Are you as ready as I was to try LDN?

The best place to start is with your doctor.

Do your research and print out information that will help you make your case that this is a cheap, approved drug that has zero side effects at the tiny dose that is used for treatment for MS. This works well for many.

If you get a prescription for compounded LDN, the best pharmacy is Skip's Pharmacy in Florida. Dr. Skip, as he is known by the LDN community, has worked tirelessly to increase the awareness of LDN, and is always available to help on the LDN newsgroups. They actually have a dedicated toll free LDN line where you, your doctor, or your veterinarian can get valid, helpful advice.

If you cannot get a prescription from your doctor, LDN is available over the internet at this pharmacy, for instance: BuyLowDoseNaltrexone.com. That is where many of us get it and they have excellent quality at a great price. This is Ian, a man from Australia, living in Thailand, who has vowed to keep LDN available to those of use who need it. He sells it for less than many wholesale prices.

The Naltrexone is shipped almost instantly, but can take two weeks to get here, so order early. You can make up your own solution. You can read the instructions on how to dissolve a 50 mg tablet in 50 ml of water and then drink the appropriate amount each day here. One tablet lasts from 12-30 days depending on the amount you are taking, so 10 tablets should be enough to last several months, but I always buy extra to use on the pets, or share with family and friends. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask Ian at that website.

This is just an introduction. There is much more information available for those who decide to do the research. We will get you started. You can take the job from there.

At this point, I feel that more people with Multiple Sclerosis are successfully using Low Dose Naltrexone, than for any other health problem. This is starting to change because very dramatic results were shown in a double blind test for its use in Crohn's Disease and so the word is spreading rapidly in that community as well. The LDN apparently is effective for all auto-immune diseases, so newsgroups are popping up for it use in treatment of just about everything from Hashimoto's to infertility. But for now, people with MS have been the driving factor in promotion of this safe and effective treatment.

2018 update: LDN use has spread wider and wider. It is being used for all auto-immune diseases, but even more than than ~~ it can help with any disease because it does not work on any specific disease. It works on your immune system and what does not involve the immune system? It will not heal a broken bone, but it can help to keep it from getting infected. At this point, we think of LDN for the average person somewhat like a vitamin pill. You might not feel different instantly, but you know that it is good for you and cannot do you any harm.

Naltrexone, in very low doses, blocks endorphin receptors triggering the body to produce more endorphins. Sounds like a bit of a contradiction, but there are legions of MSer's who are lined up behind this drug. It also puts to rest the old idea that immune disorders are caused by an "over-active" immune system, or simply a malfunctioning one. LDN realigns and upgrades the immune system, correcting the problems of auto-immune diseases.

My Story and Why I Care

Posted October 2009

I was diagnosed with MS in September 2000, when Texas had nearly a week of 100+ temperatures. I had no idea that it was partly the heat that was so debilitating, but it finally landed me in the hospital, where I spent an extra day after the IV prednisone because the temperature was still 112 degrees outside.

My neurologist gave me the choice of which ABC drug to go on, and was pleased when I chose Copaxone as the least destructive to my immune system. I religiously took a Copaxone shot every day for nearly 9 years. I swear that I probably did not miss 10 shots in that entire nine years.

Being older at diagnosis (52), I was lucky to not progress rapidly in the beginning. But the accumulated disabilities did start to add up. My left leg would occasionally give out totally, and even when it was good, there was marked weakness. The fatigue was tangible as only an MS patient would understand, and the heat would put me in bed for days at a time.

Worst of all was the mental fog. In my younger days, I had a photographic memory. Now, I have entire years that are missing from my memory bank, when the short term

memories did not get stored into the long term vault.

In desperation, in 2006 we bought a ranch in Kentucky to escape the horrid heat of Texas. It did help, but even being bundled up in the winter would overheat me when we went inside to a warm place.

Then in the spring of 2009, the unthinkable happened -- along with my job, I lost my employer provided health insurance. There was no way that I could afford the $3,600 (now $5,600 in 2018) per month to continue the Copaxone. Even the $900 per month insurance payments would put us in the poor house.

I had no alternative but to do the research on my own, and see if there were something else out there that would make a difference in my life.

I am so GREATFUL that I found LDN, the new protocol for using Low Dose Naltrexone to help repair the immune system and put my symptoms in remission.

I cannot adequately express the difference that LDN has made in my life. Now at 61, after being on LDN for only a couple of months, I have just returned from a trip to the Colorado Rockies where we took two of our horses and rode for 1-2 hours a day, for over a week. I climbed mountains and breathed the thin, clean air with a renewed joy of life that I feared would never be a part of me again.

My husband is pleased to have his wife of 42 years back by his side and my Mother cried when she saw me on my feet with a grin on my face and a twinkle in my eye, not bent over struggling with each step that I took.

I am still somewhat atrophied from years of not being able to use my body the way that I wanted, but the muscles are coming back almost as quickly as the memory. The mental fog is rapidly lifting, and I can now remember phone numbers, and appointments.

