LDN treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

In May 2000 Dr Bihari reported that four patients with Multiple Sclerosis - MS had shown a surprising and significant improvement in their condition after LDN Treatment. Dr Bihari postulated that the reason for this improvement was due to the same mechanism as in the AIDS patients, an improvement in the immune system due to an increase in endorphin levels. This was hugely controversial as the conventional treatments for MS are generally immuno-suppressant so the immune boosting explanation for LDN’s mode of action seemed to be a contradiction. Without any substantial research to support his hypothesis, the reaction of the majority of neurologists was to dismiss both the idea and the drug.

LDN will not go away..

LDN is perhaps one of the first of a new generation of drugs which has been promoted and preserved by the MS community itself. LDN would just not go away.

Despite rejection by the vast majority of MS specialists and without a research base to build on, the patients who could possibly benefit from the drug kept it alive one way or another. The internet has played a vital part in this incredible story as patients from across the globe compared success stories and fueled the desire to try a treatment that was not being offered by their GPs or Neurologists. It was no wonder that they were keen to try a treatment which was relatively non-toxic and was also effective in two of types of Multiple Sclerosis, primary and secondary MS, which were not suitable for conventional treatment.

The interest in LDN treatment would not go away but the struggle to get a prescription and a prescriber was a considerable challenge for most patients wishing to access this form of treatment. This difficulty has led to some less than optimal practices such as internet or telephone prescribing of the drug without a face to face consultation. For patients desperate for access this treatment these routes of prescribing were a “Godsend”, but for the reputation of the drug and therefore its wider application, this form of prescribing was damaging.

The only real way of getting this treatment to a wider patient group is to involve more medics. This was becoming less likely due to the internet prescribing etc. Doctors were only going to be interested in being involved in the LDN treatment of patients if it could be shown to be based on science and research. Without a pharmaceutical company funding this research it is difficult to give the security to doctors to encourage involvement in prescribing this drug.

But LDN still refuses to go away. Despite the reluctance of conventional medicine to engage with this treatment, there is a dynamic which keeps this treatment going.

Why will LDN not go away? The only reason for this can be the fact that this treatment works for the patients on the ground. There is no other real explanation for its popularity among people with nothing to gain but improved health. How can the medical profession completely ignore such a potentially effective treatment for such a devastating condition as MS which is so difficult to treat?

Our LDN Treatment website has been set up to encourage greater medical involvement in the prescribing and research of LDN. In partnership with some of the most influential MS charities; LDN Research Trust, MSRC and MS Trust, we aim to improve the status of LDN to ensure that this treatment becomes available to all patients with MS and other conditions that may benefit from access to LDN.

One of the main obstructions to the understanding of how LDN works is of course the lack of research. The endorphin mechanism of action is a possible explanation for its action in MS but it is not the only theory of how it may work. More research is required.