LDN Video Interviews and Presentations

Andra-Maria, MS Patient - 5th June 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: Today my guest is Andra-Maria, and she's from Romania and she uses LDN for multiple sclerosis. Thank you for joining me today.

Andra Maria: A pleasure.

Linda Elsegood: This is really exciting. Can you tell us in your own words, when you were diagnosed, what you were like at that time and what you are like now?

Andra Maria: When I first was diagnosed in 2012 it was kind of a shock but at the same time, it was a relief because, after two years of going back and forth to all sorts of doctors, I finally got a diagnosis, but thereafter I understood what kind of disease I had. I was kind of depressed for six months, and then because I'm a really optimistic person, I said: “well, these are the cards that I have from life and so with these cards, I will play along”. It all started with urinary incontinence. I was very dizzy. I was not seeing very well. I had all sorts of mixed feelings. I was happy. I was sad. All sorts of feelings and then, in 2013, I joined a national program for multiple sclerosis. The interferon did wonders for me for the first three years, but, after two more years, I started feeling worse, not being able to walk properly. I had a lot of fatigue. I had a lot of balance issues. I couldn't concentrate a lot, and I decided to stop. I talked to my doctor and I said, I think the treatment isn't going very well.

The process between changing from one medicine to another, because now I'm on Tysabri for nine months, but the period from going to one to another was for about one year. I really realized that in this year I had to do something because I couldn't just stand and watch myself going down every day and being sad and not being able to do things like normal. Actually I didn't find out about LDN by myself. My husband did because he was really affected by my illness. So he was searching through the internet and at one point he found a video about LDN, about people in Norway or Sweden who would take it and he showed me that video and she said, “what do you think? Are you going to try this medicine?” and I said, “I'm a very optimistic person and I think that all things that happen in life are for a reason”. So I think there was a reason why my husband discovered LDN. I said, yeah, definitely. I'll give it a try; what can go wrong? I did all the research. My husband found this group as well. He sent an invitation. I read all the information that you have on the Facebook group and I said that I’d go to talk to my neurologist about it. I'm very lucky that my neurologist is a very open person and is open to new… well, she's not very strict. I went to her with all the information sheets and I said to her, “look, I would really like to try this medicine”. She said “Okay. Let me, let me do my homework on it. Just let me read and see and I'll see you back in a couple of days”.

After a couple of days, I went to her. I had a prescription for naltrexone. Actually, this was actually in February. Just in February. It has been a year since I started LDN. My first dose was 0.5mg. I started from there. I took 0. 50 for about three weeks. After three weeks I went to 1mg and the best time for me on LDN was last year in March when I was lucky enough to go to Thailand. I had the time of my life because I was able to go around and visit all sorts of things without fatigue, without worrying about anything. So that's what’s great for me. Then I realized, wow, this medicine is great. Who knew because although I read all of those positive things that people go through, I read about many people who don't get well immediately, who don’t have any improvements in their systems. I crossed my fingers and said, “let's hope that's not me”.

Now I can say that now almost a year from that moment when I was normal for two weeks, I can say I'm not as well as then but for example, I did a lot of tests on myself and I decided to stop LDN for two to three days then I noticed a very significant change in my state. I said, no, this is not a medicine to drop.

So I must stick to it. I want to tell you that I'm very grateful that this medicine exists. I'm very grateful to all the people who shared their stories and their experience. I'm very grateful to those who are the admins of this group. I want to say thank you. You're doing a wonderful job.

From my point of view, whenever I go and I talk to people that have the same disease, I always end up putting on the table at a discussion, the LDN, and I always mention that it's done wonders for me. But as you know, people are people and some of them are sceptical and some of them are not lucky like I was to have a great doctor who trusts, my knowledge and who trusts that I will never go to my doctor to say that I want to use a medicine if I do not read about it before. So people, when I go and tell them about LDN, are really sceptical and they're looking at me funny and they're asking me questions.

What's this medicine for? I start telling them what this medicine is for something else. But it's used in a lot of diseases and a lot of illnesses, and people are really sceptical. So I guess you carry on. I guess you went through that as well. When you tell people, you can give people the information, answer all their questions, but everybody is entitled to make their own mind up what they think is right for them.

I know that there are some times when I want to say to people, please just try. You know? And it's very frustrating. We get a lot of phone calls and people will say, with multiple sclerosis, well, I'm okay right now. I don't need to take anything, but I know that LDN is there, so when I deteriorate, I can take it.

You know? And it's like, if you take it now, you might not deteriorate. Why wait until you know, you start to notice you're not so good, but you can't force your ideas on other people. You have to allow them to make their own mind up. But it is sad when the choice isn't what you would expect or what you would like them to say.

I want to tell you that if I knew sooner about LDN, I probably would take it from the start. So that's definitely a choice I would make. Even though in 2012 I was better. Because in 2012 when I was diagnosed, I didn't have fatigue. I was in DC and all sorts of MS stuff.

But definitely, if I knew about LDN, then I would have taken it so I wouldn't think about it. I wanted to tell you also that I take LDN now; I'm on Tysabri but I also have, let's say a strict diet. I don't eat gluten. I don't eat dairy. I don't eat sugar. Definitely no, for about two years now, I think so for about two years.

I don't eat gluten. I don't eat dairy. I don't eat sugar. Definitely not. So, yes. For me it did. Actually it did for my husband too, because my husband doesn't have any illnesses and for supporting me, he has the same diet. It has done wonders for him because he lost a lot of weight.

His back doesn't hurt anymore and all sorts of these things. So I think from my point of view, I'm trying to, with the knowledge I have now about eating correctly about LDN, pass it on, not only to sick to ill persons. I always try to pass it to another person. Make sure that people are okay and I'm always trying to tell them it will make a change in their life.

Eating just what's right. But again, you cannot force people. You can only give them information. If they are interested to try it, they will try it. If not exactly how you said before, you cannot force people. You have an amazing story and thank you so much for sharing it with us today.

