thank you for having me. 

Linda Elsegood: Could you give us your background, please? 

Dr Tarek: Yes, certainly. I've been a pharmacist for almost 21 years. I graduated in 1998 from the University of Pacific School of Pharmacy with a doctorate in pharmacy. I worked in different chain pharmacies for the first eight years. And then I went on to purchase my first pharmacy, an independent pharmacy, and it was retail on need. We barely did any compounding.  I went on to buy a few more pharmacies. And we had a lot of success with that. And then about five years ago in 2013, I started Carmel Valley pharmacy and I wanted to do something different, and, start with compounding and learn all about integrative and functional medicine that goes along with compounding. And that has really opened me up to many, many more opportunities and tools in the treatment options that are available, and it's just been, it's just been an amazing ride and process.  

Linda Elsegood: wow. How would you describe your pharmacy now? 

Dr Tarek: So my pharmacy now is really just focused on customer service and patient care. We do, we're a hybrid pharmacy, which means we do both compounding, and then we also do the retail commercially available pharmaceutical products that are made by the pharmaceutical company. So we do both. And it's a walk-in. People can come in, and we do also offer delivery and mailing, and a lot of consultations. We spend a lot of time, between myself, the pharmacist and the patient, and also interacting with the doctor, getting them involved. And we really do practice the triad of medicine, which is the relationship between the doctor, the pharmacist, and the patient.  

Linda Elsegood: We are moving towards a pharmacist in the UK playing a role. Normally if you wanted any medical advice, you got it from your doctor. You didn't get it from your pharmacist, but it's still not working. How it is working in the States because you there, you just go to the pharmacy and speak to the pharmacist, but the pharmacist doesn't relay that back to the doctor.  So we don't have it working.  It's a bit dysfunctional. Really. It's not as good as what you do so 

Dr Tarek: well, It doesn't work that often unless it's a type of pharmacy like I have when other pharmacies I've been at, which just retail me, it's still, we're still really behind on that also. 

Linda Elsegood: Okay.  

Dr Tarek: Yeah. It's just the type of practice I have now is different, and so now that triad works really well. 

Linda Elsegood: And it's so good that you look into supplements and lifestyle and things that maybe the doctor wouldn't have the chance or time to go through. 

Dr Tarek: Absolutely. You know, with the seminars I attend, I've learned so much about supplements, and unfortunately, the pharmacy schools and the medical schools are just not getting into that and teaching anything about supplements even to this day.

And so with the seminars, I'm learning a lot and doing them on myself, starting them on myself and my family members, and seeing a significant difference in our own health. And so it's giving me the firsthand knowledge to recommend for my patient. And the feedback has been really good and positive, which further reinforces, you know, an ???  to be able to carry on a message to patients who need supplements and specific areas of problems that they have.

Linda Elsegood: When did you first hear about LDN? 

Dr Tarek: Uh, I think it was a seminar I attended. I go to PCCA And a A4M seminars, at least a couple of times a year just to learn the new things and keep up on my knowledge. And, probably about three or four years ago, the first time I heard it brought up at a seminar and in it was, it just sounded, it's really exciting and amazing.

At the same time, a few prescribers in my area started prescribing it and then I was able to spread the word to other prescribers that were open to doing compounds and new things that they hadn't heard about. And so we've seen it really spread since then.  

Linda Elsegood: and you're in California. So I was just thinking about the supplementation.

Do people in California need to take Vitamin D, or do they get enough sunshine? 

Dr Tarek: I would say they still need to take vitamin D. I would say just about everybody. The average level of an American, even including California is 15 and anything below 50 is considered deficient in vitamin D. Actually if you're not above 80, you're not considered optimal. And so you don't get a lot of the preventative effects of vitamin D like preventing cancer and stimulating and really helping to have a healthy immune system. And so by just being at 50, all you're doing is helping to keep your bones healthy, but you're not really helping with the immune system.

From what I've learned, it's for every thousand units you supplement per day, you bring that level up by ten, so if you're at 15 and you take 5,000 units a day, you're going to be at about 65 so you're going to be above the 50 Mark, but you're still not going to be optimal. So that kind of gives an idea of where it is, and we do see people getting tested when they are taking and it kind of, it really does follow along those lines. 

