LDN Video Interviews and Presentations

Mary Grace - US: Fybromyalgia, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, ME/CFS (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Mary Grace from the United States takes low dose naltrexone (LDN) for fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She first noticed symptoms near 30, all starting slow; and has now been successful on LDN medication for four years now. 

Before the medication she had depression and unexplainable pain. To try and relieve this, Mary Grace resulted on 13 different medications; Norco, an anti-depressant and Vicodin for muscle relaxation. She had no pain relief medication at this time and all 13 medications had terrible side effects.

Mary Grace heard about LDN through a therapist after hearing from a patient who travelled to Mexico to find drug treatment. 

During Mary Grace’s suffering she was bed ridden for two years nearly but was so desperate for a suitable and successful medication like LDN. All 5 of her doctors would not prescribe Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) to her. Mary Grace found a resource to order some herself and even after the first day of trying the new LDN medication she had more energy, but still trouble with sleeping and dealing with her ongoing pain. 

Now, 4 years on the LDN medication, Mary Grace has spread widely about her experiences, telling near to 30-40 people.

Although, she still suffers from fatigue, but it is not as bad. She can successfully walk two miles, which she could not do before, and even go on daily walks and outings. Mary Grace has lost 70 pounds and now has lowered the Thyroid medication. Feeling as though she has her life back!

Key Words: Thyroid Medication, weight, Low Dose Naltrexone, LDN, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia, Myofascial Pain, Depression, muscle relaxation, pain, bed ridden, energy, fatigue

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

Mary shares her story of using low dose naltrexone (LDN) to treat Lyme disease. She became ill approximately four years ago, at age 42. She was in great shape, exercising four times per week, but she had a heart attack and was hospitalized for it, although tests did not show evidence of coronary artery disease. After that, she started having a lot of pain, reduced tolerance for exercise, and her doctor thought she had fibromyalgia. The doctor prescribed Cymbalta for the nerve and muscle pain. 

Mary didn’t think that she had fibromyalgia, so she researched things herself. Two years after the heart attack, her symptoms worsened greatly. She started developing palpitations, transient tachycardia, and neurological symptoms including burning pain in her feet and tingling in her fingers and toes. The fatigue was to the point that after coming home from work, she slept hard for two hours. She went to many doctors, who ran quite a few tests, but the only tests coming back abnormal were her inflammatory markers. She went to a holistic doctor that she knew, who prescribed LDN for her. 

Within a week or two of starting LDN, her fatigue was diminished, and her joint and muscle pain was a lot better. She also modified her diet to remove gluten and dairy, and reduce sugar. She also started eating more organic, cleaner food.

Since beginning the LDN and improved diet, she is happy to be able to keep working. She’d been having terrible pain, fatigue, trouble walking, and brain fog, and as a nurse, she was having trouble doing her job. But all that improved tremendously with Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).

Mary has found that her best dosage is 3 mg. She takes her LDN at night and it works well for her. She was also recently diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, and is hoping that the LDN will help with that as well. While drugs like Cymbalta had side effects that were as bad as her symptoms the doctor was trying to treat, LDN has improved her life very much. 

This has been a summary of Mary’s interview. For the full story, please go to the recording at the link above.

Martha - US: Fibromyalgia (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Martha is from Hawaii in the United States, and takes low dose naltrexone (LDN) for fibromyalgia. Her first symptoms were a series of mysterious illnesses, stomach problems, fatigue, multiple chemical sensitivities, that in  2010 was diagnosed as fibromyalgia.

She was pretty much bedridden, felt feverish without a fever, fatigued, and in pain. Her quality of life was a 4, or 5 on a good day.

She heard about LDN in 2006 from a friend who was working with Dr Jackie McCandless, who was from the little community where she lived on the Big Island. She recently passed away but she had used it autism and then started the study in Africa using it for children with HIV.

She started LDN two years ago, and in three weeks her pain was decreased, she slept better, her depression lifted, and now she rates the quality of her life at a 10.

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

Marijke - Australia: Fibromyalgia (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Marijke from Australia shares her Fibromyalgia and Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) story on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Marijke was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2007 but had began to feel very ill 12 months prior to her diagnosis when she picked up a virus. She remembers being at university and could not move from one chair to another because she was simply so exhausted. Additionally, as well as constant pain in her muscles, Marijke had trouble sleeping following the birth of her first child.

Thankfully Marike discovered Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), which completely changed her life for the better.

“Although gradually, my symptoms began to disappear. I could sleep better and could concentrate more, which is very important to me as a university lecturer. I used to stand in front of hundreds of students and feel like an idiot when my mind would go blank, but that doesn’t happen anymore.