Thank you. Again, thank you to all the people in the group. I want to give a special thank you to my husband who gave me LDN, for finding it and giving it to me. And besides the LDN, because he really makes a difference in my life with all of his support.

Linda Elsegood: Long may your success continue.

Andra Maria: Thank you and I hope to hear about more successes.

Linda Elsegood: This show is sponsored by our members who made donations. We'd like to give them a very big thank you. We have to cover the monthly costs of the radio station software, bandwidth, phone lines, and phone calls to be able to continue with the radio show and thank you for listening.

Any questions or comments you may have. Please email me and 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.

Russell - 29th May 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: Today, my guest is Russell from the United States who takes LDN for hypothyroidism, Graves' disease, a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Thank you for joining us today, Russell.

Russell: Hi, Linda. It's a pleasure to be speaking with you 

Linda Elsegood: So could you tell us, when did you first notice there was something wrong? How long ago was that?

Russell: So first for me, it was with the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The cancer was back in 2016. Um, well that's when I got diagnosed, but I, I had a, uh, a lump on my arm near my elbow and, um, I had seen a lot of, uh, or I saw my primary care physician for it.

And I'm fairly young. I'm 29. Just turned 29. Actually. You know, a couple of weeks ago in February 1st and uh, so, you know, no one thought that it was cancer at the time, as I call it. It's a rare chance that it could be, but you won't know until you get it taken out or get a biopsy or anything like that.

At the time, I was busy working and. Uh, I kind of, you know, drug my feet a little bit to actually get, get it, uh, you know, get the imaging studies that were requested, you know, those types of things done, you know, just being busy with work. So it turned out to be about, uh, it's about 14 months later when I actually got diagnosed and, um, and I, that's when I got the cancer diagnosis and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

It's a. Caught 'em anaplastic large cell lymphoma and it's a T cell lymphoma, and it's highly aggressive, and it's, it's, you know, they diagnose it as systemic cause I had a lymph node and, um, it can end up anywhere and everywhere in the body very quickly. And, uh, you know, by the grace of God, at that time, I was diagnosed with stage one.

So that was surgically removed, and I'm kind of taking a step back. So that was surgically removed. That's how I actually found out what was. And so then they referred me to an oncologist. And, uh, so I saw an oncologist and, um, you know, they recommended to chemotherapy. So I did the chemotherapy first-line therapy, 

And, um, so that, so that, and then in that context, it was an adjuvant therapy. From what I understand. Based on the terminology, because you know, I had pet scans, CT scans done, you know, after that biopsy. And there was no other detectable disease at the time. So it was stage one, and they said, Oh, since this is stage one, and you know, we think we, uh, you know, can, you know, take care of this with the first-line therapy.

And it was like they said, a 90% chance of longterm, durable remission or cure with chemotherapy. Then ten months later. Um, I, uh, started to get skin lesions that were just popping up. And I'm saying that now cause I know what they are now, but at the time they just look like, like little bumps and um, you know, they started on the legs and arms and they'd get on the back and had some on the face and not a whole lot on my face, but mostly on the, you know, the limbs and trunk and stuff like that as a body.

And it's like, what should go in and get this checked out? So I had told my oncologist about it, and he saw some of them, and he's like, Oh, this is kinda, you know, it looks, you know, it doesn't look like anything cancer-related, but then we'll recommend you to the, you know, the lymphoma, dermatology, ontological specialists.

So, and that was kind of a little, what am I seeing? This guy where I'm in? This doesn't look like him, but they just want to make sure. So I saw him. And, um, you know, he's used to seeing these types of things. And you know, it was kind of shocking to me when I saw his face because he was puzzled. He was kind of like, or not puzzled, I should say, but he was concerned that this was cancer.

And so I did some biopsies there, and they started checking lymph nodes, and they found the lymph node and the growing. And I was like, Oh, we need you to go, you know, and get this a lymph node biopsy as well. So those biopsy results came back. So it came back as a recurrence for the primary, uh, lymphoma that large anaplastic cell in the groin.

And then I had metastasis to my skin and with that, of that same primary lymphoma, then there was one of the other skin biopsies that were done. It was suspicious for. Another type of skin lymphoma called mycosis fun goatees. But they were kind of going back and forth cause it kind of looked like the primary, um, anaplastic large cell lymphoma and this other type.

So then the recommendations, you know, back for all those fines reflected and met my primary colleges. Again, I was like, well, we have the second-line therapy. We still believe it is a high chance. To, uh, to cure this. And those were the terms they used. And, um, so I went through that, and I did four rounds of a targeted drug.

It's called an upper and Tufts and bad. So my client will make antibody. And, um, within two cycles, I got another emission. All the skin lesions, you know, went down at the lymph nodes in the groin were gone. And then, um, the oncologist said, well, in order for us to cure you, we need to get you into, um, high dose chemotherapy with the STEM cell transplant.

So this is not just the normal chemo. I mean, this is like, you know, high dose. They give you enough chemo where they wipe out everything that's in your bone marrow, and they rescue you with a STEM cell transplant. So. Uh, so I was like, you know, at the big, you know, kind of against that, because I looked into a lot of, uh, you know, the side effects and longterm stuff is associated with that.

And there's just a lot of risks with me being young. And I, I was never in favour of doing that. And, um, so my plan then was after I got through a mission, you know, which the mission was done about that, maybe the second cycle. And so I did two more additional. Then after that, my plan was to try to, you know, pursue some holistic type treatment and, um, to, to sort of try to keep it away or whatsoever.

But, you know, look, uh, shortly after that, maybe two to three weeks after I was done with that chemo, I started to get skin lesions again. So, I mean, that kind of shocked me as well. That was pretty quick. I was like, Holy cow. Um, you know, I just got off of the chemotherapy, so I went back in and got some more biopsies, and sure enough, it was the same, you know, stuff in my skin again, this with this lymphoma.