Linda Elsegood: So how long have you been compounding LDN?

Dr Tarek: We've been doing it for probably about four years now. We opened about five years ago, a little over five years ago, and we've been doing compound LDN for the last four years.

Linda Elsegood: What forms do you compound in?

Dr Tarek: Oral,  topical and transdermal. 

Linda Elsegood: Okay. So. When you say oral, is it capsules, tablets? 

Dr Tarek: Yeah, 99% of the time we have done it as a capsule. There are a few that we've done in liquid for small children that can't swallow capsules. And then also if we want systemic absorption, we can do it in transdermal effect, where we put in a light that's on base. So it gets absorbed really well into the systemic circulation. And then topically, we've used it for scars and, and, or itching type skin reactions. We've seen great effects because usually scars and itching and like psoriasis or, or rash, that's part of the immune response. And since we know LDN has a significant effect on our immune system. We’ve been seeing it having a great effect.  

Linda Elsegood: let's 

Dr Tarek: use topically. And then with transdermal always seen it used when we want to insist into the systemic circulation, especially with small children who are on the autistic spectrum. They're getting it absorbed really well and seen great effect. 

Linda Elsegood: So do you have any case studies?

Dr Tarek: Yeah. Yes, I do. I had seen them when they were presented at some seminars. I do not have them handy. I have seen case studies done specifically just as an example, I think it was the glutathione 20% mixed with LDN, 0.5% in a transdermal cream if used with autistic children on the spectrum, and a significant effect that was. That had just by applying that each night by the parents and just rubbing it between the shoulder blades and giving the child a message at nigh with the cream and the parents, the feedback has been really good. And we have about five or six small children who get on a regular basis at our pharmacy and the feedback and the parents had, they tell me that it's made a huge difference in their children's behaviour and their life.

Linda Elsegood: So how old are the children when they starting at the end? What age are they diagnosed normally with, with autism? 

Dr Tarek: It definitely ranges and we've seen as small as four or five years old. I would say probably the most common age is around 10. I think there is a level of confusion and denial on the parents' part of not understanding what is going on with the child's behaviour when they start to present with autistic behaviour around the age of four and five that I think there are a few years where they're just not understanding what's going on and to actually take them to a physician who can make a correct diagnosis.

Linda Elsegood: Yes. I knew a little boy who was autistic. A terrible shock for the parents, I must say. 

Dr Tarek: We have a nephew in our family that is dealing with it and there were a few years of just not understanding what was going on before the diagnosis was made. 

Linda Elsegood: Yeah. I just have to tell you, we, in the first documentary, we did the LDN story, we interviewed a little boy called Jacob, and he's a piano protege. He can just play Beethoven just without looking at music, and he's so talented, but he was all. I would say it was, but of course, he still is, but he doesn't show signs of it anymore. But when he was small, he wasn't responsive to his parents. He didn't want to be hugged. He didn't want to be cuddled. And as he grew older, he just used to fight them the whole time, and regularly he used to smack his mum across the face.

And one day after he'd been on LDN, she was always saying to him, you know, I love you, Jacob. I love you, Jacob. And he just didn't respond, apart from slapping her. But this particular day she said, I love you, Jacob. And he looked at her, and I think he was three or four, and he said, “I love you, mommy.”

And she called her husband, and she said, quick, quick, get the video camera. I want to ask him again, you know, say it again and see if he'll do it, and we will record it because he may never in his life. Say it again. You know, I want to catch it. And he just went from strength to strength—a totally different child. Absolutely. Amazing story.

Dr Tarek: I think there's many like that with LDN.

Linda Elsegood: Yes. Exactly. It gives you hope, but like you were saying, it's the confusion to start with, isn't it? To get that correct diagnosis. So, yeah. Is important. So with your capsules, what filler do you use? 

Dr Tarek: There are two different fillers that we use. Typically we started with avicell, which is just very clean a filler that has no side effects, no inflammatory or reactive effects on, especially specifically to patients who have sensitivities. So we never compound with anything that would contain lactose or gluten or corn starch as a filler. But now there's been a few naturopathic doctors who. They loved the idea of compounding using the filler ginger root, because of its properties, especially with the gut health and just a soothing effect it has on the gut.

