LDN, Autoimmune Disease and Cancer by Dr. B

[hopefulmama]

Hi all,

While I wait for the results of my TH-1/TH-2 immune panel to come back in a few weeks (took the blood test and had it shipped on Monday) I am looking into the different supplements I’ve been taking to see how they support the immune system (and specifically, trying to figure out whether they modulate one pathway, the other pathway, or both pathways).

I was reading up on the benefits of Low Dose Naltrexone for lupus. Many of you may know that I’ve been on LDN for over a year now but at a very low dose (probably too low) of .75mg per night. From what I’ve read recently on different forums it seems the ideal dosage for me is probably at least 2.25mg based on my body weight. (The standard dose recommended for patients is usually 4.5mg nightly before bedtime.)

In any event I stumbled across this really informative, fascinating video of Dr. B speaking to the NIH Library about LDN and Alpha Lipoic Acid and it is so thorough and well-explained that I felt I should share it with the board. Toward the end of the FAQ Dr. B discusses the use of antibiotics (which he supports) and also Lyme Disease… so if you’ve got the patience to sit through the full 90 minutes it will cover lots of things relevant to what we typically discuss here.

There is also a very interesting discussion of pancreatic cancer and LDN/ALA at the beginning, but you can skip through that if you’d rather hear about their success using their protocol with autoimmune diseases.

I know that LDN has been a bit hit or miss with us on this board, and I can say honestly that I’m not sure how much the LDN has either helped or hurt me in that tiny dose I’ve been taking every day. In alignment with what Dr. K has said about the two immune pathways, I suspect that the reason LDN helps with some autoimmune situations and not others would be that it supports one T helper cell pathway and not the other… so for some people it may help by supporting the depressed pathway, and in others perhaps hinder by supporting the over-dominant pathway.

In any event, if you’ve got the time – this video is worth watching 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o48MgBi44XM&feature=related

Take care!
A

[Parisa]

Andrea,

I listened to this this morning and found it very interesting. Once you start listening it will definitely hold your attention. For those who want to skip to the info more related to autoimmune conditions, he talks about dermatomyositis around 35 minutes in and lupus around 40 minutes. He also discusses RA around then too.

[Author]

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