I was like, well, now it's insight, you know, it came back so rapidly. They were like, well, you know, if you don't go into this, you know, high dose chemotherapy with the STEM cell trust that we wouldn't expect, you know, Chris, your condition and with relapse and stuff like that to live past six months.

So that was kind of, I was like, Oh, wow. Yeah. So then, you know, this was, that was in January of 2018 so, I mean, I was, I wasn't convinced that that was gonna cure me because the data that they supply for me, um, you know, the bone marrow transplant team and my primary oncologist, I mean, the data was showing a 30% chance of survival for three years.

You know, and they were saying that secure. I mean, I, and, and I was trying to be objective as possible. And I mean, it just didn't pan out to me. I mean, I have a three-year-old, and I'm thinking to myself, it's like, well, how is this going to cure me? You know, there's no data showing ten years, 20 years, or 30 years.

But I don't know. That's what they told me. And that's what the data said. So that's when I decided to, um, you know, not pursue any more conventional therapy, you know. So I stepped outside of the standard of care, and I went to a, uh, a clinic down in Mexico, ships the hospital, and I got some, um, you know, uh, treatment down there and some natural therapies and some immune therapy, um, called Cooley's toxins.

And this is how we're just starting to get him to the point where, um, I started my LDN. So after, you know, all those treatments and stuff I did down there. Actually, I responded pretty well. Um, you know, a lot of the skin lesions, I had probably about 95% of those was gone when I came back home though, right before I left Mexico.

Um, they had tested, uh, just normal thyroid panel testing and my T, um, TSH was like really, really low. It was like, I think it was like 0.05, and so then I got back here, I got the results, and they sent it to me an email, and I saw my functional medicine doctor, and he was like, Whoa, this looks like graves' disease.

So I'm like, Oh my gosh, you're, this is, you know, I've got another condition. You know, trying to deal with cancer and, and, um, so he did some more tests and some thyroid antibody tests and TSI, those tests like that. And, um, my TSI came back. It was elevated positive for graves' disease. So then that's when he had recommended for me to take, um, LDN low dose naltrexone.

So I started taking that, and he started me off at 1.5 milligrams, and the plan was to escalate that dose over a, you know, go up 1.5 milligrams every two weeks. But what I found is that I wasn't able to do that initially. I mean, I somewhat explain that a little bit. I went from, I think it was what, 1.5 to three and in two weeks, and I tried to go.

Oh to 4.5 then the next weekend, I did have some side effects. I was like, Whoa. I had to, I just felt so exhausted the next day, and you know, really, you know, really tired and fatigue, muscle aches and stuff like that. So I, you know, took a step back and I went back to three. And, uh, took that for a little bit longer than asked my doctor, you know, if it would be okay if I just went to force.

I did that for probably a couple of weeks then. Then I finally went to the 4.5, and that's where I'm at now, taking, taking that every night at bedtime. And, um, some of the side effects that I've experienced. Um. I mean, this is very low. And that's one of the things I like about LDN. There are very low side effects, but I did call sleep services for me in the beginning, and every once in awhile I'll have an issue where I'll find myself, you know, awakened and, um, you know, two or three o'clock in the morning or something like that.

But I started, um, taking some magnesium. With that, because that's been shown to help with sleep and stuff like that. So that's, that's actually been helping me quite a bit here, uh, over the last couple of months. And, uh, so I've been taking it, so I, I haven't, I mentioned when I first started it, I started it back in, uh, was in April of 2018?

So I'm coming up to about a year and, uh, on the LDN. But other than that, I think those were all the side effects that I experienced. And one other, uh, interesting. Um, synergy I think I experienced with LDN because I'm, I'm doing this, this holistic protocol, Gerson therapy, those two different types of therapies for just the maintenance and to keep cancer from coming back.

And I'll kind of, um, I'm not jumping over the place here, but I'll kind of come back to the cancer part a little bit too because I believe it's helping there as well. But, um, yeah. So all the therapies I mentioned, I was doing this Coleys talks and this immunotherapy, so mixed bacterial vaccines, non-infectious, and this is a dead bacteria, but I won't go too much into the details or the history behind that, but it's a very old, um, you know, Dr. William Coley was the father considered the father, you know, therapy. And he actually formulates, came up with the formulation for this mixed bacterial vaccine and found out that, uh. What he, what he saw is that a, a patient that, uh, had sarcoma and of the, I think it was a bone sarcoma, and this patient was not supposed to survive this disease.

And he actually, you know, coldly found him alive and well, you know, long after he was supposed to be gone. And he, uh. They looked into the records and found out what actually happened to him. But this man was breaking out into high fevers and chills and, you know, shake. So he had this, uh, uh, air syphilis infection and, and, you know, dr Coley believed that that caused the tumour regression, and he, you know,

A scientist actually tried to reproduce that, and he was able to do that by infecting people with live bacteria. But he killed a lot of people. And this is doc, well documented in the medical literature, you know, would dr Kohli and his results. But, uh, so then he actually, you know, you can't kill people giving them something to treat a condition.

So he actually, uh, you know, thought that, Hey, what if I heat-killed this bacteria and gave it to people? And, you know, he didn't cause any mortality associated with it, but he did have, uh, some tumour regression. And um. But anyway, so that's a little bit of history behind this vaccine, but there's some literature out there that shows that LDN has the potential to, um, help the maturation of dendritic cells and, you know, Coleys this vaccine actually.

Um, it, it works through your dendritic cells. And, and, um, from my experience when I started taking LDN and continuing my, uh. Immunotherapy vaccine, I notice more the reactions from the vaccine were more intensify. And, uh, and it, that didn't happen before. Like, actually I responded better. Like, one of the metrics for this vaccine is it does cause you to have high fevers.

And, you know, I, I, I didn't really get them consistently and, um, but once I started, you know, using LDN and the vaccine, I mean, it actually. You know, I would get getting consistent, you know, high fevers in some record temperatures and stuff like that. But, um, so I thought that was pretty interesting. So my, all my doctors were kind of on board with me using that.