If you’re thinking about trying LDN and you’ve got fibromyalgia, you’ve just got to try it. Give it three months at least. Even if you ease into it like I did, you’ll begin to notice incredible benefits for your health.”

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

Marie - England: Ankylosing Spondylitis (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Marie, who's originally from Germany and now from England, takes LDN for Ankylosing Spondylitis. 

I think it was when I was about 17 years old when I started experiencing symptoms. I'm now 30 years old. I had an accident. I fell on the bench on my lower back. I was too proud actually to get it looked at.  I was hurting. And from then on, I kept having problems in that area. And, because I knew that I could have Ankylosing Spondylitis anyway because my dad has got it too, I was tested when I was about 11 for the genetic defect and yes, I do have it. 

 It would take me all day to get going and straighten up in some form. And people used to look at me because I'm still teaching fitness classes and thought you shouldn't be here.
And so I could keep going. And then when it was so bad, and I had my diagnosis, I just had another inspiration. I wanted to just finally see if I can find some natural way of healing. I found it but didn't make that much difference and I came across low dose naltrexone (LDN) because I kept digging deeper.

I tried and found something natural, but doesn't have side effects because I don't do well on any medication. I was so excited when I saw LDN. I just like the idea of no side effects. 

I get my pain mainly in my lower back around L4 and L5 I'm very stiff there.

I was so excited about LDN. After having taught three classes, which usually makes me very bad for Friday, I teach four classes, and I woke up in the morning and I felt ok.  I was never ill, it was amazing!

And then on Saturday continued and ever since then after being well, I just, every day I'm thinking, "Oh my God, I should have known this before."

I had a telephone consultation with my doctor and told him I found LDN, and he said, no. Primary care trust does not support this. Then I found another prescriber.
I don't want to go on anti-TNF. I don't agree with the side effects. I don't want to give it a try. It's not even proven to work. I've done my research. I'm a very informed patient and it's my body. And I need to do what's best for my body.

And I'm sorry, I just researched everything very thoroughly. And weighed out the pros and cons and tried to find reasons for why something should be working. And that's how I came to try LDN. 

My quality of life before LDN was a 2 out of 10. I couldn't concentrate anymore. I couldn't get any work done. I'm a freelance fitness instructor, a freelance designer, and I run a webshop so I can work around my problems, but I still couldn't get a lot done. And I was severely ill.

Now I'm bouncing and looked like an average person. You can't tell that I've got something wrong unless I have to demonstrate my spine flexion. Now my quality of life is a 9. I still know there's a problem there because then when I exercise too much, it goes a little bit. 

I would say to others to try it, go for it because you've got nothing to lose. It doesn't have any side effects. Many people report excellent results.  And if it doesn't work at least, you give it a try. I've persuaded my father too, to give it a try. Two weeks last night on LDN for him. It's not worked as well for him instantly as it did for me, which was quite sad. But I think that is because he doesn't incorporate a clean diet, which was very relevant to Ankylosing Spondylitis since the guts are very involved in this as well. 

Please watch the video for the full story.

Maria - US: Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Sjogren's (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Maria is from Argentina and now lives in the United states, in California, and is using low dose naltrexone (LDN) for lupus, fibromyalgia and Sjogren's syndrome

"I started getting sick when I was 21.I was experiencing pain in my joints, extreme fatigue and starting having pneumonia but then it happened two years later, and  again three years later.

Later when I was correctly diagnosed, Lupus was attacking tissue in my lung.

Before the diagnose of Lupus I was treated with antibiotics, non-steroid anti-inflammatories and later steroids.

About 5 years ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Sjogren's syndrome.

I would have times that I'd be fine for a year or a couple of years, and then I get a flare-up. My quality of life at that point was a 4 out of 10. I couldn't get up and go to work. I had pain all over my body.

I heard about low dose naltrexone (LDN) from some of my friends. I work in biotechnology world in Northern California with an organization that is a nonprofit and developing new biotechnologists for regenerative medicine, mainly focused on curing the diseases of ageing; and I found out that a few of my friends were taking LDN.

One of them suggest me to try and to go on the LDN Research Trust website. I read about it.  I talked to my friends who were taking it, and I realized that it didn't have any negative effects.

I contacted the LDN Research Trust. They gave me a list of doctors and in that list, I got an appointment, and he was in pain management. He prescribed it.

In the beginning I did experienced a lot of dreaming.

I have been taking LDN for a year now. My life got back to normal since I started LDN. I haven't had any flare-ups. A year ago I was taking Prednisone and I could stop taking it. I am taking Hydrochloroquine, 200 milligrams twice a day. I'm going to visit my Rheumatologist very soon, and hopefully, they're going to lower it.

