LDN Video Interviews and Presentations

Dr Patrick Callas, LDN Radio Show (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr Patrick Callas shares his Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr Patrick Callas has his own practice on an island on the West Coast of British Columbia and Canada, a small community of 10,000 people. He set up his own clinic only four years after graduating as a naturopathic doctor. 

Dr Callas has been prescribing Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for over four years and has seen great results, especially in his cancer patients ranging between 50-70 years old. Overall, he has seen many of his patients live much longer than what they were originally predicted. Not only that, their quality of life has also improved.

Likewise, in many of his autoimmune patients he has seen great recoveries with the help of LDN. Dr Callas is a vehement supporter of the use of LDN in treating cancer and autoimmune patients.

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

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

Dr. Nasha Winters is from Colorado in the US.  She is a naturopathic doctor, a licensed acupuncturist, and holds a diploma in Oriental medicine. She is a Fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology, having completed continuing training in naturopathic and integrative oncology. In 2014 she sold her private practice and became a consultant for clients around the world who want more access to integrative approaches to oncology.

She was introduced to low dose naltrexone (LDN) when she worked in Durango Colorado. In that area are mercury plants and coal-burning plants, so a lot of thyroid, endocrine, and autoimmune conditions. Around 2004, one client with severe multiple sclerosis asked her about LDN, and found a doctor to prescribe it. Within a few months the patient was out of her wheelchair and back to full life functioning. Dr. Winters explored LDN more and started using it in patients with autoimmune and endocrine issues, chronic insomnia, and anxiety patterns. She started seeing quality of life and other conditions really change in patients. About 2008-9 she heard about its use in cancer, and by 2010 she was using LDN in about 80% of her cancer patients at some point in their treatment.

As for side effects, extreme muscle cramping, especially in their legs at night, was one that made LDN intolerable for a few patients, despite adjunctive support like magnesium, potassium, IV drips, and lowered dosage. A few could not tolerate the sleep disruption, and do better with lower doses and titrating up a bit slower. A few needed to remain at a lower dose, but most handle 4.5 mg well. Generally patients start at 1.5 mg LDN for a week, then 3 mg for a week, then 4.5 mg, and within a couple weeks have significant changes in their sense of wellbeing, changes in inflammatory markers, the adrenal stress index and the circadian rhythm. She does various hormone testings during treatment with LDN, and typically sees a big change in how the body is processing the hormones.

With a patient base mostly with stage 4 cancer, including those with auto-immune processes going on, Dr. Winters promotes a low-glycemic or ketogenic type diet, one nutrient-dense and organic, organic because we are what we eat and what our food eats, so you want to make sure it is clean, or avoid it. She is a proponent of a mitochondrial reboot, an approach popularized by Dr. Terry Wahls, with 9 cups of vegetables daily. Thus a vegetable-rich foundation, and secondly, quality fats with condiments of quality protein. Sugar is removed from the diet as much as possible, including extreme limitation of fruit. She follows labs, such as insulin growth factor, C reactive protein test HsCRP, and blood insulin levels, and when they improve, they can try to increase fruit and more starchy vegetables intake.

She sees a lot of autoimmunities and leaky gut issues in the cancer population, so she keeps them off grains, from the lectins and the inflammatory markers in the high starch and sugar content fruits and vegetables. Once their blood sugar stabilizes some of those can be reintroduced, but she finds most of her patients do much better completely off grains and limiting or avoiding legumes.

Dr. Winters tries to do as much through diet and lifestyle modification, but a few supplements are key. Vitamin D has a big role in oncology autoimmunity, hormonal balance, blood sugar balance, the inflammatory processes, and epigenetics. There are theories that vitamin D deficiency can impact our internal endocannabinoid system and our opiate system and how we respond. This may be why LDN is such a benefit as an immunomodulator. She also does SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) analysis on all patients. Magnesium also is important, and synergizes well with LDN, and works with the way the body processes hormones and stress hormone.

