Archive for May, 2009

Anti-depressant increase risks of cancer

May 31, 2009 in Cancer

Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft Increase Risk of Breast Cancer

An independent large study conducted by MEDCO Health Solutions Inc. found that women treated with tamoxifen for breast cancer doubled the risk of the disease returning if they used antidepressants–in particular, Paxil and Prozac.

The researchers used medical records to identify 353 women taking tamoxifen plus other drugs that might interfere with it, and 945 women taking tamoxifen alone. Those taking a drug combo did so for about a year on average.

Next, researchers checked to see how many were treated for second cancers in the following two years. “Breast cancer recurred in about 7 percent of women on tamoxifen alone, and in 14 percent of women also taking the antidepressants Paxil and Prozac, and, to a lesser extent, Zoloft.”

Medco’s chief medical officer, Dr. Robert Epstein, said: If women want to take an antidepressant, “you probably want to stay away from those three.”

SSRI Stories

Antidepressant Nightmares

At :http://www.ssristories.com/

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Cancer Alternative Treatments Digest Part 35 / Protocell

May 29, 2009 in Cancer

What people use when they have cancer and want to get well with alternative treatment

PROTOCEL®

Introduction

Protocel is a non-toxic liquid formula that thousands of people in the U.S. have used to help them fight cancer. It was developed by an American chemist named Jim Sheridan who first had the idea for it in 1936. He worked on and improved the formula over more than fifty years, studying its effects on mice with tumors.

Originally, Sheridan called his formula Entelev®, then a slightly modified version of it was named Cancell®. Since 1999, the formula has been produced as a dietary/nutritional supplement under the name of Protocel and sold out of South Carolina (Ph: 866 / 776-8623, www.webnd.com). The exact same formula is also currently being sold in Australia under the name of Entelev® (Ph: 1300-555-686). For information on sales and distribution in other countries, please go to www.ProtocelGlobal.com.

History and Theory

Protocel was developed specifically as a cancer treatment and designed to target the anaerobic cell respiration of cancer cells. The basis of this approach is supported by German biochemist Otto Warburg’s research. Dr. Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1931 for his discovery of oxygen-transferring enzymes involved in cell respiration. Warburg was intensely interested in the physiology of cancer cells and was the first scientific expert to prove that cancer cells do NOT use oxygen in their primary method of producing energy. This characteristic makes them different from normal healthy cells of the body, because all healthy cells DO use oxygen in their primary method of obtaining energy for themselves.

Simply put, all normal cells use oxygen to burn fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and sugars for energy. But cancer cells have lost this ability and must use an anaerobic (without oxygen) method of producing energy instead.

This anaerobic process is called ‘glycolysis.’ As opposed to normal healthy cells which burnfermentation process produces the same energy packets of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) that the aerobic process produces for healthy cells. But the fermentation process is much less efficient than the aerobic process. In reference to glycolysis Dr. Mercola stated on his website www.mercola.com,

“This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose.” glucose through the use of oxygen, glycolysis involves the fermentation of glucose in an environment devoid of oxygen. This

Though cancer cells may use a small amount of aerobic energy metabolism at times, glycolysis is the PRIMARY form of energy production in general for all cancer cells. This means they RELY on glucose (sugar) in very high amounts. For this reason, cancer cells are referred to as obligate glucose metabolizers. This is why you may have heard that cancer cells thrive on sugar, and why it is so important for anyone dealing with cancer to avoid sugar in their diet.

Though physicians are not taught in medical school to tell their cancer patients to avoid sugar, conventional medicine has known for a long time that cancer cells thrive on sugar nevertheless.

This is evidenced by the fact PET scans work so well for cancer. PET scans involve the injection of a mildly radioactive sugar solution. After injection of this solution, a scan is performed to see which cells of the body are highlighted radioactively. Since cancer cells gobble up sugar about 15 times faster than normal healthy cells, any active cancer cells of the body will be highlighted.

It is also why IPT, or ‘Insulin-Potentiated Therapy,’ works so well for administering lower than usual doses of chemo or other anti-cancer substances.

Jim Sheridan discovered a unique way to capitalize on this prime difference between cancer cells and normal healthy cells. His formula was designed to interfere with the less efficient cell respiration (energy metabolism) of cancer cells to the point where the cancer cells could no longer produce enough energy for themselves to survive.

Effectively, Protocel ‘drains’ the energy from cancer cells until they start falling apart or ‘lysing.’ This approach causes cancer cells to harmlessly break down into their basic protein parts, which the body then eliminates as foreign matter. (More details on the theory of how Protocel works are presented in OUTSMART YOUR CANCER and the Protocel® and Cancer eBooklet.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because truly BENIGN TUMORS do not rely as much on anaerobic cell respiration, Protocel may NOT be as effective at getting rid of them. MALIGNANT cancers DO rely on anaerobic cell respiration for most of their energy needs, and those are the types of tumors or diffuse cancers that Protocel has been shown to work well on.