So my quality of life right now is a ten. I haven't had anymore symptoms for the last year.

My eyes are still bothering me. I take Restasis, and I started taking more fish oil, and I think that's helping me.

I encourage everybody who's listening to try it. I don't think there's anything to lose. It's really amazing"!

Summary of Maria's interview, please listen to the video for the full story.

Margaret - US: Cushing's, Hashimoto's, PCOS, Arthritis, Depression (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Linda Elsegood: I'd like to introduce Margaret from the United States who takes LDN. Thank you for joining me, Margaret.

Margaret: Hi,

Linda Elsegood: thank you. Could you tell us when you first started to get sick, how old were you?

Margaret: Well, after the birth of my first child when I was 20, um, I started to have a lot of hormonal problems and symptoms.

And after several years and several doctors, um, my first diagnosis was with the polycystic ovarian syndrome. And, um, I suffered through, uh, many years of trying to find someone to treat me in a way that didn't have a lot of side effects. And I eventually went on Metformin, and that was very helpful. And I kind of had a period of good health for several years, and then when I was about 35 I started to have a lot of new symptoms that were similar but different and more intense.

And after probably four years of that, I finally was diagnosed with having Cushing's disease and having an ACTH secreting pituitary tumour. And I had pituitary surgery, two years ago, in May of 2013. And they found the tumour, they got it out, and I went into remission. And the recovery from that is quite brutal.

You have to slowly wean off of steroids. You have to take them as replacement because your pituitary doesn't work right for a while. And the withdrawal from steroids has been like into heroin withdrawal. So it's very intense. It's very painful. You have a lot of joint pain, muscle pain, um, a lot of psychological symptoms, depression, um, anxiety because not having enough cortisol is almost as anxious.

It is provoking as not as having too much. And so it's, you know, a good year of weaning. And then what happens is because you had high cortisol for so long, a lot of autoimmune things pop up that were being suppressed by the cortisol. And that's kind of where I'm at at this point, where now I have really high Hashimoto's titers and.

You know, I'd have to replace a lot of hormones and I'm still in the recovery process from Cushing's. But, you know, in the meantime, ten other autoimmune things get you.

Linda Elsegood: So, before you, um, started on LDN, could you describe what a typical day for you felt like?

Margaret: Well, I started on LDN when I was about sixteen months postop from pituitary surgery. So I would say that I had very little quality of life. I was still in the place where I was in a lot of pain. I didn't work full time. I was only working part-time and only from home at that point. I could barely do the grocery store by myself and come back home. I still have people taking my kids to school for me and all. It was basically helping me just to survive.

So I would say probably on a scale of one to 10, it was about a three.

Linda Elsegood: Oh, wow. That's not good. Not a good life.

Margaret: I mean, it was better than when I had Cushing's where my life was a zero. Yeah. Before they took the tumour out, I was home-bound and could not work. Didn't think straight. Had severe panic disorder. And anxiety all the time. And how did slept in probably two years by the time I had surgery. Yeah. So it's a really intense disease.

Linda Elsegood: It certainly sounds like it. So how did you hear about LDN?

Margaret: My endocrinologist, who, he is a Cushing specialist. That's what he specializes in. He actually recommends it to a lot of his postop patients because most of us have these underlying autoimmune problems and he gives it out quite frequently, especially if you kind of linger in your recovery.

I mean, some people just snap right back. That wasn't me. Maybe cause I was older, not sure, but he recommended it. And my primary care doctor prescribed it for me. I ended up making my own with a 50 millilitre, uh, 50 millilitres and 50-milligram pills because my insurance doesn't cover compounding.

And that was the most economical way for me to do it. And so my primary care doctors, he's in on it too, and he actually prescribed it for me. And, um, you know, does all the followup for it for me.

Linda Elsegood: When you started, did you notice any side effects at all?

Margaret: Well, I started at 0.5.mg, cause I was doing liquid, it was really easy to change my dose based on whatever I was noticing.

So the very first thing that I noticed was that I started dreaming, like a lot, and they weren't bad dreams. They were actually amazing, wonderful dreams. But when you have Cushing's and you don't sleep for a long time, you don't dream anymore cause you never get to REM sleep. And I'd had several sleep studies. You know when I was sick but didn't know what was wrong with me.

And I never got up. I never had any REM at all. So I will say that the very first thing that happened was it gave me background sleep and I started dreaming on a regular basis. And each increase in dose I would have several days of. Just fantastical dreams, which is a good thing for me. So it's a side effect, but a good one to me.

