Low Dose Naltrexone - LDN - was developed as a treatment by an unconventional route, with no big pharmaceutical company driving the research and development of the drug. This is seen as a major handicap to the growth of LDN as a treatment for a number of chronic inflammatory conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Crohns Disease, IBS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Parkinson’s Disease and Autism among others.

 

Low Dose Naltrexone is essentially a lower dose of the drug Naltrexone, a synthetic analogue of naloxone which is licensed in the treatment of opiate dependence. The standard dose of 50mg Naltrexone contains a potent antagonist of the mu opiate receptor which completely blocks the euphoria from opiates. It’s very potency reduces its usefulness in addiction treatment as the blockage of the natural endorphins as well as heroin and other opiates, often leads to a low mood and depression. It was a doctor working in addiction who first saw the potential for a low dose of naltrexone to be of use in other conditions.

How did LDN treatment develop?

In the early 1980’s, the discovery of a devastating new illness, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, known more commonly as AIDS, left the medical community struggling to cope. AIDS was a deadly blood bourne virus which reduced the immune defences. There was no obvious way to approach this disease. Dr Bernard Bihari was working in New York with opiate addicted patients many of whom had also developed AIDS from sharing injecting equipment. He had shown that AIDS patients had only 25% of the normal endorphin levels. He postulated that although Naltrexone was a relative failure as an addiction drug, its potent action could actually be used to increase endorphin levels.

 

Most endorphins are produced between 2.00am and 4.00am by the action of the pituitary and hypothalamic glands in the brain. Bihari used small doses of naltrexone (1.5mg to 4.5mg) to suppress endorphin levels initially which then provoked a rebound increase in endorphin production. The theory seemed to work as a clinical trial and numerous case studies showed better outcomes and significantly better CD4 counts. Although Dr Bihari did carry out some research, he found it difficult to get this research published and apart from some poster presentations did not lay the research groundwork for others to build on.

 

 

An informative DVD set is available at the LDN Research Trust.

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