LDN Video Interviews and Presentations

Dr Sarah Zielsdorf, LDN Radio Show 2016 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

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

Dr Sarah Zielsdorf is a relatively new prescriber of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), yet her knowledge of autoimmune diseases etc. is certainly convincing throughout this interview. 

Having Hashimoto's and Hypothyroidism gives her the perspective of the patient. Her “extra" education in Functional, Integrative, and Holistic medicines makes her very qualified to treat a host of illnesses. She prescribes LDN, but does thorough tests to arrive at the best combination of treatments including diet, exercise, detox, and proper medications.

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

Sara - US: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Lyme Disease (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: I'd like to introduce Sara, who is from Wisconsin in the United States, and she takes LDN for Rheumatoid Arthritis. And interestingly, her dog, Nico also takes LDN for Lyme disease. Thanks for joining us today, Sarah.

Sara: Oh, it's my great pleasure, Linda.

Linda Elsegood: So, who started taking the LDN first? You or your dog?

Sara: Oh, let's see.

I did, because I have a naturopath who told me that he also takes LDN and at the time I was doing pretty well with Rheumatoid Arthritis, like not very much pain. I had done some other things that were helping me, and when I went to my naturopath to talk with him about it. He recommended LDN, but I said, "Oh no, I've got it covered. I'm good." I'm on my way out the door from his office with a flyer for a class that our local compounding pharmacy offers a class once a month in LDN for patients, and I picked up this flyer. And got very curious, started doing some research online and a day or two later called that naturopath and said, "Please put me on, make a prescription for me, please."

And I started LDN on November 2nd, so almost a year ago in the evening and the next morning, nothing was different. I took it the next night. The third morning I woke up and said to my husband. "This is a really important date, and then I said, wait, wait. I don't usually think like that." That was such a change in my thinking because I had been somebody who everything was tedious. I would have said," Sure, I can do it, because I said I would do it, and yes, okay, I can power my way through that too." That was a very bleak way of looking at the world, but that morning I woke up and said," This is an important thing." And I continued to take LDN, and a few weeks or less than a few weeks later, I woke up in the middle of the night chuckling.

I chuckled with myself awake twice, and then again in the morning, I chuckled to myself awake. No, this is not me, not the me that I was. So the way that LDN has been useful for me is more with the mood change. And I have another friend who said that because of LDN, she can now tolerate her pain, and hers is polymyalgia.

So there's a bit of that. In my case, I do think the pain has also decreased. That I was really not so aware of how painful everything had been because I'd had the diagnosis for 13 years. But the pain continues to decrease. Honestly, I'm up to almost a year later. so then I went to the class.

I had already been taking it for two weeks, and I went to the class to learn more about it. And at the class, they had the ending slide there. Was a test that LDN can be used for pets too. And in the class itself, they talked about using it for Lyme disease. For when people have Lyme disease, and a light bulb went off in my head and I, my dog has Lyme disease.

I think you never get rid of that condition either. And he had been tested by the veterinarian and been put on antibiotics very serious for a month and then Gabapentin for the pain, and he was not doing well. His leg would fall out from under him. He was no longer jumping up on our bed. We wouldn't get him and say: "Poor Nico." Lyme disease and can't do anything else for him.

So I'll admit that I started sharing my LDN with him, and I didn't know the dose except that I thought a child that was 20 pounds, there was some little bits of information would take 1.5 milligrams. And so I gave it to him, and he had the same story. Linda, three days later, he was running up the stairs and jumping on our bed and lifting his leg again to pee.

It was both in both cases. It was a little miracle that happened really quickly. So I called my vet, and I said, "Would you learn about LDN?" And she said, "Oh no. We call somebody else." And I made six phone calls, including to ours UWM veterinary science department here, the University of Wisconsin and Madison, and nobody was interested in prescribing that or at the time.

But after six weeks, I called my first vet again, and she said, they had started learning about it. They had two other dogs on LDN. And she would prescribe it to Nico, even if it was just palliative for him. And I didn't fess up to say, "I'm here. He's already been on it for five weeks." But she was willing to do it if he had a liver test.

So I took him in for a liver enzyme test and of course it was fine. LDN is actually used for liver diseases too. And then she started prescribing it for him. And I've learned that there since prescribing it to lots of other pets and other veterinarians in town are as well. So we're all much happier at my house thanks to LDN and thanks to your work.

Linda Elsegood: I assume you're talking about the classes that David Hazel and Sue. I can't remember her other name off the top of my head. Hawaii from Hawaii. Apaka three, In Madison. In Wisconsin. Yes, they are doing amazing things in getting the word out there educating others pharmacists, physicians, patients.

 So, that's really interesting that you went to one of their classes. So if you had to say before you started LDN, your quality of life on a score of one to 10 what would it have been? With ten being really good.

Sara: Just before starting LDN, I would probably say six and a half or seven. It wasn't bad. And then, of course, your next question is, what did it change? I would say 9.9.  The colour of the world has changed. My mood is so different. I just find that I'm motivated to do what needs to be done and what I want to do in a way that I hadn't is for all those 12 or 13 years since the diagnosis.

And honestly, I was probably deficient in endorphins long before the diagnosis. What's true is both of my sisters now take LDN and feel like they're benefiting from it mood-wise. Very other friends are taking it for other conditions, but probably in my family, my mother had depression and died of pancreatic cancer. So, I really think that had we known about LDN sooner, all of us,  the quality of life would have been better for so many of us, but we have it now, and I celebrate it.

Linda Elsegood:  Oh, fantastic! You did say before that you would do something because you said you would do it and you would make yourself do it. Now when you have to do something how do you feel knowing you've got to go somewhere do something? How do you feel these days?

Sara: I'm very much like I, not only I can do it, but it's important, and I want to do it. It's important. That same feeling that I woke up three mornings after taking LDN. This is important, and so there's less of drudgery or pushing myself to do something. It just doesn't have that same effort required.

Linda Elsegood: Yes, because pushing yourself to do things It's very tiring in itself, isn't it? Forcing yourself all the time. I totally get it. Thank you so much for coming and sharing both your story and Nikos, and long may the LDN continue, and the best advocates of LDN are those that LDN has worked well for, so I'm sure you'll be spreading the word as well.

Sara: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much, Linda.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you. 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 their idea of the show.

And thank you for listening.

Any questions or comments you may have, please email me at contact@ldnresearchtrust.org. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for joining us today.

Linda Elsegood: I really appreciate it your company. Until next time, stay safe and keep well.

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.

Sara - US: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Fibromyalgia (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Sara from the United States has rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. She was 24 years old when symptoms first started, but wasn't diagnosed until a year later.

Sara quoted that it absolutely changed her life, she found the right medication, but did develop very severe irritable bowel syndrome and seemed to come out of nowhere. Sarah was officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia in February 2010.

Sara first read about Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) a few years ago before the Fibromyalgia, she found lots of information online, found our website and wanted a prescription for LDN after being skeptical of it. Her Rheumatologist would not prescribe Sara with LDN, because it was not FDA approved. But if Sara’s GP was willing to prescribe LDN, she saw no problem with that. And she would partner with him. After 3 days of being on the LDN medication, Sara felt absolutely fantastic. A few days after, she started seeing an increase in pain and fatigue, which then resulted with depression and anxiety. But this was due to being started on a higher Mg dosage. Sara rated her life a 3,4 out of 10 before her LDN mediation, she says that LDN is very cheap, and nothing has been more effective than LDN.
Please watch the video to the whole interview, Thank you.