After decades of work perfecting his formula, Sheridan was able to produce a cure rate of about 80% on lab animals with cancer. This work was done at various laboratories including the Detroit Institute of Cancer Research (now called the Michigan Cancer Foundation) from which Sheridan had received a private grant, and the Biosciences Division of the Battelle Institute in Columbus, Ohio, which is where new chemotherapy agents were routinely tested for the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Between 1978 and 1980, Sheridan was able to get the NCI to run animal tests on his formula several different times. But, try as he might, he could not get the NCI to follow his simple instructions for administering the formula to mice correctly. Thus, the NCI kept coming back with negative results. Finally, in 1990, the National Cancer Institute performed in vitro testing of Sheridan’s formula on a variety of different cancer cell lines. These tests had extremely positive results.

(To see graphs of the NCI’s official test results, see OUTSMART YOUR CANCER or the Protocel® and Cancer eBooklet.)

But Sheridan’s efforts to get his formula scientifically evaluated in a clinical setting and approved for use in mainstream medicine were blocked by various arms of the cancer industry. Going back to the 1950s, these included the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, and the FDA. In the meantime, people with cancer were begging Sheridan to let them use his formula. It was at this time that an associate of Sheridan’s, Ed Sopcak, decided to help fund and produce large quantities of Cancell®.

Between 1984 and 1993 Sopcak gave away about 20,000 bottles of it to cancer patients. No payment was ever asked for. Incredible testimonials started coming back to Sopcak and Sheridan from people using Cancell®. More and more people with cancer, many of whom were in metastasized late stages of their disease, were getting well!

But in 1992, the FDA put the final ‘clamp down’ on this remarkable cancer treatment by issuing an injunction against Sheridan and Sopcak that stopped all possibility of them even giving away the formula. The only break came when DSHEA was passed by Congress in 1994. This was the ‘Dietary Supplements Health Education Act’ which proclaimed that the FDA would not have control over health supplements.

Soon, a formula similar to Cancell®, called Cantron, was developed by different group. This copycat formula brought about a lot of recoveries and is still helping people with cancer. But Sheridan’s original Entelev®/Cancell® formulas were NOT reproduced in their original form until 1999 when Protocel was produced. (Protocel® Formula 23 is the original Entelev® and Protocel® Formula 50 is the original Cancell®.) These are the ONLY current versions of Jim Sheridan’s formula that the Sheridan family and the Sopcak family continue to endorse.

Since Protocel® became available, people have used it to battle virtually every type of cancer. Some of the fastest-responding types of cancer may be the childhood leukemias, cervical cancer, colon cancer, bladder cancer, and aggressive astrocytoma brain tumors. But Protocel has also been known to bring about complete cures for breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, other types of brain cancer, lymphomas, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, melanoma, basal cell skin cancer and others.

(To read 16 inspiring testimonials of cancer recoveries, see OUTSMART YOUR CANCER or the Protocel® and Cancer eBooklet.)

Though many of the cancer recoveries using Protocel are astounding, it should be understood that Protocel is NOT a “Magic Bullet” that will cure anyone who uses it. Some people come to Protocel too late in their disease process – when their illness is so advanced and their bodies are so weakened that they are no longer able to recover using any type of method. Though Protocel® has been known to bring about recoveries in some extremely advanced cases, the best results will occur for those people who come to Protocel sooner than later.

It is also critical that people understand how to use Protocel effectively. In fact, this is MORE critical for Protocel than for most other alternative cancer treatments. Users MUST read about and avoid certain supplements that could interfere with Protocel if they are to have success. Those people who choose to use chemotherapy along with Protocel also may not have success, unless they are only using an anti-metabolite type of chemo such as 5FU or Zeloda. Finally, people who routinely allow 9 or 10 hours overnight to elapse between their bedtime dose and morning dose may not get well for that reason alone.

When dealing with cancer, one should never go more than 8 hours overnight between the bedtime dose and morning dose, and for optimum results against cancer, never go more than 6 hours between any two Protocel doses, including overnight.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Virtually everyone has some MERCURY in their bodies, and people with low or average mercury levels appear to do fine on Protocel. However, there is some anecdotal information indicating that people who are HIGHLY TOXIC IN MERCURY may not do as well on Protocel. More information is needed to be sure, but it has been theorized that mercury may chelate (or bind) to the Protocel formula and render it less effective. If you suspect you are very high in mercury, you may want to get tested for heavy metals and consider some form of chelation before starting Protocel. Again, this warning is only for those people who are highly toxic in mercury. Also, since many flu shots contain mercury, people using Protocel should consider staying away from flu shots.

Detailed instructions for using Protocel effectively against cancer are presented in OUTSMART YOUR CANCER, (which is the same information in the Protocel® and Cancer ebooklet), and you can also read Tanya Harter Pierce’s article How To Maximize Your Success With Protocel.