So I was working with my doctor. I just wasn't, you know, doing experiments and stuff like that by myself. But, um, so kind of, uh, I think that's the gist of. With the, with, with the vaccine, but back to, um, with Gray's disease, as I mentioned, I started taking it in April of last year, and about three months after that, um, in July, I had more thyroid testing done and my graves' disease would, it's remission, you know, just in those three months of taking LDN.

So that was pretty, I was pretty sold on using it. And, uh, as I said, I still use it to this day, so, and, and, um, but my, so regarding cancer, um, so like I said, I've been taking it and, um, you know, also for cancer, but in doing all these other things, but. You know, as I mentioned that my doctor mentioned in January of last year that I wasn't expected to live past six months without that high dose chemotherapy and STEM cell transplant.

And so now I'm actually, you know, it's almost a, it would be going on like 13 months since that, um, prognosis and I had a pet scan back in September of last year, and that actually showed that I didn't have any, you know. Evidence of any tumours or anything like that. So was a clear pet scan.

Linda Elsegood: Yeah. That's amazing.

Russell: So, um, so I'm, uh, you know, and I believe that LDN has helped as well. You know, as I said, especially with the vaccine and, you know, and, uh, so I'm, I am, you know, going to continue to take that and. And, um, and another thing that's pretty interesting that from that I came across is, you know, there's a lot of talks now about cancer STEM cells and circulating tumour cells.

And, you know, the literature is saying that this is what causes a person to relapse. And, you know, what I found highly interesting is, um. No. From some of dr his work and, and some of the, uh, the information that's out there regarding some of the people that he gave LDN after they had, you know, successful cancer treatment.

You know, even if it was conventional or whatsoever surgery, and that people tended not to relapse after taking LDN. And the connection here, and this is some of the conclusions that I've been drawing just from some of the research that I've been doing, but I'm coming out of a university of Michigan, dr max, which I mean, they have one of the leading STEM cell cancer STEM cell research laboratories, and they're kind of leading building this.

But one of the. Cytokines and these are just inflammatory cytokines. It's called interleukin six is what causes these cancer STEM cells to go into the proliferation cycle. And that's kind of what they found from their, their research and the connection with LDN is I've seen some of the data that they looked at some of these cytokines that LDN effects.

And, and this is in particular, I believe you probably though the doctor, I think you've, I've heard you interviewed him, he did some clinical trials with fibromyalgia

Linda Elsegood: Jarred Younger

Russell: Yeah. That, yes, that's his name there. And, uh, one of the tops of the, uh, on the top of that list, my memory serves me correctly, I believe it was to where necrosis factor out was, which is another, you know, uh, typical transcription factor or a cytokine.

I forget. Specifically, but interleukin six is like the second one on that list. So LDN, um, inhibits that. So I meant, I know, as I said, these are some of the conclusions I'm drawing from my research. But, so, I mean, maybe that's by one of the mechanisms by which, you know, LDN may keep a person in remission.

And, uh, so, and I, I've heard a couple of testimonials of people. You know, having, you know, in remission from cancer, especially if LDN, you know, bought them, but that person in remission, you know, and they stopped taking it and have a relapse again. And there's a guy, I believe, I think his name is Kevin. I think he had liver cast.

And I believe you interviewed him and he mentioned the head in an interview, uh, with you regarding, uh, the, the, you know, after he stopped taking ODN and liver cancer came back, I believe his name, Kevin, but, um. But anyway, so I just thought that was interesting in some other, you know, functional medicine doctors have kind of reported some of the similar, um, similar, you know, things happen.

Linda Elsegood: well, you know, it's totally amazing, and I'm sure people find you an absolute inspiration. Definitely.

Russell: Yeah. So, uh, yeah, I'm just very, yeah, I've been blessed in it, you know, I thank God for. You know, everything and you know, the success I'm having, and you know, being in good health right now. And so that's a

Linda Elsegood: yes.

Well, long may you continue in the way in which you are and lead a normal, healthy, happy life.

Russell: Yes.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you, Russell.

Russell: Okay, great, great. And uh, you had the great day and thank you for all that you do. And uh, that's great. 

Linda Elsegood: This show is sponsored by our members who made donations. We'd like to give them a very big thank you.

We have to cover the monthly costs of the radio station software and with phone lines and phone calls to be able to continue with their idea of the show. And thank you for listening.

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.

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) in Scotland and beyond (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Samantha Lebsock, PharmD - 22nd May 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Samantha Lebsock, PharmD shares her Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Samantha received her Bachelors in Human Biology and her Doctorate of Pharmacy from The University of Montana. She left the small city behind with her husband Nick and moved to Denver, Colorado. 

Samantha started working at Belmar Pharmacy in 2014. She quickly became involved in the Low Dose Naltrexone family and was amazed at the way it has changed people’s lives. Samantha is also the point person at Belmar for Clinical Trials and assists research coordinators in the dispensing of study medications. 

Samantha attended the LDN 2019 Conference in Portland to represent Belmar Pharmacy.

This is a summary of Samantha Lebsock’s interview. Please listen to the rest of Samantha’s story by clicking on the video above.

Dr. Anna Cabeca - 8th May 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr Anna Cabeca is a board-certified gynaecologist and obstetrician from Georgia in the United States. She trained at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, then went on to also be boarded in integrative medicine, as well as anti-ageing and regenerative medicine. She is a pioneer for women's health, to solve the problems that so many women suffer with as a part of hormone imbalance; to do it naturally, and to regain control of our health to the best of our ability.

As many women age, muscle flexibility decreases and fascia tightens, with the result of discomfort with intercourse. In 2000 Dr Cabeca started using low dose naltrexone (LDN) in topical form for such patients, and developed a formulation of LDN, arginine, and pentoxifylline, that she calls “Joy Gel”. The vasodilators in it improve blood flow, moisture, etc.  It is applied to the pelvic floor prior to intercourse; or on a daily basis for relief from pelvic pain syndromes, vulvodynia, vestibulitis. Joy Gel includes LDN 2.5 – 3.0 mg per 0.5 ml and is measured into a syringe. A large pea or dime-sized is about 0.5 ml.