She uses supplements based on what labs tests show. For example, with a high fibrinogen and a lot of inflammation she might use proteolytic enzymes; or things like lumbrokinase to lower ferritin, often high in these chronic conditions. She might do therapeutic blood draws if their marrow is good, then add on avoiding red meat and cast iron cookware if needed, to lower ferritin.

Hormonal balance and blood sugar control are key. She works a lot with natural angiogenesis inhibitors such as oral or IV alpha lipoic acid combined with LDN, like Dr. Burt Berkson’s protocol, especially with aggressive cancer, or liver metastases.

Although Dr. Winters does not diagnose or treat any more, to have her help you sort through your data and create a roadmap to get you to the best fitted practitioner available, go to her website https://www.drnasha.com/. Her website has many valuable resources; and information about her book, a compendium on integrative oncology with a foundation in nutrition and therapeutic diet. She can be emailed at info@drnasha.com. She also is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/drnashainc/, where she posts articles and blogs and information.

Summary from Dr. Nasha Winters, listen to the video for the show.

Keywords: LDN, low dose naltrexone, cancer, vitamin D, hormones, ketogenic, alpha lipoic acid, autoimmune, glucose

Dr Michael Arata, LDN Radio Show (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr Michael Arata shares his Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr Michael Arata from the United States first heard of Low Dose Naltrexone around 2010 when one of his Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients asked about the drug. Luckily due to his connections with other physicians, Dr Arata was able to begin prescribing LDN to his patients swiftly.

In the first few years he found LDN to be particularly successful in the autoimmune patients from his practice, including patients with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme, etcetera. 

In this interview Dr Arata explains how LDN works in the body against autoimmune disease and declares his optimism for LDN’s possible future for being adopted into mainstream medicine.

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

Dr Martin Dayton, LDN Radio Show (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr Martin Dayton shares his Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr Martin Dayton is the founder of the Dayton Medical Center in Miami, the United States. He first came across Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) when he learnt about Dr Bihari prescribing it in New York and the great success he was having.

He primarily prescribes LDN for autoimmune diseases, specifically lymphoma and various forms of rheumatic arthritis. One of Dr Dayton’s patients had been diagnosed with lymphoma and no other treatments had worked in him for over 2 years. Yet, within 6 weeks of starting on LDN, he was able to dance again.

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

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

Dr. Mark Mandel, owner of Mark drugs, compounding pharmacy in Illinois, United States shares his experience in prescribing and compounding Low Dose Naltrexone.

I first heard about LDN in the mid 1990s. One of my patients husband was using LDN, for a couple of conditions that he had at that particular time.

He had been diagnosed with cancer and with autoimmune diseases.

We compound LDN the simple way. LDN one compounded alone with lactose sugar is the most readily absorbed available source.

For those patients who are sensitive to lactose, the only other modification or alteration we do was we put it in combination with probiotics, and that seemed to have a beneficial effect for many patients as well.

We have the ability to put chemicals into any dosage form that was effective.

We do ship LDN all across the domestic United States.

We help patients with Cancer,  Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis prescribing LDN with success.

Dosing on the Low Dose Naltrexone can vary anywhere from a minimum 1.5 milligrams at bed time to the maximum effective dose, approximately 4.5 milligrams at that time. And then it's actually the 4.5 milligram dose is typically the most common dose.

There's a variety of different patients have different response rates.

And depending on the condition that's being treated, different concentrations at different dosages may be appropriate for different patients.

We probably have about 2000 physicians who are ordering Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).

We have physicians in the Chicago land area in central Illinois, and in Northwestern Illinois. We also work with physicians in Wisconsin and Indiana, which are the States surrounding Illinois surrounding the Chicago area.

Talking about LDN side effects, the majority of patients that report any, would be the very vivid dreams. The dreams are typically not disturbing. However some of them can be quite disturbing. Some can cause some anxiety, if the patient knows in advance that their dream cycle may be effected.

We found from a server that we carried out that only about 5% of people experience side effects at all.