INGREDIENTS: Protocel’s ingredients are a propriety blend of Tetrahydroxyquinone, Rhodizonic Acid, Sodium, Potassium, Croconic Acid, Triquinoyl, Pyrocatechol, Leuconic Acid, mineral and trace elements including Copper.

TOXICITY: Protocel is less toxic than an aspirin a day, and many people have used Protocel for years without experiencing any adverse side effects.

ANTIOXIDANT VALUE: Protocel® may be the most powerful antioxidant ever tested.
Testing done at the Brunswick Laboratories in Massachusetts showed Protocel to have an ORAC antioxidant value of approximately 1.4 million (µmole TE/L). Before Protocel was tested, the three highest antioxidant ratings for nutritional supplements were Xango Juice (16,960), YL Berry Young Juice (32,000) and Eniva’s VIBE (83,200). Protocel’s antioxidant rating is about 17 times higher than that of VIBE.

Other Uses

One of the wonderful attributes of alternative non-toxic cancer treatments in general is that they often can be used to treat or cure other conditions as well. And Protocel is no different. As described earlier, Protocel works by interfering with the cell respiration (energy production) of anaerobic cells. Cancer cells happen to be primarily anaerobic. But there are other types of anaerobic cells in the body that are not necessarily cancer cells. These are always damaged cells in one way or another and often involved in conditions such as auto-immune disorders and viral infections. Protocel breaks down these damaged anaerobic cells the same way it breaks down cancer cells.

Thus, people have also had success using Protocel to either fully recover from or gain significant relief from many different chronic illnesses. Some examples are:

Arthritis
Psoriasis
Mononucleosis
Ulcerative Colitis
Crohn’s disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Viral Infections

Of these, the intestinal disorders and viral conditions tend to be the fastest responders, with multiple sclerosis and other auto-immune disorders taking longer.

Viruses

Many of the responses to Protocel for viral infections have been fast and remarkable. Viral illnesses from which an absence of all symptoms have been reported through the use of Protocel are:

Colds and Flus (if Protocel® is started at the very beginning of symptoms)
Cold Sores
Genital Herpes
Epstein-Barr
Infectious Mononucleosis
Hepatitis C
Viral Papilloma
HPV (Human Papilloma Virus)
FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus in Cats)
HIV/AIDS

The mechanism by which Protocel works on viruses is quite interesting. It has been theorized that Protocel does NOT directly kill viruses, but rather it blocks their ability to reproduce prolifically. To understand this, one must understand that viruses protect themselves from the immune system in part by wrapping themselves a protective protein coating. It is partly because of this protein coating that viruses can overrun the body so quickly. In order for any virus to overrun the body, it has to replicate in large numbers. It does this by invading a healthy cell and using that healthy ‘host’ cell for its own replication purposes. Two key things happen in this process:

The virus has to shed its protective protein coating in order to invade the host cell.
Once the virus invades the healthy cell it causes damage to that cell to the point where the host cell must then revert to anaerobic cell respiration to survive.

Thus, any healthy cell hosting a virus turns into an anaerobic cell. It is NOT a cancer cell, but it is nevertheless an anaerobic cell. Because the host cell now relies on anaerobic cell respiration, Protocel will be able to cause that cell to break down and fall apart. When it does this, the host cell releases its virus content back into the person’s bloodstream. However, now the virus is no longer protected by a protein coating and the person’s immune system can easily attack the virus and dispose of it. Plus, the virus’s whole replication process is interfered with and blocked this way so that large numbers of replicated viruses never get reproduced. It is also reasonable to assume that as virus pieces are released back into the bloodstream through Protocel’s action, they may trigger a ‘vaccine-like’ effect where the person’s immune system detects these pieces and develops antibodies against them.

OUTSMART YOUR CANCER and the Protocel® and Cancer eBooklet do NOT go into detail about using Protocel for conditions other than cancer. However, some of the audio testimonials presented on this site DO go into detail about people’s recoveries from viral infections and other illnesses, and we refer you to those.

General Usage Instructions

There are two formulations of Protocel. One is called Protocel® Formula 50 and the other is Protocel® Formula 23. These are only slightly different variations of the same formula and either will work for most conditions. However, the Formula 50 is recommended most often for some types of cancer or other conditions and the Formula 23 is recommended for others. These recommendations are based on anecdotal information.

Protocel® Formula 50 is generally taken at ¼ teaspoonful 4 times a day (spread out evenly around the clock) and the Formula 23 is generally taken at ¼ teaspoonful 5 times a day (spread out evenly around the clock). For optimum results, never going more than 6 hours between any two doses is recommended. This involves waking up in the middle of the night to take a dose.