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

Renee - US: Fibromyalgia, IBS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME) (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Renee from the United States suffers from Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. At the age of 50, her body started giving out, resulting in her not even being able to go shopping. She could barely walk and was experiencing a lot of pain.

Renee found out about LDN last year and began researching, realizing she wanted to try it out. However, her GP prevented that from happening, so she decided to order her own online. Renee finally started taking it in April of this year. By the second day on the medication, she had already noticed she felt less fatigued. And by the fifth day, she could walk without limping. She also realized her depression had gone, leaving her with a better outlook on life. Renee had gained her appetite back as well.

Reene noticed that within the first week she had started getting diarrhoea and stomach cramps that lasted around five minutes, however this could be something to do with her IBS as well.

When asked what she would say to people thinking about taking LDN, she recommended they went for it, and also insists that they do research into it beforehand, to feel more confident with it.

For the full interview, watch the video.

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

Pharmacist Rosella Pirulli Menta, LDN Radio Show 19 June 2019 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: Today I'm joined by a pharmacist and naturopathic doctor, Rosella Pirulli, mentor. Thank you for joining us today. Rosella.

Rosella: Thank you for having me.

Linda Elsegood: Now you said that you got an extraordinary story to tell us:  Your journey. Would you like to explain that to us?

Rosella: Well, I went to St John's University in Queens, and that's where I got my degree in pharmacy and when I started working at a pharmacy in the Bronx of New York I wasn't very happy with just filling prescriptions and checking them and I felt that was not for me. I felt that, if I was going to have a profession and be successful, I wanted to show my children a different way to have a great life and also to be a part of a profession that helps people feeling amazingly well.

So that was my goal and so I only worked in that type of scenery for a few years and then I decided to look into other avenues. I went into homoeopathy where I did get a certificate in homoeopathy and I also looked into supplemental products because I really enjoy the supplements and teaching people how to take the correct supplements, especially if they are on certain medications that require supplements because of the problems that supplements can cause as a side effect. And the first thing I did learn was when patients were taking stands that they need to coQ10 we had a lot of patients that would complain of muscle weakness, fatigue and so I said: " You know what? I need to help patients with  drug issues and side effects." And that was the first step. And then patients would come into the store and I had a lot of patients that would complain about half flashes. And so I said, let me look into that avenue. And so, I started to dwell on how I could start a career in compounding and in that store I really couldn't do it as well but I did get my training to PTCA, and they are an FDA approved facility where I got most of my training from compounding and also in the avenue of bioidentical hormones. And then from there Rye Beach pharmacy took me on because they had a full compounding lab at the time and so they asked me if we did the store for a few years afterwards to be more in compliant, because we're now accredited by the board of PCAB and we also 700 compliance, soon to be 800 compliant by the end of the year.

But in the interim, I had to move to Florida where I worked part-time for Rye Beach pharmacy, and then I worked for a pharmacy in Florida so I had my license there as well. And I was commuting back and forth. I would come here and market to doctors because when I did graduate, I received my bachelor's in pharmacy, but I also, not knowingly, I minored in marketing, so I was I guess then I knew I was going to market, which is great because I enjoy networking.

That's like the passion for me to get doctors together, doctors and pharmacies together. It's my passion to help people get to know each other and there's always room for other avenues. So that's my enjoyment. And right now, I do have my own office where I see patients, I do phone consults as well and I also review blood work with patients. I'm really close to many of the doctors. So that's where I learned more about LDN because I went to PTCA conference and learned about LDN and how important it was for patients in different disease states.

Linda Elsegood: So, you are a supermom. You have five children.

Wow. How does it fit in with a career?

Rosella: Well, it's amazing because my kids understand that we're a team. That's it. We're a team. We work together and we all love each other so much. So my kids are so amazing with each other. They all help each other out.

So the oldest is 22. That's my daughter. My son's 20. My other daughter's 18. And I have a 15-year-old and ten years old. So we are constantly figuring things out and make it work and I think that makes them stronger and closer to the family 

Linda Elsegood: Wow, wonderful! And when did you first really get involved with LDN?

Was it at that PCCA meeting? Had you heard about LDN before then?

Rosella: I heard about it before then because we had a specific doctor that was a Lyme specialist that was working with LDN. So I asked her why was she prescribing LDN and she said it was because she had a lot of patients that were immunocompromised and fatigued, and the LDN is really helpful because it increases immune response. So I said:" That's really interesting. I'd like to learn more about it." So I did some research on it, I spoke with other doctors that were writing for it, why they were writing for it and I had one particular patient that had Crohn's disease. I asked him if he would want to try it and he's been on it ever since. So this is, at least six years that he's been on LDN. He's doing really well and will not stop it. That's for sure. I also took an autoimmune class on LDN. Not only is it great for pain. I actually had another patient that came to see me. She had a severe car accident. She had a lot of neurological issues going on and was on many other pain medications. So I helped wean her off of those pain medications and put her on LDN. Her starting dose was at 1.5 mg. We went up to 4.5 mg and then I said to her: "Let's try 5 milligrams and see if that works for you." That's when she started getting a side effect. She felt very strange. She said in mind a little weird. We went back down to 4.5 mg and she's been on 4.5 mg since about two years now. She's very happy with it. Every once in a while she has to take a Lyrica or something else.

It depends on the stressful situation in our lives, but, I mean, she's off most of her other pain meds because LDN is really working well for her.

Then I have a few other patients that I'm looking into the fertility aspect of it because I do work with a lot of fertility doctors and a lot of them don't know about LDN.

So I did more research on it to see how effective it would be. So right now I'm working with an endocrinologist who's going to start his patients on LDN and see how they do. A lot of people are fascinated by it and they want to try it. They want to help patients this way and I'm happy about that too.

Linda Elsegood: Well, there was a paper released last week by Dr Scott Zashin. He's a rheumatologist in Texas for Sjogren's Syndrome. That was quite good. The more papers and research that people do, it's going to make prescribers more confident in prescribing LDN.

Rosella: I forgot to mention I do have an ALS patient that is using it. This is amazing because he wasn't able to move his fingers and he wasn't speaking. Now it took a little bit of time. He can move his fingers, he can speak a little bit. At one point he didn't have the LDN. His doctor didn't authorize it because I think he was away and he wasn't speaking. So his sister said they need it because this was the only thing that they noticed that he needed. So I called the doctor, and I said:" Just put like PRN refills because this man is doing well with it.

Linda Elsegood: Interesting. So what I was going to say was, how long has the pharmacy been compounding LDN?

Rosella: Let's see. They've been in business for over 50 years and compounding around maybe 15 years.

Linda Elsegood: And what forms do you compound LDN in?

Rosella: Capsules right now for the most part and some creams. I haven't done any sublingual yet, but I think it's worth a try for some patients.

Linda Elsegood: Sublingual is quite a useful tool when people have gut issues that obviously absorb differently and bypasses the stomach so that is hell in some patients, but maybe all your patients can tolerate the capsules quite well. What filler do you use?

Rosella: We use acidophilus. Most patients don't have any issues with that.

Linda Elsegood: Yes. Do you know roughly what patient population you normally treat or is it all autoimmune condition patients?

Rosella: It is hard to say because I'm not in the lab that much. There are a few days that I do work in the lab when they need me but basically working in my own office and I work with a lot of bioidentical patients. So my thought is to really work with thyroid issues and help patients with Hashimoto's.

From what I've read and what I've seen with other patients, LDN really helps to decrease the antibodies in Hashimoto's patients. So that'll also help them with their thyroid. That's going to be my push as well as other autoimmune diseases. And I was looking into other inflammatory diseases like endometriosis, PCOS because I feel that LDN may have a good positive result with those patients as well.