We find that we're able to give the patients a lower price with a larger quantity of Low Dose Naltrexone, or they tend to get three to six months supply at a time. As you get to a three month or greater supply, the price of the LDN dropped to less than $20 a month.

So other medications that are available to treat these autoimmune conditions have awful toxicity, from simple nausea to complete fatigue, which is some of the things that you're trying to combat with conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I've been amazed since I first learned about Low Dose Naltrexone, which was quite some time ago, at the positive results and the positive benefits that our patients have seen. I've had patients have been diagnosed with breast cancer, who decides to use Low Dose Naltrexone in conjunction with other treatments who've seen a reversal of the breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer.

I encourage patients to contact me if they have questions. I can be reached through our website at Marc drugs or you can email us through our website@infoatmerckdrugs.com.

Summary from Dr. Mark Mendel interview. Listen to the video for the show.

Dr Leonard Weinstock, LDN Radio Show (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Gastroenterologist Dr Leonard Weinstock shares his Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr Leonard Weinstock is from St Louis in Missouri and helps patients with GI Issues and other autoimmune conditions.

He first studied Clinical Pharmacology before going into Internal Medicine. His greatest interest is in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and autoimmune conditions. In this interview he describes many conditions like Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO), and Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). 

Also, Dr Weinstock explains how the brain-gut connection is vital in order to maintain one’s health and wellbeing. He utilises LDN to increase endorphins that help reduce inflammation, a common cause of many illnesses.

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

Dr Laurie Marzell, LDN Radio Show 01 March 2017 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

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

Dr Laurie Marzell is a primary care physician from Oregon that combines her knowledge of naturopathic medicine with modern medicine to help facilitate the body's ability to restore and maintain optimal health by creating a healing internal and external environment.

From a young age, Dr Marzell was fascinated by how the body works and how one is able to solve its issues through certain chemical processes. This led to her career as a primary care physician, which she has been in for over 30 years, 10 of which she has been prescribing Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).

However, it was the LDN Research Trust and its wealth of information that convinced her that LDN was the correct step forward in terms of treating her patients. Ever since, her patients have enjoyed great success.

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

Dr Jordan Atkinson, LDN Radio Show 12 May 2017 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr Jordan Atkinson shares his Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr Jordan Atkinson, based in Vancouver, has utilised LDN for a variety of autoimmune conditions and cancer with excellent results. As a Naturopathic doctor, his clinic does extensive testing to evaluate the patient before prescribing diet, exercise and medical solutions. 

He takes the time to know each patient's situation and then, he custom formulates a resolution. He believes in being proactive, not reactive and getting to the root of the problem before it becomes serious.

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

Pharmacist John Walczyk, LDN Radio Show April 2016 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Dr John Walczyk shares his Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) experience on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Dr John Walczyk is the manager of a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts and first heard of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) in 2008 through one of his patient’s therapies. Within a year he was seeing it prescribed more.

Rather than being primarily motivated by his own research of LDN, it was the positive reviews of so many patients that motivated Dr Walczyk to begin incorporating the drug into his own treatment. He has over 650 patients currently on LDN for a large variety of autoimmune diseases.

Despite very few minor side effects including a lack of sleep, Dr Walczyk is a strong advocate for the use of LDN in treating autoimmune diseases such as Fibromyalgia and Hashimoto’s.

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

Dr Jill Cottel, LDN Radio Show 26 July 2018 (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

The number of patients with autoimmune disease Dr. Cottel is seeing has increased, particularly thanks to her presence on the LDN Research Trust website. She also is treating more patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) with LDN than before, with very good results.

Q: In a patient with a pain disorder, on 4.5mg LDN without good result, should he increase his dose?

A: Essentially, if you’re not getting relief on lower doses, it may work increasing the dose, but it is not well studied. Linda commented on reaching opiate blockade and the need to reduce the dose.

Q: Address where a patient with Sjogren’s has GI side effects from LDN even at ultra-low doses.