So that has been one of our common fillers now with the LDN, and other meds that we compound is using ginger root as a filler. 

Linda Elsegood: Wow. Do you know, I've not heard of that before. How interesting. Sorry, ginger. Tell, make a note of that. Wow. I love ginger. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah. Yeah. It's a great idea to mix it with their LDN.

Linda Elsegood: but of course, being a capsule, you swallow it so you wouldn't notice anyway.

You would use that. It was ginger. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah. You don't get the bad taste. Yeah. 

Linda Elsegood: Oh, bad taste. I love the taste of ginger. 

Dr Tarek: Well, it can, it can have some good tastes, but I think the ginger root powder that we, you know, that we're using its a clean powder, but it does have a little bit of a bitter taste.

Linda Elsegood: does it?

Okay. So what would you say your main patient population is that use LDN? Would you know that? 

Dr Tarek: Yeah. Uh, I would say it's adults over the age of 18 mostly getting it in capsule form. The most common dosing that we see is 2.3 or 4.5 milligram where the, you know, the vast majority is definitely below 4.5 milligram due to the fact that most studies show that the modulating effects of the receptor happen below 4.5 milligrams and we just, I don't think there are enough studies out there to know what happens when we go above 4.5, and I think the consensus is there's not really a need to go above 4.5 for most uses and that we see the effect, the response we want below 4.5 without the side effects. And so that's what we mostly see and the uses, it just ranges significantly between just gut issues, any autoimmune issue, neurological issues and pain. And on and on, it just seems like they keep coming up with a medical diagnosis that they try it on and they see good effects and the side effect profile, even though it's listed as sleep disturbance or vivid dreams. In speaking to my patients, and we have a few hundred different patients getting it each month. The feedback has maybe been one or two has actually told me that they thought they had a, it affected their sleep, but then again, you know, there's a lot of things that could affect our sleep.

So it could have been a coincidence. 

Linda Elsegood: Yes. It seems to be a drug that is well tolerated. I'm must say from my fifteen years of experience of talking to doctors and pharmacists and patients. The people who mainly tend to notice side effects are people that are ultra-sensitive to drugs, and it's usually people who've got fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. Those people seem to be so ultra-sensitive that they have to start very, very low and increase very, very slow. People get there if they're patient. But yeah, if you find it is too much for you, it's definitely an idea to have a very low dose and increase slowly. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah, and that's a great point. And the patients who do require the slow titration up, we do the 0.5-milligram capsules, and it's anywhere from every three to seven days. They start to increase from one capsule a night to the second capsule to go to one milligram, and they slowly increase as they can tolerate it, so they get their desired effect, and then we stay at that dose.

Linda Elsegood: I mean, there are some doctors who prescribe up to six milligrams, some even go higher, but there are quite a few that try six. And with the chronic fatigue, there are some doctors who actually use double dosing, night and morning. And it's reported that those patients get more of the boost of energy, which is very helpful in those cases. What about thyroid patients? Do you have many of those on LDN? 

Dr Tarek: We do, specifically when they have autoimmune, when the underlying cause of their thyroid issues is autoimmune, which I think that the large majority of them, and you know, specifically Hashimoto's. When the doctor OD is open and familiar with the uses of LDN, and they do use that on those patients, we're able to see a reduction in dose and their thyroid medication and supplementation, and we're seeing thyroid antibodies reduce just by initiating LDN. 

Linda Elsegood: That's amazing, isn't it? How that happens.

Dr Tarek: about, do you use more often in the ones that said it is helping, 

Linda Elsegood: but I mean, the people are using it for Hashimoto's, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, Graves' disease, Sjogren's syndrome. I mean, they're all thyroid, aren't they? And there was a paper written on Sjogren's syndrome last week, which was interesting.

Yeah. So, yeah. And then you get people who think, how can LDN work for so many different conditions, but it's to do with the autoimmune component. We didn't realize 15 years ago how well LDN worked for pain. It doesn't have to be a condition that is all autoimmune, which causes the pain for the LDN to work. Yeah. And neuropathic pain, especially in diabetics, it works really well for phantom limb pain as well is, another quite new thing that I've learned about, but there is always something happening with LDN. I don't know whether it's common knowledge yet in California, but. pain specialists are using ultra-low-dose naltrexone alongside opioids and weaning patients off the opioids.