Linda Elsegood: It certainly does. I can speak from experience myself, and with endometriosis worked amazingly.

Rosella: Good to hear. Very good to hear.

Linda Elsegood: I would also like to mention when you treat thyroid patients with LDN, you have to be very careful of the levels of the dose if they're taking thyroid medication because normally they have to start reducing the dose as you increase the LDN.

That is something to look out for. This is why we always say to people who have thyroid conditions to keep in constant contact with the prescriber because you can hit some problems if you are taking too much of your thyroid medication.

Rosella: I agree with you on that. I do work with a lot of patients and I have one endocrinologist that we monitor thyroid and we compound different strengths of thyroid T3,  T4 depending on their blood levels. So we do look at that TSH really carefully and free T3. We also look at FT4, but mainly I look at the TSH and FT3. That to me is very important. I could see a difference in patients if their level changes just a bit. They can start having hair loss or weight gain and fatigue.

That's why  I do tell my patients it's so important that we monitor them, get blood levels done every few weeks to see where they are.

Linda Elsegood: The internet is an amazing tool. It helps people do their own research, but the warning is you can't take notice as gospel truth from just a person on the internet who's not a doctor, not a prescriber, but who is giving advice.

We always say the proper advice is to speak to a pharmacist or a prescriber. You people have had years of training and experience where it's all well and good listening to other people, but when you are talking about your health, you should be talking to a medical professional.

Rosella: Correct. I agree with you on that.

Linda Elsegood: Yes. I mean, it's quite scary. We had an email from a lady who had been given some kind of advice from a friend of a friend of a doctor and their advice was totally wrong. And also you should not buy LDN off the internet. It's illegal. Naltrexone is a prescription-only drug, and therefore you need a prescription to make sure all the safety standards are met.

You said that you were PCAB accredited. So just to explain to people what you have to go through to prove that your pharmacy and your compounding is spot on with the regulations.

Rosella: The regulations are intense and immense. It took us, at least about two years and we're still perfecting it to pass all of the inspection qualifications because if we're ever audited, yes.  PCAB is a credentialing organization. It takes some time for us to make sure we follow every different legality as to having our compounding lab as perfect as possible. Every aspect of it is really important. We have SLPs, and we have meetings every week to make sure that we're following our SLPs. Keeping every temperature in the lab correct, the airflow. We have to make sure that they're wearing their masks, their hats,  jackets and gloves and everything has to be precise and follow to the T. If we ever get inspected, they could definitely find us for anything that they feel that is necessary. We're trying our best to make sure we keep up with it. It's very intense. It really is. That's why we always offer our doctors to come to visit the lab or patients. We have them look through the window because they can't come into the lab and see how we are following protocol per se.

Linda Elsegood: And what are your thoughts on people purchasing LDN off the internet?

Rosella: I just found out that they're selling a prescription item on the internet, and I'm appalled. I don't know how they're doing it. I feel the same way as you. Being that we're a credential lab and we work really hard to keep up with all the laws and the regulations, I don't know where this lab is. It's making the LDN. I have no idea. I would not recommend it at all.

Linda Elsegood: Exactly. The MHRA, which is the medicines regulatory body here in the UK quoted something like 85% of drugs that are shipped into the UK without a prescription is counterfeit. Mostly they're just fillers, they are harmless but some of them are actually lethal.

They're very dangerous. Don't play Russian roulette with your life. Get LDN from a reputable compounding pharmacy.

Rosella: I agree with you. We require to keep it as clean, pure and stable and it's really important to deal with the pharmacy credentials because you never know what you're getting out there. We work hard and we respect it.

Linda Elsegood: And not only that. You have your LDN tested so you have to prove in a 4.5 capsule that there is 4.5 of Naltrexone.

Rosella: Yes, we do.

Linda Elsegood: So if there were no checks, it could be 1 mg, 6 mg, or it could just all be fillers.

Rosella: Exactly. You're right. We do send it out for testing. We send out batches every day of different types of compounds, and then we get our results back within the right range, and we're happy we dispense it. So it's important that we do that.

It can cost up to $200 or more depending on what you're testing.

Linda Elsegood: So pain. Are you using any ultra-low-dose naltrexone yet? It's quite relatively new still. I don't know if that's something that your doctors yet know about.

Rosella: No, I don't think so.

I really haven't heard of that either. So how low is the dose then because I'd like to speak to my doctors about that.

Linda Elsegood: Well it's micro-dosing. It's probably 0.01  kind of thing. But it's really interesting. People who are on high doses of pain medication and have been for years, it's awful how it's not just America, it's all around the world how people are becoming addicted to these pain medications. I know that the whole idea is to try and get patients off the pain medications, but the withdrawals can be quite horrendous. So by using this ultra-low-dose naltrexone in micro-dosing, you can use that alongside with opioids.

They don't have to be off the opioids, but such a small dose makes the opioids far more effective. So it makes them work better, and therefore the patient is able to reduce the amount that they're taking. If you look at it as a sliding scale, you slowly increase the ultra-low dose, and we're still talking microdosing here, and then they can gradually reduce their opioids until they're on the LDN.

Most pain specialists say that they can get their patients off the opioids completely.  Some say that they just take it when they need to. They're not taking it constantly. So I think that is something that's really interesting and something new to many people but how wonderful to get these people off pain medications.  I've spoken to many people who've been on Morphine, Fentanyl, patches, and cocktails of medication and they say that they're still in pain. It doesn't work. So if we can get LDN out there and use to help these people to come off all these pain medications.

how wonderful is that? Tell us what do high doses of painkillers long term do to the body?

Rosella: They can cause a whole host of things, bone loss, blood pressure issues. It depends. I'm looking at patients that not only the opioids but if they take a NSAID what it could cause in the long run. I just believe that most of these medications,  some patients become suicidal too. Depression is another problem, weight gain. So many different things that opioids cause.  I think that if we can help patients come off of them and give them more supplementation and also LDN in a combination that'd be great.

Even Curcumin, Boswellia. There are so many amazing products out there that patients don't know about. They're just scared to come off of their opioids because of the dependency.

Linda Elsegood: Definitely. So how do patients get hold of you for a consultation?

Rosella: On the website. There is the introduction of what I do. I have a video there as well and there's also an evaluation form they can download. So on the website, there is an appointment maker there called shore, so they can make an appointment with me and it makes it really convenient for them.

Most doctors that know what I do, tell the patients to call me or go on the website or email. I have my business cards and I have that for them and that's how they get in touch with me. They used to call here. I have an assistant, her name is Tiffany, and she helps me with setting up appointments, and she's also a technician that helps to fill our scripts.

So that works out really help me.

Linda Elsegood: And do you have a waiting list, or can you see patients quite quickly?

Rosella: It depends on the month because I do marketing two days a week. So that's why it's really convenient for them to make their own schedule. It could range from a week waiting, maybe two weeks at most, then I try to fit them in. So for instance, if they can't see me within the special time frame that I have, which is usually between like eight in the morning and six,  I see them on the weekends if I can. I'll set up that schedule for patients. So I try to make it convenient, try to fit people in as quickly as possible.

Linda Elsegood: And where are you situated?

Rosella: Where am I situated? I'm in the Rye, New York. In Westchester County.

Linda Elsegood: Is it wheelchair friendly for patients too?

Rosella: Well, it is. We are a hybrid store, so downstairs is mainly where we have the retail establishment.