A: Have compounding pharmacy prepare LDN in water at 1mg/ml and start at a very low dose eg 0.1mg and increase by 0.1mg as tolerated, slowly. Take at bedtime. Linda commented that sublingual drops work very well also to avoid GI absorption.

Q: In a patient with MS on LDN 3.0mg developed double vision, is higher dose LDN advised? What about Vitamin K2 for MS, will it re-wrap the nerves? Can Mediterranean diet decrease inflammation?

A: Always have double vision checked to be sure of cause. If from MS, increasing LDN to 4.5mg may help. As for Vitamin K2, some studies suggest K2 may inhibit inflammation of anti-microglial cells, and perhaps the body could heal itself. Yes, that diet decreases inflammation; diet is very important in treating autoimmune disease.

Q: Patient with Hashimoto’s starting LDN, what side effects should be looked for.

A: Typically, LDN is well tolerated. Perhaps headaches or vivid dreams early on, and patients with GI problems may have diarrhea.

Q: Can LDN help fibromyalgia and cancer prevention?

A: Yes for fibromyalgia, but not everyone goes into full remission. Probably yes for cancer prevention; there are animal studies to support that, as well as that LDN is used in treatment of cancer.

Q: Patient on prednisolone for polymyalgia and can’t get off steroids. Will LDN help?

A: Yes, recommend adding LDN then tapering steroids. There are complications from chronic steroid use.

Q: Can LDN and thyroid medications be taken at the same time?

A: Thyroid medications are to be taken alone, at least 1 hour from other medications.

Q: Is LDN for real?

A: Yes! There are lots of sources for information from prescribers, patients, and through small studies.

Q: Use LDN in post-polio syndrome?

A: In her one patient with post-polio syndrome, LDN has helped with the pain, but in post-polio syndrome there are many sources for pain, and as LDN is so well tolerated, she recommends its use.

Q: How do you know LDN is working (patient with Hashimoto’s)? Can gluten ever be re-introduced?

A: Clinical response is the indicator of success in Hashimoto’s. Dr. Tom O’Bryan has a series on this. Once you have antibodies to gluten, they will increase when exposed to gluten, and can interfere with how LDN works.

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Q: Will LDN help with pernicious anemia and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and how do I get it?

A: Get information from the LDN Research Trust website to take to your doctor. LDN is an immune modulator and calms RA. Pernicious anemia is an autoimmune disorder, traditionally treated with B12 injections so use of LDN and pernicious anemia would be interesting to study.

Q: Can you take LDN and Chantix, a medication used for smoking cessation? Are there studies on LDN and vitiligo?

A: LDN may help with smoking cessation and Chantix. Linda has heard of patient using LDN for vitiligo with great success.

Q: Can going on/off LDN be a problem?

A: For those on LDN for a long time, it’s not likely to cause a problem, but you may notice a return of symptoms.

Q: In Type I diabetes and alopecia universalis

A: Dr. Cottel has seen few cases but has not seen great success with LDN. Linda noted she has spoken with patients who had great success with LDN for alopecia; but LDN is not a miracle drug nor does it work in all people.

Q: Is it ok to take LDN for fibromyalgia with thyroid medication?

A: They can be taken together, but be sure to take them at least an hour apart.

Q: Hashimoto’s and Sjogren’s who is pregnant. Is LDN safe during pregnancy?

A: Dr. Phil Boyle covered this at the last conference: no problems taking LDN during pregnancy

Q: Can LDN be used in Crohn’s disease the same way as the immunosuppressants used?

A: LDN is effective in some patients with Crohn’s disease and might allow tapering off other immunosuppressants.

Q: Can LDN be used in patients with glioblastoma?

A: Many prescribers use LDN in treating cancer as part of a complete treatment program.

Q: If LDN helps with pain in a neuropathic pain condition, does it mean the condition is autoimmune?

A: No. You can get pain relief from the endorphin effect of LDN.

This is a summary. Please listen to the full interview.