That's very exciting. We're actually going to be filming a documentary on LDN and pain because there are so many patients who are addicted to pain medications through no fault of their own. You know, they haven't been buying drugs on a street corner. These are prescription drugs, and it's still the same, isn't it? To try and get off those medications. You still go through the awful withdrawal symptoms, but by using ultra-low-dose naltrexone where you. I'm starting on a microdose and increase that slowly, decrease the opioid and the people that I've spoken to who it worked really well for. It's amazing. Totally amazing.

And quite quickly, because I thought you'd have to do it over a long period of time, but it doesn't seem to be as long as I would think. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah. And those ultra micro low doses, are generally very low. So it's really important for anybody who wants to try it. They really need to be careful and, and understand instead of the dosing we've been talking about thus far, which is 0.5, up to 4.5 milligrams, uh, with, with people who are on opioids, we currently, we want to go start at 0.001 milligrams, so a very ultra-low dose. And because we don't want to throw them into withdrawal and cause them more harm, we want to try to help them.

Linda Elsegood: Exactly. And it's something that you would never, ever try and do on your own. It has to be under medical supervision because you could become stuck.  Definitely. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah. 

Linda Elsegood:  What pain conditions have you your patients been using LDN for?

Dr Tarek:  I've seen it used for some fibromyalgia patients. And some neuropathic pain patients we've asked. We've also included it in our transdermal pain creams, so we are starting to add that into there and seen a lot of, a lot of great results with it. I wish we could use it with, uh—complex regional pain syndrome. The problem is those patients are generally all already on high doses of opioids, so we can't use it on them. But we have seen that it's really effective for those patients. But the patients that we have at our pharmacy, they're already on really high doses of opioids, so they just can't be on it. 

Linda Elsegood: Well, maybe they could try the ultra-low dose. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah, they could. You know, we were just starting to learn about it.

And that’s the exciting thing about LDN is we're constantly in a learning phase with this. And so we're learning more and more uses and more and more types of doses and, and, that's something that we, we want to try to communicate to those physicians that are treating those patients. And. hopefully, we can get an open ear that's open to learning more about it.

Linda Elsegood: Yes. I mean, Dr. Deepak Chopra wrote a paper long while ago now, probably 2015 on complex regional pain syndrome and LDN, not a very interesting paper, but there are more and more pain specialists looking into LDN for pain. And I have spoken to many patients who are not on just morphine or fentanyl patches, but a cocktail of medication and they say that their pain is still on a score of one to 10, 10 being worst, nine on a daily basis.

And it's awful to think that people have to suffer like that, isn't it? 

Dr Tarek: Yeah, I agree.  Yeah, I have a young lady who comes to our pharmacy regularly who has the condition and, when it's acting up, and she comes in, you can, she's just kind of , bent over and walking very slowly, and you can tell that her pain is definitely at a ten on a scale of one to 10 and even though she is currently on high doses of opioids, it's just no stopping it. The pain is at a ten and, and she can't seem to find any relief at that point. Very, very hard to see someone suffer like that.

Linda Elsegood: Unless you've witnessed it and experienced what pain can be like. You think that you know you've got a headache, you take two paracetamol, you feel okay, but there is pain out there that does seem untreatable, doesn't it? Yeah, I can remember. Yes. Dr Samyadev Datta, he's also a pain specialist, and he was telling me how he has a practice, but he also works in the hospital, and he will get a phone call in the middle of the night that there's a patient, you know, screaming out in pain, the pain levels that are a ten and he will go in, and he'll say, okay. This patient is on 14 painkillers on this cocktail. They’re on too many pain medications. It's not going to work. You've got to take them off this, this, this and this, and sorting it all out. But he's very for LDN and ultra-low-dose and there is so much more coming in this in the next year, I am sure because. The PCCA, talking about LDN, more other conferences or talking about LDN? We have an LDN conference not that far from you really, is it? California? Portland in Oregon. 

Dr Tarek: Yeah. Great.

Linda Elsegood: Hopefully, we will be able to get you there. Because meeting all these people and actually being able to put your questions to them. It's an amazing tool. Amazing tool. Well, if you would like to tell our listeners how they can contact you and what your website addresses, that would be good. 

