Some leading experts believe that low-dose naltrexone (LDN) holds great promise for the treatment of millions of people suffering with autoimmune diseases, central nervous system disorders, and even cancer and HIV/AIDS.
It’s extremely low-cost, and appears to be virtually free of detrimental side effects.
So why haven’t you heard about this before?
What is Naltrexone?
Naltrexone (generic name) is a pharmacologically active opioid antagonist, conventionally used to treat drug- and alcohol addiction – normally at doses of 50mg to 300mg. As such, it’s been an FDA approved drug for over two decades.
However, researchers have found that at very low dosages (3 to 4.5 mg), naltrexone has immunomodulating properties that may be able to successfully treat cancer malignancies and a wide range of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s,fibromyalgia, and Crohn’s disease, just to name a few.
At least one physician, Dr. Jacquelyn McCandless, has even found LDN to have a positive effect on children with autism.
Unfortunately, very few physicians are aware of LDN, and none of the pharmaceutical giants back it, meaning there are no friendly sales reps visiting your doctor talking about the potential benefits of this drug in very low doses.
And why would they?
At an average price of $15 to $40 for a month’s supply from your drugstore pharmacy (do not pay the vet outrageous markup fees. Just have him write you a script) , the income potential from LDN doesn’t even come off in the rounding. It’s completely insignificant.
How Does Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Work for Autoimmune Diseases and Cancer?
A growing body of research over the past 20 years indicates that your body’s secretion of endorphins (your internal, natural opioids) play an important, if not central, role in the workings of your immune system.
A review article entitled Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain, published in a 2003 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, states:
"Opioid-Induced Immune Modulation: .... Preclinical evidence indicates overwhelmingly that opioids alter the development, differentiation, and function of immune cells, and that both innate and adaptive systems are affected.Bone marrow progenitor cells, macrophages, natural killer cells, immature thymocytes and T cells, and B cells are all involved.The relatively recent identification of opioid-related receptors on immune cells makes it even more likely that opioids have direct effects on the immune system."
As explained on the informative website http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/, when you take LDN at bedtime -- which blocks your opioid receptors for a few hours in the middle of the night -- it is believed to up-regulate vital elements of your immune system by increasing your body’s production of metenkephalin and endorphins (your natural opioids), hence improving immune function.
In addition to increased endorphin production, Dr. Bernard Bihari (who first discovered LDN as a therapeutic agent for AIDS, in 1985), believes LDNs anti-cancer mechanism is likely due to an increase in:
- the number and density of opiate receptors on the tumor cell membranes, making them more responsive to the growth-inhibiting effects of the already present levels of endorphins, which in turn induces apoptosis (cell death) in the cancer cells
- the absolute numbers of circulating cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells, as well as killer cell activity
Dr. Bihari has reportedly treated more than 450 cancer patients with LDN with promising results, including cancers of the bladder, breast, liver, lung, lymph nodes, colon, and rectum.
According to Dr. Bihari, nearly a quarter of his patients had at least a 75 percent reduction in tumor size, and nearly 60 percent of his patients demonstrated disease stability.
You will have to print these articles on Low Dose Naltrexone treatments and do Google research yourself to be able to convince your vet to write a prescription for this. They will not have heard of it and if they look it up just by drug name, they will be confused why you are wanting to give a old med used for treatment of drug addicts to a dog with cancer. The focus needs to be on "Low Dose Naltrexone for the treatment of Cancer" and such. This will be a tuff sell but if you can show them the research and talk smartly about this with conviction, you should be able to get them to write a prescription for 50mg pills that you that you can pick up at your drugstore. Just crush the 50mg pill using a pill crusher and put in 50ml of distilled water and shake before every use. Just give 2 or 3 ml at bed daily using a baby medicine dropper in a small snack. Did you know that vets by law (and dentists actually) can write a prescription for anything that may help a patient! Geez, the dog has cancer, what can it hurt to give a very LOW dose of something to try.
ARTICLE 1
LOW DOSE NALTREXONE FOR CANCER
ARTICLE 2 - MORE ON LDN AND CANCER RESEARCH STUDIES
ARTICLE 3 - HOW TO GET YOUR VET TO PRESCRIBE LOW DOSE NALTREXONE
You will have to print these articles on Low Dose Naltrexone treatments and do Google research yourself to be able to convince your vet to write a prescription for this. They will not have heard of it and if they look it up just by drug name, they will be confused why you are wanting to give a old med used for treatment of drug addicts to a dog with cancer. The focus needs to be on "Low Dose Naltrexone for the treatment of Cancer" and such. This will be a tuff sell but if you can show them the research and talk smartly about this with conviction, you should be able to get them to write a prescription for 50mg pills that you that you can pick up at your drugstore. Just crush the 50mg pill using a pill crusher and put in 50ml of distilled water and shake before every use. Just give 2 or 3 ml at bed daily using a baby medicine dropper in a small snack. Did you know that vets by law (and dentists actually) can write a prescription for anything that may help a patient! Geez, the dog has cancer, what can it hurt to give a very LOW dose of something to try.
ARTICLE 2 - MORE ON LDN AND CANCER RESEARCH STUDIES
ARTICLE 3 - HOW TO GET YOUR VET TO PRESCRIBE LOW DOSE NALTREXONE
YOU WILL NEED TO TALK YOUR VET INTO THIS ONE.... READ LINK AND PRINT OUT ALL 3 ARTICLES FOR VET. They will not understand why this med is used in this manner at all unless you educate them. Gently...
Lucy gets 2ml to 3ml (this is the most common dose no matter weight unless very small dog - human normal dosages start at 50mg/ml so this is, well, low dosing. This is all that is needed to boost immune system) of LDN Low Dose Naltrexone prescription from measured baby medicine dropper (shake bottle first) into the above nightly PM snack that I self compounded from 50mg standard Naltrexone tablets ground into 50ml of distilled water (hey cool - it turns 50mg into 50ml for easy dosing) with a few drops of colloidal silver as preservative and refrigerate. Pharmacy area will have bottles and droppers and pill grinder.
Lucy gets 2ml to 3ml (this is the most common dose no matter weight unless very small dog - human normal dosages start at 50mg/ml so this is, well, low dosing. This is all that is needed to boost immune system) of LDN Low Dose Naltrexone prescription from measured baby medicine dropper (shake bottle first) into the above nightly PM snack that I self compounded from 50mg standard Naltrexone tablets ground into 50ml of distilled water (hey cool - it turns 50mg into 50ml for easy dosing) with a few drops of colloidal silver as preservative and refrigerate. Pharmacy area will have bottles and droppers and pill grinder.
*Occasionally, during the first week's use of LDN, patients may have some difficulty sleeping. This rarely persists after the first week. Should it do so, dosage can be temporarily reduced.
