Hi everyone, I am so sorry that I missed this thread - I am not on this board often.
A quick synopsis of my use of Low Dose Naltrexone for hepatitis c:
There is a yahoo group of hep C and B patients on LDN. Four results are posted for Hep C Patients. Two are at stage four cirhosis. They both had >5 million VL when they started LDN. Three months later one was at 632 thousand and the other at 980 thousand. Another went from 1.28 million pre LDN to 49 thousand three months post LDN and I went from 1.6 million to 58 thousand three months post LDN and 219 thousand 8 months post LDN. All experienced large drops in AST/ALT. We are compiling a database and sending the results to Dr. Jill Smith of the Hershey medical center who did the phase 1 clinicals on LDN and Crohn's disease (2/3 in total remission in 3 weeks on LDN). She is interested in doing a pilot study of LDN on hep c patients.
I haven't had my labs done recently, but I plan to in the fall. I do feel that things are progressing well. In September I will have been on LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) for 12 months and I feel like I keep getting better every month. A few weeks ago I went on a trip and forgot to bring my LDN! I went three days without it and by the time I got back my knuckles had swelled up and split and my rash had come back- both were of which were SX from interferon treatment five years ago. They went away as soon as I got back on LDN. I believe they are autoimmune sx conditions, so no wonder that LDN works to keep them at bay.
Dr. has been using a combination of LDN and IV alpha lipoic acid for his hep c patients for a long time with very good results. My doctor is not Dr. Berkson, but Dr. Weeks of Washington state and he uses both LDN and IV lipoic acid, plus IV phosphatidylcholine, glutathione, human placenta extract, B complex, Folic acid, B12 and megadose vitamin C. He also has me on a bunch of oral supplements.
One of the members of the yahoo group is a lady in her 70's who is a client who has had hep c for forty years named SuziQ. She used to post on this board and may still be doing so. She continues to do well with no interferon treatments necessary. She has been going to Dr. for ten years I believe.
My physical shape, energy and mental acuity is much improved and seems to get better all the time. So much so that I am starting a new company and going back to work! I look and feel very healthy, which is a big change from the last five years. Six months after interferon treatment my viral load was over 7 million, and my immune system was destroyed. Now, with my viral load decreased, my doctor's strategy is to keep the viral load depressed and to rebuild my liver in the absence of the viral load and inflammation. Everything I feel and see on my labs indicate that the strategy is working. All my labs are improving in platelets, clotting times, GGT, liver functions tests, hemo panel, etc.
By the way, I am a certified medical technologist, so I know about
lab tests, but more importantly, I know how I feel. One of the best areas of improvement has been emotional well-being and mental acuity. I really appreciate those improvements because it makes me a better husband and father.
Low Dose Naltrexone is what is keeping my viral load in the very low range. The IV nutrients I mentioned above are helping to reduce the fibrosis, rebuild liver cells, and keep them healthy and infection-free. I feel like I am traveling backwards in time on the lifeline of my liver, and I couldn't be happier with my results. Like many people here I experienced severe SX from interferon and permanent damage afterward. I know for sure I will never do a second course of interferon, and I believe that it is not necessary to try it again - but that's just me. Everyone has to paddle his own canoe.
is not the only one prescribing low dose naltrexone. Any doctor can. Most integrative medical doctors probably will prescribe it. And since it has been FDA approved for twenty years and used in the field extensively in megadose amounts, its safety has been well established by the most stringent FDA standards. No side effects, and costs only $30 per month without health insurance - the only possible downside is that it may not cure your incurable disease. People are using it for cancer, Crohn's, MS, fibromyalgia, autism, and all other autoimmune diseases.
For hep c LDN will not eradicate the virus, but it will reduce the viral load levels and inflammation drastically and keep them there. Meanwhile, many naturopaths do the IV lipoic acid treatments - they do not have to be MDs to do so. They also routinely administer the other IV nutrients that I take. Phosphatidylcholine is very important to reduce fibrosis.
I would suggest LDN for anyone who is not presently on interferon, especially people who have tried interferon and did not achieve SVR, as was my case. I would also use it for recurring SX from treatment even if I did achieve SVR, and I would certainly use it if I was not doing treatment and waiting for something better to be developed in the conventional drug world. At least it would help your liver in the meantime, and over time it might make conventional treatment unneccessary.
It is interesting that the doctor in one of the posts above cited the maxim, "First do no harm". Naltrexone has been FDA approved and has a twenty year history of use in the field in megadose amounts - 50 mg, in contrast to the 2-4.5 mg dose of low dose naltrexone. In studies, naltrexone has been shown to be hepatoprotective in large doses. Therefore its safety has been established by the most stringent FDA standards. While he is correct that its use (and therefore efficacy) has not been studied for hepatitis c, the practice of off-label use for prescript
ion drugs applies to a major percentage of all prescript
ions now being written, I believe.
One more point - low dose naltrexone has been used for acute crohn;s disease for ten years. FDA clinical trials were not performed until last year. In the clinical trials, 2/3 of the patients went into remission in just three weeks. I'm quite sure that all of the crohn's patients who found relief with LDN over those ten years are very happy not to have had their bowels resected and/or put on steroid antiinflammatories, even in the absence of clinical trials. Interestingly, even though LDN clinical trials have established its efficacy for crohn's, it is still not widely used.
Best wishes to everyone, whatever path they choose!
Mike h
Post Edited By Moderator (Pink Grandma) : 8/8/2009 11:41:16 AM (GMT-6)