Dr Tarek: Yes. So the name of my pharmacy is Carmel Valley Pharmacy. The website is CarmelValleyPharmacy.com. And the phone number is (858) 481-4990. And lastly, my email, and if you go to the website, you can find my email, but just to mention it, it is, CarmelValleyRX@yahoo.com and I can be reached at any of those ways and I would be happy to receive any more questions or orders for prescriptions or any needs that you have with compounding or regular prescriptions 

Linda Elsegood: Thank you.

Dr Tarek: It was my pleasure. Thank you for the invite.

Linda Elsegood: Carmel Valley Pharmacy is a family-owned independent pharmacy with a mission to provide the best pharmacy experience possible with exceptional customer service, access to knowledgeable pharmacists and cost-friendly prices. Cool. (858) 481-4990.  Call Carmell Valley pharmacy.com the friendly store for their state of the art compounding lab and waiting to help you.

Any questions or comments you may have. Please email me. Linda, contact@ldnresearchtrust.org. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for joining us today. We really appreciated your company. Until next time, stay safe and keep well.

Sarah's Daughter - England: Autism, Auditory Hallucination, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME) (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

On behalf of Jasmine who takes LDN, Low Dose Naltrexone medication for Autism we are talking to her Mother, Sarah both from the UK. Jasmine has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue, chronic pain, which she's had for about three years. Jasmine first started experiencing signs of autism at the very young age of 18 months old. But only got diagnosed at ten years old.

Due to her autism, Jasmine was very lonely, couldn't make any friends and didn't really understand what was happening around her. Pain started happening when she hit puberty at 11 years old, where she was experiencing  pain in her hip which spread to her leg, elbows; and started having nodules on her fingers and rashes on her legs. Quoting that her whole body was painful. She was also experiencing fatigue problems, and even auditory hallucination, making her anxious and lethargic. 

After researching on the internet, Sarah came across the Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) .Jasmine visited her doctor to measure her nutrition and blood, where they came to the conclusion that LDN may be useful to her.

Jasmine’s appetite was appalling, she came out of school due to not being able to cope. She could not walk or exercise very much at all. 

Jasmine’s introductory side effects included lots of night terrors, seeing things and hearing voices, but when she first started LDN these were the first things to disappear. Energy levels increased, and she could start to walk for a longer amount of time and not feel tired. Now, Jasmine is back in school and can even take part in cross country, the family life has also improved for all.

Please watch the video to view the whole interview. Thank you 

Any questions or comments you may have, please contact us.

Pharmacist Rick Upson, LDN Radio Show (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

After years working in other pharmacies, Rick did not hear about low dose naltrexone (LDN) until he bought Palm Beach Compounding Pharmacy in Florida in 2009 – the previous owner had been compounding LDN. The forms they prepare it in are capsules, an oral liquid form dispensed with a syringe to measure it easily, and a topical cream. That has been prescribed a couple of times by Dr. Brian Udell, who is about an hour away, in Davie FL. They haven’t been asked to compound LDN as sublingual drops, which can be helpful for patients whose stomach gets upset from swallowing LDN; but they have compounded troches, a lozenge to dissolve in the mouth so it is absorbed through the lining of the mouth rather than the stomach. Then to the liver, where it will be metabolized.

Conditions he’s aware of being treated with LDN include fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, autism, ADD and other behavioral disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. Rick’s clients have not reported negative side effects from LDN, however notes that The LDN Book says approximately 8% of people have some sleep disturbance, which is a pretty low incidence. He commented on how it can take three months to get full effect of what LDN can do for you, so impatient people need to be aware.

Linda Elsegood commented on the progressive nature of most autoimmune conditions, and how amazing it is to hold the progression with LDN. She noted that surveys found most people notice something around 4 months on LDN, although some are not stabilized until as long as 18 months on LDN. So patience is needed.