IThey were never bad dreams or nightmares or anything like that.  I did notice that on each dose increase that I would have a little bit of bowel motility, very short-lived. And when you have hormone issues. That's not unusual. You know, there's a lot of stuff going on in my body, so I don't know if I can particularly attribute it to LDN, but I think so. and it just was, you know, getting used to it. So at this point, I'm, my endo wants me to work up to four, but I'm very slowly working my way up. Right now, I'm on four, and that has been a process of about a year of getting up that high. And I stayed at three for a long time. But my Hashi titers were still very high, and so he wanted me to go up a little higher and see if we could get it to work.

Linda Elsegood: So, what is a typical day like for you now?

Margaret: Well, I attribute some of it to LDN. Some of it is just simply time. And my pituitary is recovering, but I now work full time. I am completely in control of my own life. I still have some chronic pain. It's much better. I do think that the LDN helped with the pain a lot.

It is now where I can take two Motrin a day and be pretty okay. I also use acupuncture extensively, which is, you know, it's not about LDN, but that is a huge part of my recovery as well. And I would say, you know, my life is an eight, and I work full time, probably 60 hours a week. I take my own kids to school.

I have a child in college now. And I take him to school and I grocery shop, clothing shop. I do everything now. And so it's a huge improvement from before I had surgery for my pituitary tumour. And I think LDN is probably half that. I, I won't be stopping it anytime soon.

Linda Elsegood: What would you say to other people who are thinking of trying LDN?

Margaret: You know, I think it's such, it's such a longstanding drug that's been around for so long and they know what the side effects are and it's really easy. So low risk, why not try it? And I think that's how I presented it to my primary care. I said, you know, cause he had other people on it.

And so he had heard of it. He was aware of the drug, and it's such a low dose. He just had no problem letting me try it, even if he didn't really believe in it necessarily. So I would approach it in that way. But I mean, the risks are very low and if it doesn't help, then just quit if it does and amazing.

Yeah. That's what I would say. Try it,

Linda Elsegood: You have such an amazing story and so inspirational for other people. Thank you very much. You're sharing it with us.

Margaret: Oh, you're welcome.

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.

Kristin - US: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Kristin from the United States shares their Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) story on the LDN Radio Show with Linda Elsegood.

Kristin was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2006 but had been searching for a diagnosis for over 12 years beforehand, meaning she was 36 when she finally got her diagnosis.

Kristin mainly suffered from muscle pain all over her body and muscle spasms, the former of which had been a constant issue for a long time. Fortunately, she came across Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) on Facebook and recognised the many benefits this drug has to offer.

“Why not try LDN? It’s cheap. It’s effective. It’s available. Why spend $30,000 a year on medical insurance to get a treatment that has a 30% chance of working when you can pay $30 a month for a treatment that can only do wonders.”

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

Kimberly - US: Cancer, Fibromyalgia (LDN, low dose naltrexone) from LDN Research Trust on Vimeo.

Kimberly, from the US takes LDN for fibromyalgia, and she also has a service dog (a cocker spaniel) who takes LDN for liver disease and liver cancer. 

She started her dog on the medication around a year ago, and noticed she could now walk, after spending a year without being able to do so, and is also surviving cancer and liver disease.

Kimberley has been ill with Fibromyalgia for around 17 years. Her symptoms were chronic fatigue at first, which eventually led to not being able to walk for three months after being incredibly active. 

Before taking LDN, Kimberly would spend the majority of her time housebound and depressed. She would also get mouth sores and a chronic cough along with a swollen face occasionally. Sometimes these symptoms lasting weeks upon weeks. Kimberly also mentions feeling pain as though someone has beaten her with a baseball bat. Exhaustion, lack of appetite, migraines and struggling to breathe also were felt regularly.

After taking LDN sourced from her own GP in California, she has felt more stable with an increased quality of life with no side effects.

Kimberly urges that people try the medication when asked if she recommends it saying “LDN can give them the quality of life.” She is very grateful for LDN, for herself and her service dog.

To view the entire interview, watch the video.

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

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

Kelly from the United States takes Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). She first started experiencing symptoms a little over five years ago, dealing with mental inflammation and pain in her joints.

After a countless number of doctors and different medications and tests, about a year ago, symptoms reoccurred. Kelly went back to her doctor where he then suggested LDN. Some inflation was decreasing; Kelly still had a lot of stiffness and some pain. Now she can move around easier. No longer feeling exhausted or tired. She was sleeping, her appetite was back, and inflammation was down. 

Within the first week of a higher mg of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN); Kelly felt that the pain was completely gone and rated her inflammation a 2/10, with 10 being the worst.

Kelly recommends the Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) medication, with it being cost effective compared to other medications, also explaining how you see immediate results, and how moods improve.

Thank you for reading, please watch the video for the full interview.

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