Dr Cabeca also uses LDN in capsule form for clients with difficult insomnia, typically with a very slow titer-up to 4 mg; and those with Hashimoto’s, autoimmune diseases, or suffering from toxic mould syndromes.

At around age 38, Dr Cabeca underwent menopause, looked for answers, that reversed menopause completely, and she conceived at age 41. At age 48 she and her family underwent a traumatic incident, and despite being on hormones, she became menopausal again. At that point, she tried a ketogenic diet but had side effects. She studied and hypothesizes that as protective neurotransmitters decrease with age, eg estrogen and progesterone, the ketogenic approach is not complete.  In her book The Hormone Fix, she writes about the keto greenway and the greens; adding on the alkalinizers, the high micronutrient-rich micro foods, and microgreens, like broccoli sprouts, and alfalfa sprouts; and using kale, beet greens, chard; lots of deep dark, deep leafy greens. Using the best to get the body into ketosis, thus using ketones for fuel. And checking urine to get an alkaline urine pH. She has developed a test strip to urinary pH and ketones, to help understand what’s working and what’s not.

In the book is a 10-day quick-start detox, a 21-day menu plan, chapters on stress and vaginal health and hormones, and functional testing, and quizzes, and inventories to do. She has programs and menus on her website as well. Once stabilized, clients may be able to reduce the medications they take.

In The Hormone Fix, she notes that it’s insulin, cortisol, and oxytocin are the major hormones that give the quality of life. Stress reduces oxytocin, and depression follows; healing comes through nutrition (25%) and lifestyle (75%). The book has a chapter on stress, developed through personal experiences and traumas. When cortisol’s up with stress, it lowers oxytocin; and you get into a critical phase of low cortisol and low oxytocin - and that feels like burnout.

The Hormone Fix is available from Dr Cabeca’s website: https://book.thehormonefix.com/get-the-book and that link includes a bonus offer.  The book also is available wherever books are sold – Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and others; and on Amazon, where it’s #1 in menopause.

Summary from Dr. Anna Cabeca’s LDN Radio Show from 08 May 2019. Listen to the video for the show.

Keywords: LDN, low dose naltrexone, vulvodynia, vestibulitis, hormone, insomnia, Hashimoto’s, autoimmune, toxic mould, ketogenic diet, The Hormone Fix, insulin, cortisol, oxytocin

Lauren - 1st May 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Lauren is from the UK, and uses low dose naltrexone (LDN) for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), fibromyalgia, and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS).

Before starting LDN she was housebound for about 2 years. She lost mobility in her legs; and had constant migraines and dizziness, and a myriad of other symptoms. She was only 20, and rates her quality of life as a 2 at that point. Having no quality of life, she was on suicide watch. One day she decided to do some research, and came across LDN, and found Clinic 158 in Scotland, which arranged for a consultation with a doctor, and the prescription. Within 2-3 weeks on LDN 0.5 mg she was cleaning the house; and as the dose increased, she felt like a new person, with her independence back. She was able to return to work, and has her own home now, although she does have some bad days.

Her fibromyalgia began at age 13. She was a champion Irish dancer, and suddenly her fibromyalgia symptoms began, and soon she was wheelchair bound. It took 5 years to get a diagnosis. Living with fibromyalgia was very traumatizing, not only because of the chronic fatigue, but also the pain in her body. She was told her leg muscle mass was pretty much gone. Because of the fibromyalgia in her joints, at age 22 she was preparing to have a shoulder replaced because of loss of her rotator cuff and frequent dislocation. Now on LDN she only suffers a dislocation maybe once a week.

A couple months after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). A year later she was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type 2, the hypermobility EDS. Things like cold weather, or a temperature her body wasn’t used to, would cause her shoulder to pop out. Her whole body was affected, but it tended to show most in her shoulder joint.

Now on LDN her pain is not gone, but it’s down to minimal, and a level she can cope with. She coped with excruciating pain daily for years, and now on LDN, having slight twinges here and there over her body is manageable. She is able to enjoy her life as a 23 year old.

 Summary of Lauren’s interview, please listen to the video for the full story.

Keywords: LDN, low dose naltrexone, chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS, myalgic encephalomyelitis, ME, fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, EDS

The Opioid Crisis and how you can help! (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

What is the LDN 2019 Conference (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Silvia Panitch, MD - 24th April 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr Silvia Panitch shares her Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr Silvia Panitch was trained in conventional medicine, but found holistic and functional medicine to be more successful in treating her patients.

Dr Panitch explains the nuances between holistic and functional medicine, weighing up the positives of both and how both methods have helped her become more experienced and consequently able to provide better treatment for her patients. 

In this interview she explains how rapidly medicine has evolved during her career while sharing a great deal of optimism about the future of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).

This is a summary of Dr Silvia Panitch’s interview. Please listen to the rest of Dr Panitch’s story by clicking on the video above.

David Kazarian, BSPharm, CP, RPh - 17th April 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: Today my guest is David Kazarian, who is a pharmacist and CEO of Infuserve America. Thank you for joining me today, David. You were telling me before we started that your father was a pharmacist. Can you tell us about what it was like for you growing up? 

David Kazarian: Thank you for asking me to join you. Well, when I was eight years old, I used to make capsules in the back of the drug store. My dad worked for a chain back in those days, and he decided to open up his own pharmacy right across the street from them. And that's what he did. I was born in 1941 during the war, which kept my dad out of the war because he had a son; and I grew up delivering prescriptions, helping my dad. He was ahead of his time. He would make penicillin kits. I recall 100,000 units of penicillin would kill anything. And now we've got 2.4 million units and we've got some things that it won't kill. But as a child, I made capsules in the back of the store. I helped my dad with deliveries. I did everything there was to do. And I got interested in the pharmacy market, as time went on. I was always restless. My dad passed away and I learned how much I didn't know when he died. I thought I knew everything up until then. And my dad got real smart after he died. He used to tell me I’ll hear the things he’s telling me after he’s gone. He died in the early seventies, and I still hear that.