We have home health care and our vitamin line where we have a pharmacist that's full time working in that area. We also have the upstairs where my lab is, and where also is my office and other offices as well. If a patient needs to see me and can't walk up the stairs, there is another office downstairs that I could see them in. That works out for those patients.

Linda Elsegood: Wonderful! And could you just tell us your website?

Rosella: It's www.ryerx.com.

Linda Elsegood: Wonderful. Wow. We need to end of the show.

Rosella: Oh, great. I just wanted to clear something up. I'm not a physician. I'm a naturopath, so I cannot prescribe. I just wanted to clarify that if you don't mind.

Linda Elsegood: No, that's absolutely fine.

 Just explain what a naturopath does.

Rosella: Well, I took some courses in it, and I basically learned more about supplementation. It's a little bit different. I wanted to become a naturopathic physician, but I didn't have the time. I was basically between the kids and working full time.

I didn't go into that avenue. But it's been mainly as like learning about supplementation, helping patients with that as well as a little bit of nutrition. So I would like to go into clinical nutrition as well, but we'll see if I can cross that path when I get a chance to, once all the kids are in college, I guess, I don't know.

I'll figure it out.

Linda Elsegood: Do you test for supplementation to find out what people are low in?

Rosella: We do some blood work for sure. New York is really tough when it comes to other types of testing, so we can only do blood tests and that's how we test and we just saliva testing for the hormones. We are limited to a lot of different types of testing unless a patient lives in Connecticut or New Jersey, then we can test them with the different kits that we have.

Linda Elsegood: What about vitamins? Can you test for vitamin levels or not in New York?

Rosella: It could be tested for sure because we work with a lot of doctors that do a lot of IV therapy and they test all sorts of vitamins.

It depends on the lab that does it. But here are many labs that do testing for vitamins.

Linda Elsegood: Do you find that people in New York are deficient in vitamin D? Do you get enough sunshine there?

Rosella: I would say that everyone is deficient in vitamin D, everyone in America must be, but definitely in New York.

And then, once we rectify that, they feel better. We get them to a certain level, and they could stay on the supplementation for a good long time. Usually, I don't recommend that they come off of it, but if they have levels to go higher than  50, with the doctors ok, we'll bring down the dose a little bit.

Linda Elsegood: How would a patient feel if the vitamin D levels were low?

Rosella: Some patients tell me that they feel achy, others tell me they feel tired or depressed.

Some patients don't have any symptoms at all, so it just depends on the person. I know when I had my levels low, I would feel a little down and when it was a rainy day, I wouldn't feel myself. But now that my levels are normal it doesn't bother me.

So it's really strange how I used to feel.

Linda Elsegood: That's really interesting, isn't it? So anybody out there who would like to come and see you go online, they can find out more about you, play the video and make an appointment, come and see you and the bonuses is they can actually have a look at your compounding lab looking through the window, of course.

But that's also interesting to some people. I'm sure.

Rosella: Yes, absolutely. They love it, especially because we have a clean room as well, and it's separate from the rest of the lab, and that's where we make all the injections of HTG and b12 and they find that very interesting.

Linda Elsegood: Well, thank you very for being our guest today. We learned a lot from you.

Rosella: Thank you very much for having me and have a great day.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you.

Rosella: Thank you. Bye-bye.

Linda Elsegood: Each pharmacy has been family owned since 1946 they are a PCAB accredited compounding pharmacy growing from a corner drugstore to a wellness centre that helps patients to achieve their optimal health covering Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts. New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

Visit www.ryerx.com, and I hope for the opportunity to earn trust.

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 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.

Paul Battle PA-C, LDN Radio Show 22 Feb 2017 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: today. Our guest is physician assistant Paul Battle from Colorado. Paul is an experienced LDN prescriber and also has personal experience of LDN.

Paul Battle PA-C: Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Linda Elsegood: Well, I know you've been prescribing LDN for many years. How long has it been now?

Paul Battle PA-C:  Since 2008 I believe.

Linda Elsegood: Okay. I thought it was longer than that. At that time, how many different conditions do you think you've prescribed LDN for?

Paul Battle PA-C: Approximately 20 or so. Ones that I can recall right now, all varying different conditions, an autoimmune disease. It does help with cancers that have had treatment already. I can't say it's a cure for cancer, but it's a, like a supplemental treatment, especially for people who've already had cancer therapy, stage four cancers.

And then certainly the autoimmune diseases, which can include Lupus, Crohn's disease, all sort of Colitis, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. What I generally do is look at the disease mechanism, what the aetiology of it. If it has some antibody-associated mechanism, autoimmune disease, then I consider LDN and the treatment.

Many of these people really don't have any other option. They tried multiple drugs. A lot of the drugs will have side effects and they just are looking for another answer. LDN can help with a lot of people that don't have any other options. 

Linda Elsegood: And from the patients that you've prescribed LDN for, what has been their success rate?

Paul Battle PA-C: I would say the majority of the patients get some positive response. I would say probably close to 85% of people will get some positive response. Some are very dramatic responses. For example, I had a 13-year-old girl with Crohn's disease who after just 3 months, she had already been on the biologics and was losing weight and having difficulty she had no more symptoms. All her inflammatory markers were completely normal and she's still doing well. That was probably about a year and a half ago, just a couple months ago and she's just doing remarkably well. Same with some of the complex regional pain syndrome. This is a terrible disease that plagues people, that causes severe pain due to some dysfunction or dysregulation of the immune system related to the nervous system. It's called the neural glial cells. And some people, I've had 80% relief from complex regional pain syndrome. I first started that in 2010 when this young woman who was attending college couldn't finish college. We had put a spinal cord stimulator in her neck to try and control the pain, but she still wasn't doing well.

That was my first proposal ever for CRPS and Dr Chopra wrote an article, then published an article a couple of years later after I started this young lady on it, and it worked for her. She finished college, got a career, and after a year and a half, she went off LDN without a problem and since then, I've been treating multiple people with that disease with varying success. So it really varies though, like I never can guarantee to somebody that I'm going to cure them or they're going to get 90% relief. We're just trying to improve the quality of their life.

Linda Elsegood: And how long would you say it takes on average for somebody to notice that LDN is doing something for them?

Paul Battle PA-C: Well, I've seen people respond in some positive fashion within 2 to 3 weeks. For example, my son, (that's how I got interested in all this) within 2 weeks with his Crohn's disease started having a positive response, getting a better colour, less pain, fewer symptoms. But I've also had people where it's taken six months.

I had a woman who was a university professor with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome who just persisted. I said," just keep on, keep on. " And she was in a wheelchair. Her symptoms were so bad. She was disabled in a wheelchair.  Then six months later, I got all these Facebook invitations to look at this video, and here she was returning to work, which was a glorious thing.

And now she just texted me last week saying she did a five kms. That's going from a person in a wheelchair totally disabled to now running five kms. That's been about a year and a half now, but she stuck it out. And I asked people to be patient. Sometimes they do not think it's doing anything. For example, in her case, she said: " I don't know if this is working.

I'm just gonna see how it goes without it." So one Friday night, she ran out of it, and that was the last time she ever skipped a dose that she said it was the worst, she described her spinal cord on fire. And I've had a number of other people saying, "well, I'm not sure if it's working."

They stop it, and then they discover it was really a mistake to stop it. So I tell people in where from a couple, three weeks to six months. 

Linda Elsegood: And from all the patients that you have prescribed LDN for, have any had negative side effects?