Because Protocel works in a different way than other approaches, by interfering with the cancer cell’s ability to produce energy for itself, supplements or herbs that raise energy by promoting the production of ATP are to be avoided. This includes vitamin C, vitamin E, coQ10, selenium, IP6, Essiac Tea and others. Taking these types of supplements can work AGAINST Protocel’s action. (For more details about dosing and supplements that are either compatible or incompatible with Protocel®, see OUTSMART YOUR CANCER or the Protocel® and Cancer eBooklet.)

Nancy’s Story

Hi, my name is Nancy and I’m 54 years old. I first learned about Protocel in February 2004 — of all places in my accountant’s office while having my taxes done. (He had a flyer about Tanya Harter Pierce’s book posted on the wall.) I wrote down the number for ordering the book and carried it in my wallet.

Little did I know at the time that later that year, in October, my doctor would find a growth on the right side of my vaginal wall while doing a routine pap smear. He cut out a piece and sent it in for biopsy. Three days later, he called to say he wanted to see me in his office.

Without beating around the bush, he told me I had cancer. The tumor was about the size of a large walnut and the biopsy report indicated it was a poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. I was given an appointment with an OB/GYN oncologist at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, but would have to wait until the end of November to see him. I was very afraid but had already decided I was not going to have chemo or radiation. I have seen the damaging effects of chemo and radiation in two of my family members and three friends. I wanted a non-toxic alternative cancer cure. So I ordered OUTSMART YOUR CANCER and read it from cover to cover.

Finally I went to see the specialist at UC Davis. He examined me and confirmed I had stage 3 to 4 Vulvar Cancer. He scheduled me for surgery January 6th of 2005. I had the surgery done and the surgeon took out some surrounding lymph nodes as well. Two of the four lymph nodes were cancerous, so that meant I had metastasized cancer to my lymph system. Six weeks later, the OB/GYN oncologist phoned me and said he had taken my biopsy report to a tumor board and all the doctors agreed that the surgical margins around the tumor had been too narrow and there could still be some cancerous cells left. They recommended that I have 30 consecutive treatments of radiation, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. I had already learned that radiation to the vaginal area could cause damage to the urethra, bladder, rectum, intestines, or colon. I was not willing to take the radiation for those reasons.

So, I declined the radiation treatments and ordered Protocel® Formula 50 instead. I started taking it February 20th. I pre-mixed my ¼ teaspoonful servings in distilled water every day and took it as prescribed, every 6 hours — even the midnight dose, which I left on my nightstand. After a few weeks, I automatically woke up at midnight, drank my Protocel, and went back to sleep.

Soon, I received a certified letter from the surgeon at UC Davis, advising me again to take the radiation. I sent him a polite letter, informing him I was not going to. I was using an alternative non-toxic cancer treatment called Protocel.

It is now July 2006, eighteen months after my surgery. I have had 4 pap exams, 2 mammograms, and another CT scan. In all these exams, there has been no evidence of cancer in the vaginal area, lymph system, or anywhere else. I know I am cancer-free because of Protocel.

My husband, who does not have cancer, was very impressed with Protocel. One day, he asked me “How bad does Protocel taste?” I told him that it isn’t any worse than Nyquill. Without my coaxing, he started taking Protocel himself. He was afraid of prostate cancer and wanted to use the Protocel preventively. Now, both of us take Protocel and we don’t plan to stop. After all, it is non-toxic. One thing happened for my husband that we didn’t expect. After just two weeks on Protocel, a psoriasis/fungal type infection that he’d had on his fingers for 10 years completely cleared up!

I also give my dog Protocel now because she recently had pancreatitis. Her energy has really perked up since she’s been on Protocel and her appetite is much better, too.

I firmly believe from the bottom of my heart that Protocel cured my cancer. I am telling my story because I believe in this product. If it hadn’t been for the book, OUTSMART YOUR CANCER, I never would have known about Protocel. To this day, I have never heard anyone else mention Protocel – yet it is so effective. I urge you to learn about Protocel and decide for yourself!

EBOOKLET

The following downloadable ebooklet gives you all the Protocel information from the book Outsmart Your Cancer at a convenient price!
– For those who ONLY want information about Protocel –

Protocel and Cancer is a 76-page ebooklet just on Protocel.
(In the full-length book, Outsmart Your Cancer: Alternative Non-Toxic Treatments That Work, you will learn the exact same information in chapters 9 through 12.)

THIS IS AN ELECTRONIC FILE. YOU MUST
PRINT THIS EBOOKLET ON YOUR OWN PRINTER
$9.95

ORDER eBOOKLET

Other recommended websites that present accurate information about Protocel:

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Cancer Alternative Treatments Digest Part 34 / LDN

May 29, 2009 in Cancer

What people use when they have cancer and want to get well with alternative treatment

Low Dose of Naltrexone treatment

Naltrexone (generic name) has been an FDA approved drug for over 20 years. It’s a pharmacologically active opioid antagonist that is conventionally used to treat drug- and alcohol addiction, normally at doses of 50mg to 300mg.

However, more recently, researchers have discovered 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.