I got interested in infusion therapy, so in the 80s we started that, hence the name Infuserve America. That was the genesis of the name. We did infusion pharmacy, but as time went on, we got blown sideways into compounding. Well, I shouldn't say that, because back when I got out of school, compounding is what pharmacists did.

That was 50% of what I dispensed - we compounded it. It wasn't a speciality back then, it was what pharmacists’ profession was. As time went on, there was less and less of it. 

And then as time went on, all of a sudden, it started up again. But this time it started as a speciality, and that's why we've been a compounding pharmacy ever since. 

Linda Elsegood: So when did Infuserve America become a company?

David Kazarian: In 1989 I left Connecticut and moved to Florida. I sold my pharmacy there, came to Florida, and I was immediately bored because I was used to working 16 hour days. So I started a little infusion pharmacy called Infuserve America, and in 1994 we incorporated. I suppose you can say Infuserve was born in 1994.

Linda Elsegood: So, what does the company do now, David? How big is it?

David Kazarian: Well, that's a good question. We have 53 staff, several pharmacists who we can call compounding pharmacists, and one staff member who taught at a college of pharmacy and also taught courses in compounding for companies that sell chemicals. One pharmacist had been compounding for multiple years in a compounding pharmacy, and he is our pharmacy manager. We were a small company when we started. We had four employees, and now we're over 50. Wow, it's amazing, isn't it? What's amazing is the payroll. I get frightened every time I look at it. I've been practising pharmacy for over 50 years and I've worked with a lot of people, and I have to tell you, this group of individuals is probably the best of the best that I've ever worked with. They're amazing people. They don't know a time clock. They come to work early, they leave late. They do whatever it takes for us to satisfy our customers. They understand that we're here for the patients that we serve.

Linda Elsegood: And when did you first hear about LDN? 

David Kazarian: Well, that's very interesting because I will tell you that a doctor by the name of Horowitz called and asked if we could compound it. And I said, of course, we can compound it. And when I got off the phone, I turned around to our pharmacist and I said, what's that?

Linda Elsegood: Oh, that's funny. 

David Kazarian: Fortunately, one of our staff knew exactly what it was, and that was a while ago. I've learned more about it ever since. It's a very interesting drug. And of course, your organization has brought out a lot of information concerning the properties of LDN, what it can do.

But you know, I have to tell you, when I was in pharmacy school, we had an old professor, Dr Lauder, and Dr Lauder said, and by the way, he was well known - Dr Lauder formulated Kaopectate for the Upjohn company, at least that's what I was told. At any rate, he was one of my professors and he said to not pay attention to what the drug companies tell you about how good a drug is. Pay attention to how much it sells, because if it's a good product, it'll sell; if it's not a good product and it doesn't work as it's supposed to work, people won't buy it. And I will tell you since we started making LDN, we sell more every month. I believe that the product works, and I think it has been a well-kept secret.

Linda Elsegood: And how do you compound it? Do you do capsules, sublingual liquid, tablets?

David Kazarian: We do mostly capsules. Tablets require a tablet press. Making tablets, if somebody's not paying attention, tablets can be pressed too hard and they won't dissolve. Capsules, on the other hand, will always help. Unique formulations can go into capsules and they work. We have made tablets, but we haven't had much call for tablets. As a matter of fact, I don't even think we have the tablet press anymore. 

Linda Elsegood: Do you get to meet your patients? Do you know for which condition your population is using LDN? 

David Kazarian: When you asked if I get to meet the patients, I have to tell you an interesting story about my dad. When I got out of pharmacy school, I was working the bench. And a physician called and ordered a vaccine. So my dad put it up, and he told me to take it up to the doctor’s office because he had spoken to that doctor on the phone for 16 years and didn't know what he looked like. So I went up and his receptionist was very kind, let me walk into his office and shake his hand. You reminded me of that. 

And because we ship all over the United States and the fact that we are licensed in all 50 States and the district of Columbia, most of our things are shipped. So do I speak to the patients? We do speak to our patients, but I mostly don't meet them face to face. Sometimes I'll go to a meeting and somebody will come over and they'll say they want to shake my hand and say they’ve known our company for years and they’d like to meet me. But most of the time we speak over the phone. I'll tell you a great majority of our patients use LDN for Lyme disease. 

Linda Elsegood: I wondered when you mentioned Dr. Richard Horowitz. He took part in our Lyme disease documentary, so I did wonder if Lyme disease was a big part of your pharmacy.

David Kazarian: When we started, that was our only business, our total focus. It was 100% of our patients. Now it's probably 20 to 25% of what we do. But we still do have a large Lyme disease population, and it's sad because these folks get abused by the system. I've seen many cases where these patients had Lyme disease for years and were never diagnosed, and they were told that they had imaginary pain.

As a matter of fact, early on in my career of treating patients with Lyme, I met a psychiatrist that was ordering antibiotics, and I went to his office and on the wall were these degrees in psychiatry, and I'm wondering why a psychiatrist is ordering antibiotics? He told me that he got many referrals for patients that physicians thought were nuts, so he examined them and thought there's something organic going on, and he treated them with antibiotics and they improved; and his practice moved from psychiatry to Lyme disease, which was very interesting. People were diagnosed as having a mental disorder, when in fact they were infected with bacteria. Well, I'm sure there are some people who have mental issues who do present with maybe Lyme-type symptoms. But there are a number of people who contact me who find it difficult to get off the sofa, that they have difficulty in thinking they have lots of pain, et cetera, et cetera. And then to be told on top of feeling like that, that it's imaginary. You know, you're just depressed. 