Rick tells of a Facebook page [LDN Got Endorphins?] with many patient stories, that has been informative. He has been selling The LDN Book and finds it valuable, though some content might be too technical for patients. He appreciates how it explains not only LDN, but the related body systems and how they work together, and relevant tests. Linda replied that sales of The LDN Book have done really really well, and it is aimed for both the lay person and prescribers. Rick has focused on getting the book out to those who prescribe compounded medications, as they are the kind who think outside the box.  He knows many who treat things that would benefit from LDN: gastroenterologists who treat Crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease, fibromyalgia, and other similar difficult to treat conditions.

Keywords: fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, autism, ADD and other behavioral disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease. The LDN Book, compounding, side effects, low dose naltrexone, LDN

Summary from pharmacist Rick Upson, listen to the video for the show.

 Any questions or comments you may have, please contact us. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Pharmacist Masoud Rashidi, LDN Radio Show 11 Dec 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood:  I'd like to welcome my guest, Dr Masoud Rashidi.  He was from California, the owner with his wife, Dr Anna.  They own their own compounding pharmacy in Folsom.  Thanks for joining us today, Masoud. 

Masoud Rashidi:  Thank you, Linda, for having me on the show.

Linda Elsegood:  Could you tell us what made you decide to get into pharmacy?

Masoud Rashidi:   It started back in high school.  My dad knew a pharmacist, and I was able to shadow with him for a day.  It was interesting how you can help people and get to know them.  I wanted to pursue pharmacy after that.

Linda Elsegood:  Wow.  That's amazing, isn't it?  So how long have you been a pharmacist now?  Did they know about LDN?

Masoud Rashidi:  I've been a pharmacist for 15 years now, since 2004.  That's when I graduated from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.  That's where I received my doctorate degree and started working a few months thereafter.  I started working at a chain, like everybody else out of school.  They did not know about LDN.  After a few years, I started working at a chain in California.  A couple of years later, I decided to explore, because there was a need for a compounding pharmacy in town.  There was none available at the time.  So, we had rotations back to school to learn about compounding, but we still didn't know about LDN until I began compounding and started our own company in 2007.  That's where we became involved in compounding LDN.

Linda Elsegood:  So, in your pharmacy, what forms of LDN do you offer?

Masoud Rashidi:  We provide a few different ones.  Mainly, we do capsules in many different dosages.  We also do lozenges.  We've compounded a topical, such as a transdermal application; also a liquid, both in aqueous solution or oil, depending on the situation  The kid may take the oil or not, so we go from there, depending on what flavors we can incorporate into the different formation.  We pretty much do every possible dosing that is available right now.

Linda Elsegood:  And what strength do you normally start with?  Do you do a micro-dose?

Masoud Rashidi:  Yes, we do micro-dosing; actually we've done a few of them.  Our most common one, of course, is the typical dosing, 1.5 mg, 3.0 mg, and 4.5 mg, but the last few years everything has changed.  We’re doing so many different doses every day.  We've done from 0.1 mg all the way to 9.0 mg.

With micro-dosing, we do from 1 microgram to 5, 10, depending on where are going to end up with that particular patient and their needs.  We've been doing both, like several different dosing, and we send our products to third-party testing to ensure potency and quality.

Linda Elsegood:  Having spoken to so many pharmacists, it's very difficult to say that one microgram of LDN is very difficult to know.  It's very hard to prove.  You have to find the right people to have it tested.  Lots of people, I'm sure, who take LDN are not aware of all the efforts that compounding pharmacies must go through.  Would you like to tell us a bit about that? 

Masoud Rashidi:   We received two different chemicals of Naltrexone from a couple of different wholesalers.  Then we send it for testing after compounding to determine the best one to use.  It’s not a requirement to do all this testing, but we go above and beyond to make sure we get the right dosing.  We send samples to the third-party lab to be tested to see if it is within range.  Legally, you can have 10% variation on the capsules, but in our lab, we like to keep it less than 3% to be even more accurate.  When we send it out, we tried to keep it less than 5%, especially when you get to low doses.  Ten per cent is a lot of variation when dealing with one microgram, so we try to keep that even lower than what's legally allowed to ensure higher quality.  In the past, they've rejected a chemical because it had too much water content.

Linda Elsegood:  What kinds of doctors are you dealing with?  Naturopathic doctors, pain specialists, MD’s, and other prescribers?