Added benefits include its low-cost, and few, if any, of the detrimental side effects you normally experience with pharmaceutical drugs.

Treating Autoimmune Diseases With Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Burton M. Berkson for my Inner Circle,expert interview series, in which he discussed the many uses for LDN, and the phenomenal results he’s been able to achieve in both cancer patients and those with autoimmune diseases.

As is often the case with treatments that work but are inexpensive, very few physicians are aware of LDN.

One major reason is just because there’s very little money in it, so none of the pharmaceutical giants back it. Therefore, there are no friendly sales reps visiting your doctor talking about the potential benefits of Naltrexone in very low doses.

In addition to the conditions already mentioned, LDN is most commonly used for diseases such as:

Hepatitis C

Diabetic neuropathies

Lupus

Dermatomyositis (an inflammatory muscle disease)

Ulcerative colitis

Other autoimmune diseases

Additionally, at least one physician, Dr. Jacquelyn McCandless, has even found LDN to have a positive effect on children with autism.

According to Dr. Berkson, LDN seems to work the best for autoimmune diseases. But he has also published two studies on LDN for the treatment of cancer.

The first, on the reversal of pancreatic cancer was published in 2006, and the other, on the reversal of B cell lymphomas, came out in 2007.

Says Dr. Berkson,

“It is difficult for many to believe that one drug can accomplish so many tasks. But LDN does not treat symptoms as most drugs do. It actually works way ”upstream” to modulate the basic mechanisms that result in the disease state.”

Even with cancer patients, the survival rate is about 50 percent — and they are the sickest; oftentimes coming to him for this treatment as a very last resort after everything else failed.

How Does LDN Work?

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 your immune system.”

Typically, LDN is taken 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 your immune function.

And, as for LDNs anti-cancer mechanism, Dr. Bernard Bihari – who discovered LDN as a therapeutic agent for AIDS in 1985 — believes it 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

Recent Clinical Studies on Safety and Benefits of LDN for Autoimmune Diseases

In addition to Dr. Berkson’s own research, several other studies have been conducted on the benefits of LDN, and others are in the pipeline.

For a more complete list of past and current research, please see the lowdosenaltrexone.org website, but here are a couple of highlights.

LDN for Multiple Sclerosis – Dr. Maira Gironi, an Italian neurological researcher, treated 40 patients affected with Primary Progressive MS (PPMS) with LDN for six months, concluding that LDN was not only safe and well-tolerated, but halted the progression of the disease in all but one patient. The results from this pilot study were published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis in September 2008.

LDN for Crohn’s Disease – The first clinical study of LDN published by a U.S. medical journal was Dr. Jill Smith’s article, Low-Dose Naltrexone Therapy Improves Active Crohn’s Disease, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2007.

An impressive two-thirds of the patients in her pilot study went into remission, and 89 percent responded to LDN treatment to some degree. She concluded that “LDN therapy appears effective and safe in subjects with active Crohn’s disease.”

Other studies currently underway in various parts of the world, include:

A Phase II placebo-controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of LDN for children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease at Penn State.

A clinical trial of LDN in HIV-infected citizens of Mali—the first scientific study of LDN for HIV/AIDS in Africa—implemented in October 2007.

A study of LDN in the treatment of MS at the University of California, San Francisco, implemented in early 2007.

A clinical trial of LDN in the treatment of fibromyalgia at Stanford Medical Center implemented in October 2007.

A study by the MindBrain Consortium in Akron, Ohio of, especially, the affective changes in MS treated with LDN, begun late 2007.

An animal research study at Penn State of naltrexone in a model of a disease that mimics MS.

For more information about low-dose naltrexone, I recommend you check out the lowdosenaltrexone.org website. LDNers.org is another good resource.

body’s normal production of endorphins is the major therapeutic action of LDN.

CBS News Reports:
“Wonder drug” LDN Could Help Treat Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis

JACKSONVILLE, FLA (CBS) — February, 2008 — This report features an interview with Lori Miles, an MS sufferer who can now walk again, thanks to LDN. Also quoted in the piece is Dr. Daniel Kantor, neurologist and director of the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Program at the Shands Jacksonville Neuroscience Institute: “I would like all of us to write to our congressmen, ask the FDA and NIH—National Institutes of Health—to fund more research about LDN.”

What diseases has it been useful for and how effective is it?

Bernard Bihari, MD, as well as other physicians and researchers, have described beneficial effects of LDN on a variety of diseases:

Cancers:

Other Diseases:

Bladder Cancer
Breast Cancer
Carcinoid
Colon & Rectal Cancer
Glioblastoma
Liver Cancer
Lung Cancer (Non-Small Cell)
Lymphocytic Leukemia (chronic)
Lymphoma (Hodgkin’s and Non-Hodgkin’s)
Malignant Melanoma
Multiple Myeloma
Neuroblastoma
Ovarian Cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
Prostate Cancer (untreated)
Renal Cell Carcinoma
Throat Cancer
Uterine Cancer

ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
Alzheimer’s Disease
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Behcet’s Disease
Celiac Disease
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
CREST syndrome
Crohn’s Disease
Emphysema (COPD)
Endometriosis
Fibromyalgia
HIV/AIDS
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Parkinson’s Disease
Pemphigoid
Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS)
Psoriasis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sarcoidosis
Scleroderma
Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS)
Systemic Lupus (SLE)
Transverse Myelitis
Ulcerative Colitis
Wegener’s Granulomatosis

LDN has demonstrated efficacy in thousands of cases.