It has not made a big difference in the heat problems, but I will learn to live with that. What it has helped with is no more fatigue, I sleep like a baby through the night, my cognitive function is vastly improved, my left leg and right arm are no longer nearly useless, but as normal as they were as a youth.

I guess the thrill is just how "normal" I feel. I will never go without my LDN.

I hope is that the MS Society will spend some of their massive research dollars on this cheap generic drug that has no side effects, that is showing so much promise to thousands of MS sufferers. I realize that the ABCR drugs help support the MSS, but the Society is there to serve us, the MS patients even if it means that the thousands that we all spend on expensive and scary drugs is cut way down by the use of this generic therapy that is cheap, safe and easy to administer either orally or topically with a cream that you just rub in.

I cannot thank my lucky stars enough that I lost my health insurance and found Low Dose Naltrexone. If anybody else wants to try it, there is a Yahoo newsgroup with 10,000+ happy members who are willing to tell their stories too, and help in any way that they can https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/lowdosenaltrexone/info . There is also lots of free info at http://www.LDNers.org , http://lowdosenaltrexone.org , http://LDNNow.org , http://LDNScience.org and many other websites with tons of information and references.

Update May 1, 2010

Today is my one year anniversary on LDN. At this point, nearly all of my MS symptoms have been reversed. First to go was the fatigue. Sure, I'm over 60 and still get tired, but it is an honest tired from actually getting things done. No more of the uncontrolled fatigue that would overcome my life.

The mental fog lifted too. I'm not sure if I have a photographic memory like old times, but I can remember a phone number that I have dialed once, and that had been gone from me for years.

Best of all, the heat intolerance is improving, as well. I am not sure exactly when it started to fade, since it was probably in the autumn when the weather was getting cooler anyway. By spring, I could stay out in the sun and not be bed-bound for two whole days afterwards.

The most exciting part is the number of people who are starting on LDN for so many different health issues. I read the newsgroups and find myself drawn into the lives being helped by the LDN just like mine. Someday, I hope to be one of those who is announcing her fifth, tenth or twentieth anniversary on LDN.

Update March 1, 2012

Well, it is almost three years since starting LDN and to date, NONE of my symptoms of MS have returned. Sure, I probably still have MS, but if I don't have to suffer from the symptoms, then it is kind of a moot point, right?

Looking back, I know that a part of my recovery came from finally having the energy to take better care of myself. We started eating better, taking good supplements, and generally living a healthier life style. I was so sick that I did not have what it took to cook a meal or remember what vitamins would be a good idea. LDN is not a stand-alone treatment, which is emphasized over and over again. It alone cannot solve every problem that comes with our less-than-healthy lifestyles. But it can give us a good start and also give us the tools to start on the road back to health.

Update March 1, 2013

This is a harder entry to write. In September 2010, my use of immuno-suppressive drugs and treatments caught up with me, and I was diagnosed with uterine cancer that certainly pre-dated my use of LDN. The immune system does not get into the uterus well, so even my improved immune system did not seem to keep it down. I had a hysterectomy in Mexico, after trying to get treatment here in this country. The University of Kentucky was willing to do it, but the estimate was from $35,000 to $50,000. I said, "I can get my dog spayed for $200, what are you doing with the other $49,000?" Whoosh, right over their heads. The worst part was that it would be six to eight weeks before they could schedule me to start. "That is a long time," I said. "Well, you have had it a long time, haven't you?" "All the more reason not to wait."

I cannot recommend medical tourism highly enough for those of us with no insurance. I used MedToGo.com on the internet to make arrangements including a bilingual liaison to get us from appointments to the motel and help with pharmacies and anything else that we needed. I asked them when I could schedule it, they said, when do you want it? "Friday," I said. "What time?" was their reaction.

Total cost for everything was $4,500 in November 2010. That is not enough to declare bankruptcy over, while $50,000, would have devastated the finances of our elder years.

The surgery went well, but unfortunately, the cancer had jumped to the psoas muscle of my left leg. That is the muscle that starts at the spine, goes through the pelvis and attaches to the front of the femur, to lift the leg. By December 2011, a year later, the pain in the left side got so bad that I finally saved up enough money to go for an MRI. The second location of cancer was diagnosed and since I had no resources, I was summarily turned over to hospice with no hope and no options. Nobody was interested in helping, as there was no money available. This is a sad story that we hear over and over again as I live in a country where healthcare is only for the wealthy. In Mexico, healthcare is $300 per year and the facilities are state of the art, because they are backed by and provided by the government. (But I digress)

Then in January 2012, Obamacare kicked in and I was able to get pre-existing condition insurance for $426 per month. Anybody can go to PCIP.gov and see what their state offers with this wonderful new universal health care. It allowed me to get treatment for my cancer. I don't need anything for my MS, since the LDN keeps it under control totally for me.