Paul Battle PA-C: I think some people describe a kind of tiredness or a little fatigue they may have and sometimes it depends on when they take it. For example, most people take it at night, but I have a lot of patients with these syndromes that really creates sleep deprivation anyway. I don't want to have them risk their restorative sleep. So I have them take it in the daytime and I think those people probably have a little bit more fatigued and tiredness than the people take it at night.

I met some people that just like any other medications have a little stomach distress from it, but that's pretty unusual. And you know, I'm not even sure if it's the LDN, but, the sleep deprivation, I really haven't had troubles with that too much, because I titrate them up, fairly solidly over three weeks, sometimes four week time period.

Linda Elsegood: And would you say there's any condition better than any other that you found LDN works best for?

Paul Battle PA-C: I would say the inflammatory conditions of the joints work really well. Dr Berkson,  done great the presentations on Rheumatoid Arthritis, iPad, people who were on the biologics,  that is,  the biologic agents that are what's called tissue necrosis factor inhibitors, who were doing okay on those and, they couldn't afford anymore so they want an LDN and they actually got better results. One patient of mine now was mountain climbing. He wasn't able to move his shoulders for 3 years, went on LDN, and now he's welling up that he's climbing with his kids. So I think that the joint arthritis issues, the inflammatory bowel disease, especially Crohn's. I don't find all sort of colitis as responsive as the Crohn's patients. So I'm careful to say how successful it is with Ulcerative Colitis patients, but it's certainly always a good idea to try it. The gastroenterologists recognize the Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's that may have some different mechanisms of action.

The cancer patients, I've had several stages for cancer patients. They're living any of them with the same diagnosis. That's been good. And how much of that is the LDN? How much is it good health and a good attitude? I don't know, but I just know the other people that were treated without LDN in their particular type of cancers are no longer with us.

So I think it is a help because of the two mechanisms that LDN works. It inhibits cancer cell reproduction, and it also, according to the new research done last year by Angus, Down in Great Britain where it actually helps change the gene action with apoptosis of the cancer cells. So I think it has a dual benefit therewith, with cancer.

Linda Elsegood: We have a few questions here and we will start with the question from Randy who has Graves' and Hashimoto's. And the question is," I've heard that LDN can lower thyroid hormone and sent a person hyperthyroid, but in the information, it says it can quickly make a person hyperthyroid.

Can it really have such opposite effect."

Paul Battle PA-C: Usually it's hyper because what happens is the Hashimoto's usually has a tendency, depending on what phase of the disease you're in. Graves', usually you're hyper and that could possibly cause the problem but what it is is the Naltrexone interacts with the antibodies so if a person is Hypothyroid from Hashimoto's thyroiditis, I always tell them to reduce their thyroid supplements by half or 25% because there's been a number of people who are hyperthyroid, they're on their thyroid medication, they take the LDN and the next day they're agitated, they are like high, they're hyperthyroid because what happens is it has a tendency to neutralize the antibody action, whether it actually reduces the antibodies or how the antibodies respond to the cellular receptors with antibodies to thyroid.

We don't know, but I always warn people to cut their dose down before they take their Naltrexone. In the case of Graves' disease, I haven't heard of it causing I hypothyroidism. I guess that would be possible if it's, a lot of the inflammation is causing a hyperthyroid state, which you can't get in Grave's disease and you reduce that inflammation, you could possibly reduce the thyroid activity there.

But I haven't had that personal experience with Graves' disease. Mostly I treat the Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and that's the most common cause of hypothyroidism.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you for answering that question for Randy. We have a quite long question here, so bear with me. It's from Shantelle.

She says, "So thank you for being on the show and greetings." And she's a 54-year-old woman diagnosed with disposed systemic CIRCLE DOMA 15 years ago. The only medication she's presently taking is IVIG and Plaquenil a 0.25. She lives in the UK and is currently in the process of finding an LDN doctor.

She says she's noticed that you have experience in bioidentical hormones, and she would be very interested in your views on estrogen and testosterone. Four months ago, she changed from oral HRT to testosterone gel to having biodentical pellet implants of estrogen 50 mgs and testosterone at 100 mg.

And since she's had the pellets, she's never felt so awful in her life in terms of depression, mood and run down. And she seems to catch every bug going around compared with the four months that she was on oral.

Paul Battle PA-C: I didn't quite catch the initial diagnosis but if she's being treated with IVIG that puts it in the same class of diseases that can be treated with LDN because it's going after the same problem. That is an autoimmune disease immune dysregulation. I have a young girl who was also going to be treated with IIVIG  for an antibody associated Peripheral Neuropathy.

She had problems with antibodies to her nerve receptors so she basically did not have a lot of function in her muscles, her GI tract and they were going to give her IVIG, but it wasn't insurance approved here in the United States, at least with their insurance so I offered a LDN, and that has proven to be very good for her.

She's back in school, halftime. She was in bed or missed all of last year. So the answer to her question is: I think LDN would be a very reasonable possibility for her to approach her other disease. Do you want me to answer the question about the hormone?

Linda Elsegood: Hang on. The main question when you get to the bottom there, because the testosterone and the estrogen implant is making her feel very depressed, very down, very moody.

She feels awful. She felt quite good on the oral HRT. So she's saying to you, she wants to go on the LDN, which should she take? Should she stick with the oral or the pellets?

Paul Battle PA-C: Well, I usually use the oral just because it's easier to titrate the dose. Once she got inserted pellets with estrogen, it might've been too high of a dose, and once you put the pallet in the subcutaneous tissue, it's very difficult to adjust the dose.

So she may be running very high. I usually like to estrogen to run around 60 to 100. That's what the literature shows to be protective against osteoporosis and coronary artery disease. But if you have too much, you can certainly have psychiatric side effects just like women get what they are on the birth control pill, they can have depression.

And as far as the testosterone pellets, the same thing, once you insert those, you're kind of stuck with those for 3 or 4 months. So some people love pellets because they don't have to deal with the daily pill and adjusting things but in my experience, it's just easier to adjust. If she has trouble with estrogen, you can just reduce the pill dosage.

I work with compounding pharmacy so I can make it whatever dose I want.1 milligram, 2 milligrams. The oral therapy for estrogen has been shown to be more cardioprotective than for example, a pellet form or a cream form. So for that reason, the dosing can be easier adjusted when it's in a pill or a cream form.

Linda Elsegood: Well, that's good. I think that was the route she was hoping to go down because she felt so ill and so down. So I think you've just confirmed it for her, so thank you for that. Here's a good one. Have you prescribed LDN for migraine headaches?

Paul Battle PA-C: I have. I have several patients with migraines that I prescribed LDN mostly because the current theory on migraine headaches is not our old theory of spasm of the arteries because they've done arteriograms and found that the artery diameter doesn't really change a lot when people have migraines.

So it's really more thought to be an inflammatory process of the nerves and therefore the LDN would be appropriate to try and adjust to an inflammatory condition like that. So I do have several patients with migraines on LDN. I do other things too but it seems like that's helped them.

They were treated in traditional medications for years, probably 5 or 10 years and I seem to be getting better results with the LDN. They stay with me, so obviously I'm doing something right for them.

Linda Elsegood: And I'm talking about headaches and migraines. Have you ever known LDN to cause a migraine headache?

Paul Battle PA-C: I haven't noticed it cause a migraine, but  I have had several patients say it does cause a headache more of the dull headache, not so much the pounding vascular headache type of symptoms.

Linda Elsegood:  And we have another question. It says," Have you seen LDN improve acne breakouts?

Paul Battle PA-C:  I have not seen that. I just haven't noticed that. I use other things for acne so I haven't observed that.