Cancer. As of mid-2004, Dr. Bihari reported having treated over 300 patients who had a cancer that had failed to respond to standard treatments. Of that group, some 50%, after four to six months treatment with LDN, began to demonstrate a halt in cancer growth and, of those, over one-third have shown objective signs of tumor shrinkage.

Autoimmune diseases. Within the group of patients who presented with an autoimmune disease (see above list), none have failed to respond to LDN; all have experienced a halt in progression of their illness. In many patients there was a marked remission in signs and symptoms of the disease. The greatest number of patients within the autoimmune group are people with multiple sclerosis, of whom there were some 400 in Dr. Bihari’s practice. Less than 1% of these patients has ever experienced a fresh attack of MS while they maintained their regular LDN nightly therapy.

HIV/AIDS. As of September 2003, Dr. Bihari had been treating 350 AIDS patients using LDN in conjunction with accepted AIDS therapies. Over the prior 7 years over 85% of these patients showed no detectable levels of the HIV virus — a much higher success rate than most current AIDS treatments, and with no significant side effects. It is also worth noting that many HIV/AIDS patients have been living symptom-free for years taking only LDN with no other medications.

Central Nervous System disorders. Anecdotal reports continue to be received concerning beneficial effects of LDN on the course of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS—Lou Gehrig’s disease), and primary lateral sclerosis. Dr. Jaquelyn McCandless has found a very positive effect of LDN, in appropriately reduced dosage and applied as a transdermal cream, in children with autism.

How is it possible that one medication can impact such a wide range of disorders?

The disorders listed above all share a particular feature: in all of them, the immune system plays a central role. Low blood levels of endorphins are generally present, contributing to the disease-associated immune deficiencies.

Research by others — on neuropeptide receptors expressed by various human tumors — has found opioid receptors in many types of cancer:

Brain tumors (both astrocytoma and glioblastoma)
Breast cancer
Endometrial cancer
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Myeloid leukemia
Lung cancer (both small cell and non-small cell)
Neuroblastoma and others…

These findings suggest the possibility for a beneficial LDN effect in a wide variety of common cancers.

How can I obtain LDN and what will it cost?

LDN can be prescribed by your doctor, and should be prepared by a reliable compounding pharmacy.

Naltrexone is a prescription drug, so your physician would have to give you a prescription after deciding that LDN appears appropriate for you.

Naltrexone in the large 50mg size, originally manufactured by DuPont under the brand name ReVia, is now sold by Mallinckrodt as Depade and by Barr Laboratories under the generic name naltrexone.

LDN prescriptions are now being filled by hundreds of local pharmacies, as well as by some mail-order pharmacies, around the US. Some pharmacists have been grinding up the 50mg tablets of naltrexone to prepare the 4.5mg capsules of LDN; others use naltrexone, purchased as a pure powder, from a primary manufacturer.

One of the first pharmacies to do so was Irmat Pharmacy in Manhattan. Their recent price for a one-month’s supply of 4.5mg LDN (30 capsules) was $38. Irmat does monthly quality control testing on its LDN, accepts prescriptions from any licensed physician, checks for insurance coverage, and includes shipment anywhere in the US or to other countries. In contrast, Gideon’s Drugs charges $15 for a one month’s supply of 4.5mg LDN but it does not accept insurance and it will charge for shipment.

Pharmacies that are known to be reliable compounders of LDN:

Pharmacy	Phone	Fax
Irmat Pharmacy, New York, NY	(212) 685-0500 (800) 975-2809	(212) 532-6596
Gideon’s Drugs, New York, NY	(212) 575-6868	(212) 575-6334
The Compounder Pharmacy, Aurora, IL	(630) 859-0333 (800) 679-4667	(630) 859-0114
The Pharmacy Shop and Compounding Center, Canandaigua, NY	(585) 396-9970 (800) 396-9970	(585) 396-7264
McGuff Compounding Pharmacy, Santa Ana, CA	(714) 438-0536 (877) 444-1133	(877) 444-1155
Skip’s Pharmacy, Boca Raton, FL	(561) 218-0111 (800) 553-7429	(561) 218-8873
Smith’s Pharmacy, Toronto, Canada	(416) 488-2600 (800) 361-6624	(416) 484-8855
Dickson Chemist, Glasgow, Scotland	+44-141-647-8032 +44-800-027-0673	+44-141-647-8032

IMPORTANT: Make sure to specify that you do NOT want LDN in a slow-release form.

