LDN, a reminder.

LDN, a reminder

Please sign the http://ldnnow.com EU Parliament Petition - http://bit.ly/LDNNowEU

If you are in the UK, write to your MP and encourage others to do the same - http://writetothem.com

Ask your MP to attend the All Party Parliamentary Group starting in the House of Commons, Thursday September 13th at 10.30am in Room O, Portcullis House.

LDN Now are sending UK LDN experts and their celebrity supporter, Dr Chris Steele MBE from This Morning to advocate LDN to these MPs. http://ldnnow.com are a pressure group I am a member of, I even went to the Scottish Parliament and petitoned them on this issue - http://bit.ly/SPLDNm1v1 I take Low Dose Naltrexone as I have Crohn's Disease (I was given mesalazine at first, but it damaged my kidneys, they work about 20% of normal now). LDN is cheap and out of patent, so the pharma companies understandbly aren't interested in researching it - mesalazine costs the NHS about £12K a year, LDN costs about £120 a year. LDN has been trialed (Both Phase 1 and Phase 2) in the US on a small scale but doctors usually don't know about it and won't prescribe it as they say they need more research, but the research isn't profitable - Catch 22.

I realise this is a lot of work and info but LDN Now need all the support they can get as this drug can help lots of people with all sorts of auto-immune conditions, just like steroids can - Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)/ME, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and others - it's not homeopathy, it's science and it's being criminally ignored for the sake of greed and profit.

SIGN the EU Parliament LDN Research Funding Petiton - http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ldnnow/ (Non EU citizens can sign too)

WRITE to your MP/MSP/AM to demand LDN on the NHS - http://writetothem.com/

FOLLOW LDNNow on twitter - http://twitter.com/LDNNow

WATCH - Dr Chris Steele MBE of ITV's This Morning supporting Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) http://bit.ly/DrCS_LDN

LEARN about LDN science - http://ldnscience.org

WATCH - LDN Now at the Scottish Parliament on LDN on the NHS - http://bit.ly/SPLDNvideo

RECORD your LDN experience - http://ldndatabase.com

http://ldnnow.com/ LDNNow, a patient and friend led organisation (so not a charity) with no funding and no affiliation to any company or organisation, but rather a group of concerned individuals focussed on improving the health of those who suffer from the many diseases and conditions that LDN treats.

Crohn's and LDN Links -

http://ldnonthenhs.blogspot.com
http://wearecrohns.org/bobthomson70/journals
http://ldnforcrohns.blogspot.com

Excellent Presentation on LDN and 'Toll Like' Receptors (TLR2 etc)

Dr Rachel Allen at the Birmingham LDN Conference 2010 -

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zV7XeN0yes

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKG8MQdHnh0

Revolution Health Users Give Top Marks to Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for Crohn's Disease

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/drugs-treatments/rating/naltrexone-for-crohns-disease

Abstract of Phase II Trial Results for Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for Crohn's Disease from Dr Jill Smith, Penn State University

Abstract Link

This is a highly significant result for Low Dose Naltrexone as it's a Phase II study which was carried out under randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled conditions.

Summary -

45% of 40 patients achieved remission inside 12 weeks.

(Note, clinical experience shows it can take more than 3 months to really get results with LDN and certainly 4.5mg is often too high a dose too).

82% of the 40 patients had their Crohn's improve by around 20% or more in terms of its activity.
Healing was reported in the endoscopy studies too.

Although this is not quite as impressive a result as the first study, it is at least as good as many other treatments and with a lot, lot less side effects (Only reversible liver enzyme changes reported).

For comparison, this anti-TNF treatment managed 40% remission after 5 years, chances are LDN could be 5%+ better than that :

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/DDW/19885

Remicade + azathioprine managed roughly 50% remission after 26 weeks, but that is of course at a big price financially and in terms of side-effects -

http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/crohns-disease/news/20100414/combination-therapy-treats-crohns-disease

Obviously a Phase III study will be interesting now as it will have a much bigger patient population and maybe run longer too.
Would be interesting to see how the remission rate is after another 3 months.
Would be even more interesting to see how it was if the patients were allowed to decrease dose too.

Note that Dr Smith has another study starting on Vitamin D with Crohn's too.