Linda Elsegood: Okay. Thank you. And what it's your opinion of using Ketamine infusions in conjunction with LDN?

Paul Battle PA-C: I think they can be done. I have patients, I just had one last week.  The ketamine works in a different way. it's a dissociative anaesthetic and it works by blocking the NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate) receptors. That's the receptor that transmits the pain to the brain and so what it does is it blocks that and so that really doesn't have any interaction with the LDN because the LDN works on opioid receptors, endorphin receptors. I think they can be used synergistically.

Linda Elsegood: And what conditions would you use the combination to for?

Paul Battle PA-C: That would be Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. When I used to operate on people putting in spinal cord stimulators, I would put it routinely. First I would give  IV magnesium prior to surgery and that has been shown in several studies that it can reduce pain 50%. That magnesium also naturally blocks the NMDA receptor, which the ketamine does so that works with ketamine. And then I would give an infusion during surgery and then after I would give an infusion for overnight to blocked the NMDA receptors so that the surgery would not precipitate an exacerbation of the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or what's known as RSD, or Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.

That's only a diagnosis that I've ever used it for and I don't know of any other diagnosis that you would use Ketamine for. Ketamine is a tricky drug. Adults can have a miserable experience whether they can have nightmares and side effects from them can be hypertension, tachycardia, hallucinations, things like that.

So with adults, you do have to be careful with it. There are low dose ketamine infusions, and there are high dose ketamine infusions. Dr Kirkpatrick at the RSD Research Centre in Tampa, Florida, does a high dose. I've been there, and I watched him do his technique there. So that's the only diagnosed I can think of.

Linda Elsegood: Well, thank you very much. We'll just go to a quick break, and we'll be back in just a moment.

To listen to individual radio shows and interviews go to www.mixcloud.com/lldnrt.

This show is sponsored by Paul Battle PA-C. He is a well-respected physician's assistant. He takes a physiological approach for your optimal health using traditional and nontraditional treatments for autoimmune diseases and bone health, using hormone replacement therapy and low dose naltrexone. He has patients throughout Colorado and other states.

Visit www.pabattle.com or call 720 773 9041.

We have a question here, Paul, which you can sympathize with. Amy has a 17 year old daughter got Crohn's disease diagnosed four months ago. She says," Are the children taking LDN with success? What can I expect to see as an improvement besides better sleep, which assist with pain and improve quality of life?

And by that, she means more energy and able to go through a normal school day. Will LDN take her pain away?

Paul Battle PA-C: You're right. That is dear to my heart because that's how I got started with my son. And for her to know, my son was diagnosed with severe Crohn's as he hits at age 10. I think it started at age 9.

He had to have a good part of his small bowel resected that time, 3 years later, he had another severe exacerbation going into hypovolemic shock and so that is a time where I started researching by myself. And that's when I read Jill Smith's article in 2007 about LDN and Crohn's and she's an excellent and respect gastroenterologist who did excellent studies on LDN and Crohn's showing a remission. So if she wants to know if it works within 8 weeks, 69% of the people in her first study, showed that they went into remission, 89% of them showed that they had a significant reduction in the Crohn's index scores.

And what are those? The index scores are more symptomatic scores on a number of stools per day. Cramping, bloody diarrhoea, fevers things like that. Those, that 89% of them had significant reduction scores, so she can't expect a very good possibility that she would have less pain because the inflammation is causing the spasm, which is causing the pain.

So reduces the inflammation. Those symptoms will improve. They also will reduce the diarrhoea if she is having diarrhoea. You can get Crohn's in any section of your GI tract from the oesophagus to the anus. My son now, he's been on LDN for 8 years. He is a weight lifter, a bodybuilder.

He's doing really well. He has a strict diet so the one thing I would tell people that you don't depend on LDN alone. It's multi-system, multiple approaches to solving the Crohn's problem and if you do these other techniques such as dietary control and supplements, probiotics, things like that, you can expect to get good control of it.

As I said, I had a 14-year old that really pretty much doesn't have symptoms anymore. Inflammatory markers are gone, so you can expect chemical markers for inflammation to be reduced when she's on the LDN and yes, they had children on certainly had my own son on it. Dr McCandless treated many thousands of people with autism with LDN, and so it's proven to be very safe with children.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you. That was an ideal question for you, wasn't it?  Robin has asked the question. She's got Multiple Sclerosis. She's had been taking LDN since 2005 and in that time, she's had no new lesions and no active ones. She's had MRIs. She says that she's no better, but she's no worse.

MS has been stable in all that time. She uses a cane away for balance away from home and uses a scooter in large stores. Now what she would like to know is, does she need to continue taking LDN for the rest of her life, or is there a period of where she can stop?

Paul Battle PA-C: That's a good question. I wouldn't because she's been stable now for almost 12 years, I would be very hesitant to stop it. There are not many people with MS that are stable for 12 years. He could have 5 or 6 years where you have this up and down cycle but that's a long time to be stable.

She has no new lesions and the cost and the risk of LDN is so low. I don't know why she would want to consider stopping it. The other thing is the benefits of LDN with your immune system in general. It upregulates many of the things that help protect you from infections. It upregulates the natural killer cells and with the new research and cancer and the old research in cancer with doctors Aegon? it may help. I can't say for sure, but there are no studies on preventing it cancer. But certainly, we've seen the action clinically and how it benefits people with cancers. I would really recommend that she stay on it for the rest of her life.

Like I said before, there are people thought: " There's no benefit here. I stop it." And they paid the price. And MS is not something you want to have an exacerbation, it can be quite devastating for some people.

Linda Elsegood: Exactly. Yes. I certainly wouldn't want to come off the LDN.

We have an interesting question from Kat and, she says that she takes baking soda in water for reflux before she goes to bed, but she also takes her LDN before bed. And will the baking soda stop the LDN from being absorbed?

Paul Battle PA-C: It might. I wouldn't really recommend that because of the baking soda itself, could inhibit the absorption of LDN.

It'd be best if you could take the LDN maybe an hour after that. By then, the baking soda should be out of her stomach and into her small intestine. So that's why we don't recommend compounding pharmacies to put calcium and other minerals in with the pills because it can disturb the absorption.

If she really needs the baking soda then she might consider doing LDN in a topical form with the oil or cream or something like that. If she has that much trouble with reflux she might have eosinophilic esophagitis, which LDN can be helpful for, since it's also an immune-based problem and that seems to be a more common diagnosis. So in the end, I wouldn't recommend her to take it at the same time.

Linda Elsegood: Just on a personal note, I used to have to take an anti-acid every night for acid reflux, which was really bad. It used to burn the back of my throat and absolutely awful. But have changed my diet and not eating gluten or dairy, the acid reflux has gone on.

I no longer have to take that medication, so I'm quite pleased.

Paul Battle PA-C: Excellent. That's the way to do it. Glutamine also was another nice thing to do. It's just an amino acid and that helps with reflux also. That's what most of the intestinal cells are dependent on for energy and also helps with restoring the intestinal cells so that's another thing she could try, but you're right, Linda, that's the best thing to do is just get away from those triggers.  Gluten and dairy are the two most common triggers for many of the diseases we're talking about. We are not used to those kinds of proteins.

Linda Elsegood: And we have a question here from Heidi and she says she's got resistant depression. "I've been on every type of antidepressant and been in counselling on and off for years, and nothing works. I currently attend CBT I am suffering from crippling anxiety, depression, and insomnia. I've read that LDN can help.