Reports have been received from patients that their pharmacies have been supplying a slow-release form of naltrexone. Pharmacies should be instructed NOT to provide LDN in an “SR” or slow-release or timed-release form. Unless the low dose of naltrexone is in an unaltered form, which permits it to reach a prompt “spike” in the blood stream, its therapeutic effects may be inhibited.

Fillers. Capsules of LDN necessarily contain a substantial percentage of neutral inactive filler. Experiments by the compounding pharmacist, Dr. Skip Lenz, have demonstrated that the use of calcium carbonate as a filler will interfere with absorption of the LDN capsule. Therefore, it is suggested that calcium carbonate filler not be employed in compounding LDN capsules. He recommends either Avicel, lactose (if lactose intolerance is not a problem), or sucrose fillers as useful fast-release fillers.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to fill your Rx at a compounding pharmacy that has a reputation for consistent reliability in the quality of the LDN it delivers.

The FDA has found a significant error rate in compounded prescriptions produced at randomly selected pharmacies. Dr. Bihari has reported seeing adverse effects from this problem. Please see our report, Reliability Problem With Compounding Pharmacies. Please see the above list of recommended pharmacies for some suggested sources.

What dosage and frequency should my physician prescribe?

The usual adult dosage is 4.5mg taken once daily at night. Because of the rhythms of the body’s production of master hormones, LDN is best taken between 9pm and 3am. Most patients take it at bedtime.

Notable exceptions:

People who have multiple sclerosis that has led to muscle spasms are advised to use only 3mg daily and to maintain that dosage.
For intial dosage of LDN in those patients who have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis with hypothyroidism and who are taking thyroid hormone replacement medication, please read Cautionary Warnings, below.

Rarely, the naltrexone may need to be purchased as a solution — in distilled water — with 1mg per ml dispensed with a 5ml medicine dropper. If LDN is used in a liquid form, it is important to keep it refrigerated.

The therapeutic dosage range for LDN is from 1.75mg to 4.5mg every night. Dosages below this range are likely to have no effect at all, and dosages above this range are likely to block endorphins for too long a period of time and interfere with its effectiveness.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to specify that you do NOT want LDN in a slow-release form (see above).

Are there any side effects or cautionary warnings?

Side effects:

LDN has virtually no side effects. Occasionally, during the first week’s use of LDN, patients may complain of some difficulty sleeping. This rarely persists after the first week. Should it do so, dosage can be reduced from 4.5mg to 3mg nightly.

Cautionary warnings:

Because LDN blocks opioid receptors throughout the body for three or four hours, people using medicine that is an opioid agonist, i.e. narcotic medication — such as Ultram (tramadol), morphine, Percocet, Duragesic patch or codeine-containing medication — should not take LDN until such medicine is completely out of one’s system. Patients who have become dependant on daily use of narcotic-containing pain medication may require 10 days to 2 weeks of slowly weaning off of such drugs entirely (while first substituting full doses of non-narcotic pain medications) before being able to begin LDN safely.
Those patients who are taking thyroid hormone replacement for a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis with hypothyroidism ought to begin LDN at the lowest range (1.5mg for an adult). Be aware that LDN may lead to a prompt decrease in the autoimmune disorder, which then may require a rapid reduction in the dose of thyroid hormone replacement in order to avoid symptoms of hyperthyroidism.
Full-dose naltrexone (50mg) carries a cautionary warning against its use in those with liver disease. This warning was placed because of adverse liver effects that were found in experiments involving 300mg daily. The 50mg dose does not apparently produce impairment of liver function nor, of course, do the much smaller 3mg and 4.5mg doses.
People who have received organ transplants and who therefore are taking immunosuppressive medication on a permanent basis are cautioned against the use of LDN because it may act to counter the effect of those medications.

When will the low-dose use of naltrexone become FDA approved?

Although naltrexone itself is an FDA-approved drug, the varied uses of LDN still await application to the FDA after related scientific clinical trials.

The FDA approved naltrexone at the 50mg dosage in 1984. LDN (in the 3mg or 4.5mg dosage) has not yet been submitted for approval because the prospective clinical trials that are required for FDA approval need to be funded at the cost of many millions of dollars.

The successful results of the first US medical center research on LDN, an open-label trial that tested the use of LDN in Crohn’s disease (details here), was presented in May 2006 by Professor Jill Smith of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. The National Institutes of Health has granted $500,000 for Dr. Smith’s group to continue the study as a larger placebo-controlled scientific trial of LDN in Crohn’s disease.

All physicians understand that appropriate off-label use of an already FDA-approved medication such as naltrexone is perfectly ethical and legal. Because naltrexone itself has already passed animal toxicity studies, one could expect that once testing is able to begin, LDN could complete its clinical trials in humans and receive FDA approval for one or more uses within two to four years.