Linda Elsegood: It must be absolutely soul-destroying when nobody believes you. 

David Kazarian: You have no idea. I've heard this story so many times I could regurgitate it by memory. People go for years, they're told their pains are imaginary.

David Kazarian: Then their insurance companies refuse to pay, and that's another thing we did. We started this pharmacy because I was involved with another company where I had a partner who enjoyed making money. Uh, I worry about the patient more than making money and some of her practices I didn't agree with, so I said we can't be partners anymore, and I moved to Florida and started this company. I tried to sell products that were used for Lyme disease as cheap as I could because these people broke my heart. They pay for insurance and insurance says, no, we've treated you for 30 days, you don't need any more treatment. So they've got to put their hand in their pocket and pay for these drugs themselves. So we tried to keep our prices as low as possible, and that was the genesis of Infuserve America. That's why the company really started. I felt bad that I was a part of a company that may have charged patients a lot of money who were hurting, and I wanted to repent for my sins, and that's why I started this company. The staff meets once a month, and at least quarterly I remind people why we're here. I tell them we're not here to make a profit, although I'd like to make a profit. We're here for one reason, and that's to treat the patients we serve. 

A lady called because she had a vitamin mixture and I got a call from my case management office. They told me she dropped the bag of IV solution and broke it. It was her fault. It slipped and broke and she needed to order it. It was $165 for that bag of a vitamin mixture that she destroyed, and she had asked if we could ship it to her without charging her for shipping because a FedEx refrigerated box is expensive. I told my person to tell her we'll just give it to her, no charge. Because my heart breaks for these folks there. I don't care. And we've got some wealthy people that are customers of ours, but how many months of paying hundreds of dollars can you sustain? I don't care how much you've got, that hurts. And there are some people who are on Medicaid and they can't get the drugs on Medicaid, so their families are helping them so that they can get the drug. That breaks my heart when these folks have to pay a lot of money for medication. So we've tried to keep our prices low. 

But the other thing that's happened, the regulatory environment has changed a great deal since I started the company. Many things have happened where regulations have actually increased prices of drugs. 'm often amused when people come out, senators and our president and Congresspeople, come out and say we've got to find a way to get prices lower. And when I hear that, I scream at the television or radio for them to look in the mirror, that they are the reason prices are so high is because their regulations have created so many problems for us.

I'll give you one example. We are licensed in 50 states and the District of Columbia. So we get a very rigorous inspection by the Florida Board of Pharmacy. In the old days, that's all that was required. The Board would come in, inspect us, we'd send a copy of the inspection report to the other states and they would accept that. Well, now they won't accept that. Now we're inspected by the boards of pharmacy in Florida, California, Texas; the pharmacy compounding board, the accreditation board. We have to send all of these inspections out when we go to get licensed from that particular state. Now those things cost. In California for instance, we have to pay for the airline ticket for that person to come here. We have to pay for their time when they're here, and then they grab some compounded products that we've made and they send it out for testing. All of that costs money, and it happens over and over and over. Somebody said it won't be long before there'll be an inspector in here every month. 

All of these inspections and all of these are things that they make you do. You can't use non-sterile gloves; now you have to use sterile gloves. You can't use a smock; you must use a sterile smock; you can't recycle this sterile smock. When it used to be - put it on, go into the cleanroom, come out to lunch, hang up that bunny suit that you're wearing, come back in and put the same bunny suit on. Now it's gotta be new. So in bunny suits alone, we're spending over a thousand dollars a month that we never spent before. Well, this trickles down to the patient - that poor person that's sticking their hand in their pocket and pulling out money to pay for their drugs. 

Linda Elsegood: Do you have to be inspected by all 50 states every year or, or is the license longer than 12 months?

David Kazarian: It depends on the state. Some are annual, some are semi-annual. It really depends on the state. 

Linda Elsegood: But you would think, wouldn't you, there would be some inspection that all the states agreed on, that these are the boxes that have to be ticked for California, these are the boxes that need to be ticked for Texas, for example, and that must be more or less the same, even if some States wanted to add on some extra things. And they had an independent inspector to make sure that you were completely compliant for all 50 states, and that one piece of paper would suffice.

David Kazarian: Well, it appears to be moving in that direction. There is a group that represents an association that represents all the boards of pharmacy. And that organization inspected us for the state of Texas, and if you use that inspection, that was more money but did exactly what you said. They had little checkboxes for each of the states that would accept their inspection. It wasn't all 50 states. I think it was 12 or 13 maybe that would accept that inspection, but hopefully  we're moving in that direction. And of course, there will be some states that I can't imagine will ever accept it. California comes to mind because their regulations are so different. We have to keep two inventories, one for California because their rules are so different. 

Linda Elsegood: I mean, cause it would make sense even if you had to pay double for the inspection that you had paid just for one state, if they were doing a thorough one, even if you had to pay double, but then it was able to be used everywhere, it would still be cheaper. It would be less disruptive for you because it must be terrible having all these inspections. You can't continue your normal pattern for your pharmacy when you've got strangers in the building.

David Kazarian: You’re exactly correct. You pull out your key people to be with the inspectors and they ask questions. There are some inspections lasting two days, someone day. Some tell you they're coming. The Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board is a longer inspection, but you have to prepare for going through what their criteria are. And it's not so much that you're scrambling to do new things or change the way you do things, but what you're scrambling to do is, getting able to answer a question like - where in your policy manual does it say you do a particular thing. So you want to be able to find it for when the inspector comes in, to tell him it's policy, say, 105.2 where it explains what we do. So the preparation for these things takes a lot of time. And you want to do that before the inspector’s here because if you don't find it and it's there, he'll write down that you're not doing that, that is not in your policy. 