I'm very desperate for help. I wish to try what would work"

Paul Battle PA-C: That's a good question. Some of the psychiatrists on our meetings are saying it can help. I mean, it certainly, increases the endorphins or at least the endorphin function. So that in itself can help depression. I don't know if it'll help the anxiety. The cognitive behaviour therapies he's doing is helpful but newer research is showing that many people have depression. It is an inflammatory condition. For example, people who have had a heart attack, the highest risk for reinforce, and that is, another heart attack occurring is depression and it's not an accident because of inflammation from depression. Inflammation in the presence of coronary artery disease can cause the plaque to be released from the wall of the artery causing a coronary thrombosis. So I think it would be worthwhile. There are studies, and I think Sweden and Japan, are showing that people who didn't do well on the medications, did well responding with high doses of fish oil. It is also an anti-inflammatory, and I'm talking large dosages.

For example, 5 to 10 grams per day of fish oil. Because DHA, which is in the official, makes a good part of the brain weight, about 20% of the brain weight so in the studies that Purdue University with children on anyway, so that most of the kids with this kind of psychiatric diseases, 85% had low DHA.

So fish oil is another anti-inflammatory, another option for people with depression. And the other thing that's important, since I do a lot of hormone work is to make sure that the thyroid is optimized. I don't mean in the range or normal. I mean optimized at a good level, healthy level, not just in the range, like 95% of the population and that has been shown in psychiatric journals to be just as good as antidepressants for depression therapy.

Linda Elsegood: I know many people who are using LDN for depression and anxiety, and I found that it really does help. Certainly got nothing to lose by trying it.

Paul Battle PA-C: Right.  It's a great economic thing with really minimal if any side effects.

Linda Elsegood: Exactly. We have a question here from Robert who's got CFS/ME, and he said, "I was originally taking LDN at 4.5 mgs daily.

Now I'm taking it every other day based on an article which I have read recently, which is recommended, taking it every day or every other day.

Paul Battle PA-C: We have all, traditionally been prescribing it every day because the blockade is four hours and the immunological benefits that had been described byDr Dagan and Dr Bihari himself show that the immunological benefits last for about 20 hours. For that reason, I usually do a daily dose. Now for this person, if it's benefiting him every other day, his receptors may be more sensitive, and he does not need the 4.5 mg. What he might try is take half of the tablet and take two 2.25 milligrams a day versus every other day. But then, the pharmacokinetics, that is how the drug works and how long it lasts, it would be generally recommended to be on a daily basis. Now,  you got to understand how LDN works. It is an opiate receptor blocker, and if somebody has more sensitive receptors, they may need a lower dose or not as frequent to make their immune system actually, most beneficial.

That's true. We find with cancer. We don't like to go too high on the dose. Anything above 4.5 I don't think is a good idea because then you're blocking the benefits of the opiate growth factor that Dr Zagon has described in the past. So he just may find a level that's good for him, and that's perfectly fine, but the pharmacokinetics usually indicated it should be a daily dose.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you. We'll just have one more quick break, and we'll be back in just a moment. The LDN research trust has an LDN Vimeo channel. I have interviewed over 550 LDN prescribers, researchers, pharmacists, and patients from around the world for many conditions. You can find the link from the LDN Research Trust website. If you'd like to be interviewed, sharing your experience, these email, linda@ldnrt.org

 I look forward to hearing from you.

This show is sponsored by Paul Battle PA-C. He is a well-respected physician's assistant who takes a physiological approach for your optimal health using traditional and nontraditional treatments for autoimmune diseases and bone health using hormone replacement therapy and Low Dose Naltrexone. He has patients throughout Colorado and other states.

Visit www.pabattle.com or call 720 773-9041

Welcome back. I wonder if you could tell the people listening, Paul, the benefits of attending the LDN conferences, either in person or the live stream.

Paul Battle PA-C: Well, I've my personality. I think I've been to now 4 or 5 of them and the benefits certainly I get as a practitioner, but he can also apply as a patient or interested individual, is that you hear people from all over the world and the different applications that they're using it for. When I look at myself, I'm only one practitioner in my own experience, and I certainly haven't treated everything so it gives me a great advantage to listening to other speakers from anywhere around and what they're using it for, some of which I really never thought of.  The psychiatrists are talking about how it might help depression and may help sexual function, for example.

I certainly never thought of that so I think the biggest advantage is you're seeing some of the top people around the world who've been using this for a while and all the different indications so that if you have a disease that has not been a common one that we told about LDN, like Multiple Sclerosis and Crohn's, but it's one of these more rare diseases, you then can say: " This might be an option for me." And then try to find the LDN prescriber to try it. It's such a low-risk treatment. It certainly would be worthwhile for a lot of different diseases. I think you've counted over 200 autoimmune diseases now that I think we had the experience. It is a lot of diseases to cover and it's great to hear from other people around their experiences.

Linda Elsegood: And this year we're getting case studies and some prerecorded presentations because there was so much information there that we wanted to present to everybody. It would have taken like two weeks just to sit there and watch. So you're limited to what you can do in three days, but there is going to be a lot of extra material there.

But the Q&A sessions I find amazing because not only do people in the room get to submit questions, but the people who are listening online as well, and there are some amazing questions that come up, and it's really interesting to see all these people that have been prescribing LDN for so long.

Some of the questions are very complex and answering them can be tricky. We had feedback last year from one doctor who said she thought the Q&A sessions were amazing, and she had all her questions answered. She had some questions answered that she would have asked herself if she thought of them and the whole thing was unbelievable. She said, because some of the questions that were asked, I think there are only a few where nobody on the panel knew the answer, and they just shook their heads and said, no, I don't know that one. So for her, that meant every time somebody answered a question, they didn't answer it to give an answer.

They answered it because it was a fact. So for her, that made the whole thing believable. So, that was good. But I always find that the conferences, the atmosphere is electric. You've got all these people that are so for LDN. It's just amazing, isn't it? The actual feeling in the room.

Paul Battle PA-C: Well, it is. It's a great comradery because it's still not a well-known treatment and if it doesn't have salespeople doesn't have commercials on TV.

So it's really been pretty much up to people like you, Linda, who's been one of the leaders in promoting LDN around the world and that's been my mission since it says my thumb's life is to speak at international conferences sponsored by you and sponsored by other organizations. I'm going to be speaking at the Age Medical Management conference in Florida in April about LDN and that's a whole different group of practitioners that will be hearing about LDN from myself. It's a nice, progressive movement that's helping thousands of people around the world in a very economical way. I just wish there was a way we can spread it a little bit more, but commercials are expensive, so it depends on all of us to be together.

That's where I feel a real brotherhood and sisterhood about LDN movement. We don't have a lot of help other than us volunteers or in your organization.

Linda Elsegood: And this is where the good thing is in sharing case studies and people getting together to discuss different ways of treating different conditions with LDN.

It's a good way of everybody learning. We do have another question has just come in and it's for Rheumatoid Arthritis. The question is, "How long should I take LDN to treat my Rheumatoid Arthritis?"

Paul Battle PA-C: Well, I'm not sure if he's asking how long should he take it before he notices a difference, or how long should he take it to treat it. I would stick with it at least three or four months before he would expect any dramatic results. Just give it that much time. If he does have a good result in the end, if you can get 70 or 80% improvement then he used to just stay on it the rest of his life. Rheumatoid Arthritis is not one that goes away. I would want to make sure though that it is Rheumatoid Arthritis. I had a patient in my clinic who was told by the rheumatologist she had Rheumatoid Arthritis, and so for 3 years, she's been thinking she had rheumatoid arthritis and I checked her for Lyme disease, through Armin labs, the German lab that we have come to our conferences, and she was positive for Lyme Arthritis. So the question is always make sure you have the right diagnosis also. But if he gets a good relief, Dr Bert Berkson in New Mexico has a great presentation on his patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis showing the serological markers improving dramatically on LDN. Many of the people were able to get rid of most of their rheumatoid medications of which a lot of them have side effects.