My recovery from cancer is nearly as exciting as my recovery from the MS. When you are diagnosed with MS, the doctor will tell you two things: (1) it is incurable and (2) it is progressive. And you know what? They are right! as long as you use the destructive drugs that they prescribe at such great expense (to both the body and the pocketbook).

But back to the MS and LDN. So here we are nearly four years down the road. If I did not have proof of MS with the Swiss cheese looking brain MRIs, and years of debilitation, there would be no way to know that I had suffered from it for so long, while traditional medicine failed me totally.

I will not live without my LDN. My Mom takes it for her Crohn's. My friends take it for their depression, Parkinson's, chronic fatigue, and I just wish that it had been there for my son, who was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 13. We use it for our geriatric dogs and cats, for our horses with any immune system glitch. Rain rot, mange, flea allergies, and so much more can be brought under control with an improved immune system. I am as excited about the veterinary use of it as I am with the human use. I'll see you next year with more exciting advances that are being made with LDN.

Update December 14, 2014

Last May was 5 years on LDN, and a few days ago was 3 years since being turned over to hospice to die. A lot has happened in that time. I know you guys are here for the story of MS, so I will start with the fact that after 5 1/2 years, I still have no symptoms of MS. I went from nearly bed bound, to essentially normal, with the use of LDN. This is huge, don't you think?

The cancer was a longer trip. It is almost three years since being turned over to hospice. In addition to the LDN, my attack was to "throw the kitchen sink" at my cancer. If anybody whispered that something had an anti-tumour property, I was right there looking into it. If it seemed to make sense, and I could afford it, I tried it.

Over the months and years, I have gone through it all. I first had radiation to shrink the tumour enough to think and breathe. Then went for chemo, but I did not count on the doctors to have the answers. My history with doctors is a real love/hate relationship, with an emphasis on the negative. I find them self serving, money focused people with no quest for information. I have not found one interested enough in what I have done to "cure" my MS, or now, to totally cure my cancer, to even inquire. When offered, the information is ignored.

I fired my oncologist somewhat like I fired my neurologist, when she did not have the courtesy to even look into the LDN. My oncologist is the same, with no intellectual curiosity of why I am such an anomaly, being one of the very few patients who has survived as long as I have, with, at this point, NO radiological evidence of cancer. I hope to stay in remission, just like I have been free from MS, for so many years.

Update May 1, 2016

Gee, can you imagine 7 years on LDN? Where would I be? WHO would I be? What would be left of me without LDN? Not much, is the way that I see it.

I am proud to report today that I am in total remission both from MS and from cancer.

The journey has been an exciting one. I spend a good part of every day writing on LDN newsgroups, and doing my best to spread the word so that others can have a chance at the same success that I have had.

Update January 22, 2018

I have been negligent about updating this story, mostly because I am so busy just living. In March I will be 70. It has been 18 years since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and nearly 9 years since finding LDN.

I recently had somebody ask if I would update my website because people do read it, and if nothing else, want to know that things are still as good as they have been for previous updates.

I can guarantee you that they are.

Update November 17, 2018

I know that it has not been another year ~~ yet, but I just have to report that I have just returned from two weeks in Peru!

This is a bucket list trip for my husband and myself. I had been there and visited Machu Picchu in 1988, but my dear husband did not get to go at that time. I had always promised that we would do it someday. But then, MS and cancer threw our lives into disarray.

We spent weeks organizing the trip, like who would take care of all of our animals while we were gone. It is scary when you have responsibility for 40+ horses (most of them owned by others and boarded with us) (http://Horse-boarding-austin-texas.com ) and 40+ dogs, admittedly all ours (http://SilkenWindhounds.com ) We got it all laid out, and it could not have been more fun and exciting. We have now been married 51 years, I am 70 and Chuck is 71, but we kept up pretty well with the younger generation that we were with. The botched surgery from my cancer has permanently lamed me, but I can do most of what others can do if I have the time. I am just a bit slower.

I think back to that spring of 2009 when I was at my lowest with LDN. I had trouble walking to the car. In 2006, we had resorted to moving from Texas to Kentucky to escape the heat. We moved 138 of our own horses from our Texas ranch to our Kentucky ranch. It took a year of driving back and forth with an 8 horse trailer and Chuck made that trip every month. By 2007, I had to sell off my herd of Caspian Horses that we had helped save from extinction. (http://Caspians.com ) After 13 years of my professional life as a geneticist, I could no longer take care of them ~~ shoot, I could no longer even handle the paperwork and registrations.

I was 61 and my life was over. Now, at 70, life is just beginning. I do begrudge the loss of all of those years, because I now know that if my doctors had been honest or educated or if they had really cared, they would have had me on the LDN from the beginning and I would not even know how lucky I am now. If my story can save any single person from hitting such tragic lows in life, then what we have been through can be more worth it in the end. None of us is immortal, but LDN can help to keep us healthy until the day that we die, and that is honestly the best that we can do. I don't want to decline and waste away for years before finally giving up.

As said before, "Until there is a cure, There is LDN!"