Masoud Rashidi:  Yes, you are right on.  One of our biggest prescribers is a nurse practitioner who specializes in women's health and sees many people with Hashimoto's and autoimmune.  We have an MD, after going to the LDN Research Trust Conference a few months ago, has become big on LDN.  We have a few naturopaths.  I go to different doctor's offices and educate them on LDN.  In California, unfortunately, a lot of naturopaths cannot prescribe; they must have oversight MD’s.  They must find a naturopath who can prescribe it because not every naturopath in California can do so.  We do have MDs, nurse practitioners, a variety of different doctors, even paediatrics.  One of our best cases was an autism patient, with a prescribing MD.  It was amazing.  Every time I think about it I get goosebumps because of what happened.  A few days later, the mom calls and says, “Oh, my kid is actually communicating with two siblings!”  It was three days later at 0.1 milligrams.  It's been about three months, and she's one of the best advocates for LDN.  She calls us all the time.  This child is talking more and more with the siblings and the parents and having eye-to-eye contact.  The mom said it was life-changing, and that's what we hear all the time.  My life has changed after LDN.  It's rewarding when you hear those words, and that's why we keep doing what we're doing.  We continue to conduct seminars for the public and for the doctors to increase awareness.  It's been very good for the patients, and our goal is to increase awareness on how great it is and how it can help in so many ways, especially with all the research articles available now.

Linda Elsegood:  What case studies do you have, feedback from patients, and their conditions?

Masoud Rashidi:  One of the biggest ones we get is RA or rheumatoid arthritis.  They get a lot of good response.  After a week or two, they can move their fingers, and they don't have much pain.  They've tried all these different drugs, and nothing works.  Now after a week or two, it's amazing sometimes.  For some patients, it takes a few months, but sometimes, within a week they call you back, and it's like, “Oh my God, what is this? This is working amazingly.” 

One amazing result was an MS (multiple sclerosis) patients.  I was brand new to compounding, six months.  We didn’t have that many employees, so we knew every patient that came in the door. He comes in with a wheelchair.  He’s tried everything.  We consulted with MS experts, and that's how we started with LDN, just speaking with them.  I kid you not, three months later, he comes in, WALKS into the pharmacy.  I'm like, whoa!  He was in tears.  He says, “I’ve been in a wheelchair for so many years.  I've tried all these drugs, and nothing has worked.  This has been amazing.”  That's when we started promoting LDN more, talking to different doctors about it.  We get to a lot of good feedback like that.  There are just too many of them to share.

Linda Elsegood:  What about patients with GI problems?  Have you had any feedback from those?

Masoud Rashidi:  Actually, we’ve seen IBS, IBD, Crohn’s disease, and things like that having really good results.  Of course, as we all know, not every drug is going to do 100% for every patient.  But we’ve had about 80% good results.  The funny part is that they’ve tried all other drugs that are commercially available, and nothing has worked.  At this point, they contact us.  After so many doctors, so many drugs, and they come in and then have good success with LDN.  Every time we do our seminars, people come in and ask, “Oh, would it work for this?”  So, we start researching.  Our latest question, Mom called us and said, “Okay, my daughter's addicted to narcotics.  They put her on Suboxone.  What can I do with LDN?  She's now more addicted to Suboxone than she was addicted to narcotics.”  We're researching that right now.  It's amazing how one drug can treat so many different conditions.

Linda Elsegood:  Definitely.  Still talking about GI, do you have any patients using it for SIBO, (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth)?

Masoud Rashidi:  I've read a lot about it.  We have a patient wanting to try it, but the doctor was not willing to prescribe it.  We referred care to this new physician.  This is our first case, and we'll find out hopefully soon.

Linda Elsegood:  What about Lyme? Is that something you've seen 

Masoud Rashidi:  Lyme…yes, we have.  So many people go undiagnosed, and then they get diagnosed, and they don’t know what to give them.  Then they're on pain meds and stuff like that.  We had a Lyme patient, we talked to her doctor and put her on LDN.  It has helped her a lot with her symptoms.  We've had quite a few patients, but she was a really severe case with multiple issues.  About two and a half months later she was off many of her medications, and she was feeling much better.  She could resume driving, not being on all these different drugs.  Previously, she was depressed.  Now she gets up, and she can do things in the morning.  We’ve had other cases with very good results as well.