Linda Elsegood: Yes. We've had the lady Mary, who's been listening to the show, and she's talking about Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, and her daughter is 15 years old. She says: "Is it safe to take LDN at the same time as Gabapentin". Her daughter is currently on 2,700 milligrams a day, and she'd love to get her daughter off the Gabapentin but it's the only thing that takes the edge off the pain.

"Is it necessary to go gluten-free to find relief?" She said: "I know she should, and I'm gluten-free myself." But her daughter is not ready to accept. That's what she needs to do. "Are there any studies out there on the longterm effects of using LDN in adolescents?" She often searches for weeks and finding studies difficult.

What is the most normal dose for CRPS? She's 5,11 foot and weighs 140 pounds. Thank you for your help.

Paul Battle PA-C: Well, that's interesting she brings that up because I had that exact patient in my office about an hour ago. She's the CRPS patient on Gabapentin, and she's been trying to get off Gabapentine.

I believe the Gabapentin may have been helping her a little bit because Gabapentin can work with the LDN as it helps attenuate the nerve transmission. It's a class of drugs, like anti-seizure drugs, so she can certainly use them together. And is there any studies? There aren't any longterm studies on kids.

We just know that like Dr McCandless had kids on the LDN for years and there's never been any problem longterm. My son's been on it for 8 years without a problem. We have the OB-GYN doctors in Ireland who use the larger dose Naltrexone, 50 mg for infertility during pregnancy, and they have not had any problems.

So I really can't think of any other safer drug and  I've been a PA for 35 years and a lot of different medicines that I prescribed over the years. I can't think of a safer drug then Naltrexone at  3 mg, 4.5. For her at that size, I think the 4.5 milligrams would be the appropriate dose, but I would titrate it up, and regardless of the gluten-free, I think when you have any kind of immune dysregulation gluten-free is a good idea. The gluten proteins are not ones that we have been designed to digest. Dr Tom O'Bryan, who comes to our conferences, is one of the experts on gluten, said to me last year that, even a person without gluten intolerance or the Celiac disease still has inflammatory changes in their intestinal track when they do biopsies 30 minutes later.

So my recommendations would be yes to have her do gluten-free. I know my son with his Crohn's took a while, but when he finally realized, this is his body, this is this future, now he's gluten-free, dairy-free, all that. So I would highly recommend that she go on a gluten-free diet.

Linda Elsegood: Appreciate what she's saying though.

Having a 15-year-old daughter who wants to socialize and go out and be part of the crowd, and then you can't go out for a pizza because you can't eat it. It's difficult, isn't it?

Paul Battle PA-C: You have to do a gluten-free crash. A lot of pizza parts and an Italian place have gluten-free pasta, gluten-free crust. I was just had that last night, as a matter of fact so it's workable now. It's much easier now for gluten-free meals and diet, and she can always bring your own food. That's what my son's done for years, is just pack your own food and have salads and things like that.

Linda Elsegood: Well, it's not very easy in England to find anywhere that is gluten-free.

You'll find that when you come over. When I went to travel and, we were hungry, and I just wanted to grab something. I went to the supermarket, and I said to the lady because I couldn't find it," Do you have a gluten-free section?" So she said: "Yes, but it's not very popular."

We're going to stop it and we've only got what's left on the shelf. And there were like six things, and it was like, then you're going to get rid of all the small section. You do have. I thought that was quite amazing.

Paul Battle PA-C: They need more education there because the Northern Europeans, as I understand it, have a little higher incidence than other population.

That is 1% of the population so I'm surprised at that. That's unfortunate.

Linda Elsegood:  We took our grandson to the cinema last week, and we were looking at menus outside to see what was gluten-free. Many places don't have menus, and we were looking at TJ TG Fridays, and we went inside and they actually have a gluten-free menu. And it was like," Wow, a whole menu of gluten-free!" You can choose it. This is it! Take it or leave it! There was actually a choice. That was very good. I had a gluten-free burger and a gluten-free bun, and it was very tasty.

I was going to say to you, Paul and anybody else out there who's listening, if there are any conferences coming up where you're a speaker, or you're attending a conference, and LDN is going to be one of the topics, let us know. We actually have on our website now an events calendar for talks and lectures so that people can read and have that as a resource available.

So you would have to give me the details, Paul, and we'll put that on there in the event calendar.

Paul Battle PA-C: We can spread the word. I love doing it. If we can help a couple of hundred people. And mostly what I really like doing is teaching the practitioners because I figured each practitioner has 1,000, 2000  patients in his practice. You've helped that many thousands of people at least be exposed to the LDN, by teaching the practitioners that, I think has a big impact on l.

Linda Elsegood: And word of mouth. Taken hold, hasn't it? People are telling friends and social media. I must admit I didn't want to join Facebook. I don't know how many years ago now. Reluctantly thinking that suggest another thing I don't have time for, but I think we have about 18300 members now.

I'm on there and I'll take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful admin people that we have who answered all the questions and help and steer people and give them advice on how to find an LDN prescribing doctor. Without them, Facebook wouldn't continue, but the number of people that pass through, who come, who go, who take the information, go to their doctors and get LDN prescribed It's a wonderful tool.

Paul Battle PA-C: It would just have to educate more people, more practitioners.  Some people may not be open to things that they're not trained in, and certainly the lack of a lot of clinical trials that do make the practitioners a little hesitant to prescribe it, but if you educate yourself, I've read a lot of it, all doctors papers and convinced that it's definitely a good thing for my patients.

I do certainly not hesitate to do that, but you do have to get educated, and that's what we're doing.

Linda Elsegood: Well, I'd like to thank you very much, Paul, for being with us today. We've just about run out of time and you've been amazing. So thank you. And I look forward to meeting you in September, but I might meet you when you come over later in the year.

Paul Battle PA-C: Yes in summer. That'd be great! Okay, Linda, I appreciate it and a really great time. I love helping out.

Linda Elsegood: Thank you very much.

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.

Patti - US: Hailey-Hailey Disease (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Around six years ago Patti began to notice boils and rashes appear all over her skin. Although the doctors initially prescribed antidepressants which made the problem disappear, the rashes and boils reappeared following the passing of Patti’s son in 2001.

Thankfully, Patti discovered Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) and its many benefits with Hailey-Hailey Disease.

“Within a month I began to feel better. My blisters and skin in general began to clear. It’s really helped me to get back on track. LDN has done the trick for me.”

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

Pat - England: Fibromyalgia, Pain, Fatigue, Hormone Balance, Depression, Skin Issues (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Pat from England takes Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for fibromyalgia. It has helped with her pain, fatigue, hormone, balance, depression, and skin. She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in her mid-twenties after suffering with symptoms. Other symptoms included chronic pain and feeling depressed and in pain all the time.

4 years ago, at the age of 45, Pat found Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) after research. After speaking to her GP about the medication, the surgery was not prescribing it.

After being able to try the Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), Pat noticed fast results, she stated that her pain was more kind to her, her mood was improved and her concentration was better.

Pat rated her quality of life a 4 out of 10, everything - at the time - was at a minimum for her, and now, after using the LDN medication, it has shot up to an 8 / 9 out of 10.

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

Any questions or comments you may have, please Contact Us.