And we've had that happen. Several years ago, the Board of Pharmacy in Florida changed their inspection and they found 23 things that were wrong. Of the 23 things, there were two that were actually wrong, both of which had we had addressed. But they waited until the 11th hour to ask us about how we handle an issue, and we're scrambling trying to find the policy that addressed the issue, and they said we didn't have it and they walked off. And that was problematic because now when you send that inspection report to other states, it puts you in jeopardy. So we send a book to every state explaining that the inspector didn't see this policy. We illustrated the policy and the date of the policy, which was long before the inspection was here.

So there's a lot of things that go on for the inspections. And I'm not saying the inspections are bad. We signed up voluntarily for the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board, which is a very rigorous inspection. I wanted to do that to make sure that we did do things even above as we should be doing.

One little example: in all of my clean rooms I have UV lights. UV light kills bacteria, mould, and fungus. Those UV lights go on at 11 PM for 20 minutes, and they go on at 7:00 AM for 20 minutes. to make sure that if any bacteria do get through the system, they get killed. This is not a requirement, but we do it. We had our clean rooms inspected twice a year when the rules were annual. We do fingertip testing and we do a lot of things on a weekly basis that the regulations say you should do every six months. So we've always tried to be ahead of the curve, and as I said, I don't disagree with inspections.

Linda Elsegood: So is your facility huge? 

David Kazarian: Is it a really large facility considering we can ship throughout the US. We've got a 32,000 square foot building and we occupy all but 2000 square feet of that. We have one tenant in their building and will use that space when they move out.

Linda Elsegood: Wow, that is really big. So you are a sterile and a nonsterile pharmacy? 

David Kazarian: We compound - well actually, there are three things that we do. We compound sterile, we compound non-sterile, we do clinical trials, and we also have a testing lab to test the products that we make, not only for us but for other pharmacies in the United States. They'll send us products that they have mixed and we'll tell them if it's sterile and whether it has endotoxin.  

Linda Elsegood: I can remember meeting a gentleman at one of the conferences back in 2009 I think, and he said that he could bring in some LDN into the UK from India at a fraction of the price. So he sent a sample, which I sent off, and it came back it wasn't compliant in any which way, shape, or form. It just was not acceptable. So I told him, thank you very much, but no. And he said, well, can I get them to up the standard and do it again. Well, he insisted and he sent this second sample - and as you know, testing samples isn't cheap - and it was slightly better, but it still didn't reach any standards. So he had the cheek to ask if he could do it for the third time? And it was like, no, because the quality had not been good enough, even on the first batch; and maybe one batch might be okay, but then from then on, every batch would need to be tested to make sure that they hadn't slipped. 

David Kazarian: Well, that's something. There are a couple of components of testing. First is you test the product that you're buying. There is this other product that we use, glutathione. There was a shortage and we used a company that we had never used. We tested it and found a high level of endotoxin in the product, so we wouldn't use it. We just told our patients we couldn't get it. We didn't want to use this product. That was a couple of years ago, and the FDA just came down and said compounding pharmacists should not use this company's product. We never did. 

So you've got to test the raw material to make sure the raw material is good. Then once you've compounded it, you've got to test the end product to see if the end product is what you say it is, the right weight, the right strength; and with sterile products you have to test the sterility of every batch you make; and the product potency. You test once and as long as you make it with the same product, you test that potency only annually. Now with LDN, it's a non-sterile product. So you check the powder for bioburden to make sure it's not contaminated, and then you check the product. We check the product once to make sure that it's what it says it is, and then you can compound it. Bioburden testing is done every time you get a large batch of raw chemicals. The potency testing, we do on an annual basis.

Linda Elsegood: For the people that are listening, who might be considering buying off the internet - I'm always saying that if you buy something that has bypassed any testing, it can be anything. The MHR, which is the medicines regulatory body here in the UK, says that of drugs that have been imported into the UK, that they have seized, that 85% are counterfeit. And some of them are just a placebo, but some of them are harmful. So I mean, you are inspected, you test all your products. So when people have their prescriptions filled with you, they know that they are getting a very good quality product. 

David Kazarian: Well, you have to do testing because that story I told you about the product that had endotoxin came from a reasonably reputable firm. The company is well known in compounding circles. They have a lot of products. They sell some of the products we use. So yeah, that's why you've gotta be very careful. We are getting pushed by the FDA more and more to be like a manufacturer. And a lot of the things that we're doing is what a manufacturer would have to do.

When we started compounding a lot of things, I went to a friend of mine who has a pharmacy manufacturing firm right down the street, and I asked him about FDA visits and a lot of things, and we watched what they did. And they said when they get raw powder in, they have to test the square root of the powder plus one, of what they got. So if they got four barrels of morphine powder, they'd have to test the square root, which is two, plus one. So they'd test three of them. One barrel wouldn't be tested because if it all was the same lot number, you're testing enough to be able to determine that everything there is safe. We don't get so many things that we have to do that, but we do test our powders when they come in, for bioburden, to make sure that they're okay. And we only buy it from firms that we trust and have faith in the company. 

Linda Elsegood: I'm going to have to say, David, we’ve actually overrun. I'm going to have to end it there, but we will another day interview some of your pharmacists and find out from their point of view what they do. 

David Kazarian: I would welcome that.

Linda Elsegood: Well, thank you very much for being an amazing guest and enlightening us in the world of compounding. 

David Kazarian: You're welcome very much, and I look forward to seeing you at one of your meetings. 

Linda Elsegood: Well, perhaps we can get you to come to Portland the 7th to 9th of June, the LDN 2019 conference. 

David Kazarian: Actually, I won't be there, but one of my pharmacists will. I'll be in China.

Linda Elsegood: Ah, okay. Well, again, thank you very much for being with us. 

This show is sponsored by Infuserve America, an independently owned speciality compounding and infusion pharmacy serving patients in all 50 states since 1994; PCAB accredited and NCPA inspected. A+ Rated by the Better Business Bureau. They have a history of excellent customer service. Visit  infuserveamerica.com.

Any questions or comments you may have, please Contact Us at https://ldnresearchtrust.org/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.