Linda Elsegood:  Okay. And have you got vets around who prescribe LDN for animals?

Masoud Rashidi:  I've talked to quite a few veterinarians in town.  We’re writing a protocol on how to use LDN for pets.  One veterinarian has used it, and it helps with all the issues that humans have.  There are a lot of articles on that.  We've been starting them on the lower doses.  We do make it mostly liquid in an oil suspension so that it lasts longer.  We have had a few now.  The vets have been very happy, and the owners have been happy.  The dog had arthritic pain and could not move as much.  We gave him the LDN, the veterinarians prescribed it, and then a month or so later the dog is doing much better.  Veterinarians talk to each other.  We get more questions from different veterinarians every day and hope that we can get more awareness of LDN for pets.  It works for them.  We've seen results, few, not many, but I've read a lot of research studies on it.  I am hoping that it's going to become more popular sooner rather than later in the pet world, too.

Linda Elsegood:   Right.  It's all to do with raising awareness and making the doctors feel comfortable.  Not surprised that you have so many MD’s prescribing LDN.  Again, they are traditionally trained and many of them take some convincing to look outside the box.  You were saying ND’s in your area often can't prescribe the LDN.  What about physician assistants?  Are they allowed to prescribe?

Masoud Rashidi:  Oh yeah, they do.  We have one who's a big proponent of it because he's seen really good results.  He's a functional medicine PA.  He involved the doctor and everybody else.  It's contagious when you see good results.  They tell each other, and they start calling it in.  Yes, we have quite a few PA’s that prescribe.  Not as many as I want.  They're coming on board because we’re holding seminars in large scale now.

Linda Elsegood:  Yes, PA’s tend to have more time to listen to patients than doctors.  It's amazing what these service providers are doing.  We'd be lost without them.  

Masoud Rashidi:  You're absolutely right.  As far as they have more time to spend with the patient because doctors have a lot of other things going on at the same time. 

Linda Elsegood:  When you have a chronic disease, let's say MS or lupus, even fibromyalgia, trying to get the diagnosis isn't easy.  And then you’ve got to find somebody to help you to get the right treatment because obviously everybody is different.  It also helps to have that patient, doctor and pharmacist relationship, doesn't it?  You know, the triangle.  Presenting LDN to more doctors and letting them know that you're there to answer any questions or queries they may have I would think helps them become more confident in prescribing LDN.

Masoud Rashidi:  That's true.  Even in our patient's seminar, we had last month, we had four prescribers show up at the seminar that was for the patient.  It was very interesting.  In future seminars, we may broadcast on Facebook Live or somewhere, so more people can be reached who cannot come in.  All our seminars are free.  We do this for awareness.  We have people come in and share their stories.  Patients talk to each other, and then they start getting up and talking to the whole group.  That's amazing, too, because then they are hearing from the patient, not from us.

Linda Elsegood:  Of course, patients, as soon as they learn about LDN, they then go and find a doctor or educate their own doctor.  I think patients also play a big part in raising awareness of LDN, especially when they have good results.

Masoud Rashidi:  Exactly.  We give them a whole binder.  We've seen that patient take those binders to their doctor and show them some of the research studies, because some doctors are still thinking of Naltrexone as a whole dose Naltrexone and they're like, “Oh, you don't need it.”  We tell them, take this to your doctor, and that has helped.  You are absolutely right.  Patients are the best advocate for this whole thing because they see results.

Linda Elsegood:  We’ve come to the end of the show.  Thank you so much for having been my guest today.  It really was a pleasure speaking with you.

Masoud Rashidi:  Thank you for having us, and it was a pleasure speaking with you.  

Linda Elsegood:  Thank you. 

This show is sponsored by Doctors Masoud and Anna Rashidi.  They graduated in 2004 from Western University with a Doctor of Pharmacy degrees. Soon after in 2007, they opened the PCAP accredited Innovative Compounding Pharmacy located at 820 Wales Drive, Suite 3, Folsom, California  95630.  To better serve the community, for more information, please call (866) 470-9197 or visit www.icpfolsom.com.  

Any questions or comments you may have, please email me.  Linda, contact@ldnresearchtrust.org  I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for joining us today.  We really appreciate your company.  Until next time, stay safe and keep well.