What You Can Do

Talk to your doctor.

If you are suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, or an autoimmune disease, LDN could help. In AIDS and cancer therapy, LDN is often used in conjunction with other medications.

Cancer. Anyone with cancer or a pre-cancerous condition should consider LDN. Many use LDN as a preventive treatment. Post-treatment, others have been using LDN to prevent a recurrence of their cancer. LDN has been shown in many cases to work with virtually incurable cancers such as neuroblastoma, multiple myeloma, and pancreatic cancer.

HIV/AIDS. As an AIDS drug, LDN leads to far fewer side effects than the standard “AIDS cocktail.” When used in conjunction with HAART therapies, LDN can boost T-cell populations, prevent disfiguring lipodystrophy, and lower rates of treatment failure.

Do not be afraid to approach your doctors — physicians today are increasingly open to learning about new therapies in development. Tell your doctors about this website, or print out and hand them the information, and let them weigh the evidence.

Tell others.

If someone you know has HIV/AIDS, cancer, an autoimmune disease, or one of the aforementioned central nervous system disorders, LDN could save them from a great deal of suffering. If they use e-mail, send them the address of this website (www.lowdosenaltrexone.org). Or, print out the site and mail them the information.

Help spread the word to the media, the medical community, and to developing countries.

Low-dose naltrexone has the potential to reduce the terrible human loss now taking place throughout the globe. It is a drug that could prevent millions of children from becoming AIDS orphans. It is a drug that could be a powerful ally in the war against cancer.

If you or someone you know has connections in the media, the medical community, or to those in developing countries involved in AIDS policy or treatment, please let them know about LDN.

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How bad is chemotherapy ?

May 28, 2009 in Cancer

THAT BAD :

Cancer Drug Makes Fingerprints Disappear; Patient Detained At Border

magine being treated like a suspected criminal or terrorist by immigration officials all because you have cancer and your doctor gave you a drug that causes a strange side effect — your fingerprints have disappeared into thin air. Does that sound like a novel or movie plot? Unfortunately for one 62-year-old cancer patient, and possibly others, this was anything but fiction.

In a letter just published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology, Dr Eng-Huat Tan, a cancer specialist in the medical oncology department at the National Cancer Centre in Singapore, reported on a perplexing case of missing fingerprints due to the cancer drug capecitabine. And he has warned that other people taking the drug should start carrying a doctor’s letter with them if they want to travel to the U.S.

ere’s what happened: Dr. Tan’s 62-year-old patient (known only as Mr. S., due to privacy considerations) was suffering from metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma — a head and neck cancer that had spread. Fortunately, the malignancy had responded well to treatment and, in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the malignancy, the patient was put on capecitabine, the generic name for the drug sold in the U.S. as Xeloda. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in some people, capecitabine stops cancer cells from growing and decreases the size of tumors. But it also can produce a host of adverse side-effects including severe diarrhea, life-threatening bleeding and hand-foot syndrome. The latter problem is a condition that stems from chronic inflammation of the palms and/or soles of the feet. It makes the skin peel, bleed and develop ulcers or blisters. “This can give rise to eradication of finger prints with time,” Dr. Tan stated in his letter.

Dr. Tan’s patient had taken capecitabine for three years and developed a mild case of hand-foot syndrome. But he didn’t realize it had robbed him of his fingerprints until, in December of 2008, the cancer survivor went to the U.S. to visit his relatives. Foreign visitors have been required to provide fingerprints at U.S. airports for several years where the prints are compared to millions of visa holders’ prints in a database in order to detect whether a new visa applicant has a visa under a different name. The fingerprints are also matched via a computer base to check for criminals and people who are supposedly security threats.

“He (the patient) was detained at the airport customs for four hours because the immigration officers could not detect his fingerprints. He was allowed to enter after the custom officers were satisfied that he was not a security threat. He was advised to travel with a letter from his oncologist stating his condition and the treatment he was receiving to account for his lack of fingerprints to facilitate his entry in future,” Dr. Tan wrote to the Annals of Oncology.

ccording to the oncologist, several other cancer patients taking capecitabine have also experienced a loss of fingerprints and have discussed this strange drug side effect on their blog sites. Some have also related that they, too, have had problems entering the U.S. due to their lack of fingerprints.

“In summary, patients taking long-term capecitabine may have problems with regards to fingerprint identification when they enter United States’ ports or other countries that require fingerprint identification and should be warned about this. It is uncertain when the onset of fingerprint loss will take place in susceptible patients who are taking capecitabine. However, it is possible that there may be a growing number of such patients as Mr. S. who may benefit from maintenance capecitabine for disseminated malignancy. These patients should prepare adequately before traveling to avert the inconvenience that Mr. S. was put through,” Dr. Tan wrote.

He recommended that patients on capecitabine carry a doctor’s letter with them and noted that his patient was able to subsequently travel again with a letter from his oncologist which helped him get through immigration and security much easier.