The Second
Annual Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Conference
was held on Friday, April 7th, 2006 in the
Lister Hill Center Auditorium of the
National Library of Medicine at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
The conference theme, "The Future Is Now,"
was selected because it reflects the amazing
strides that have been made in LDN research
and clinical trials since our last
gathering.
During the
course of the day, the attendees, who came
from the far corners of the United States as
well as from Europe, were treated to a
series of expert presentations from a number
of researchers, physicians, and LDN
advocates.
The
conference demonstrated that low dose
naltrexone is a viable and potent form of
therapy for a wide range of diseases. In
addition, conference presenters described a
number of new applications for LDN,
including the remarkable power of the drug
in treating childhood autism, and its
potential in dealing with gynecological
issues such as pre-menstrual symptoms,
endometriosis, and polycystic ovaries.
Credit for
the success of the conference goes to
Susan Sedlock, who volunteered as the
organizer and coordinator of the conference
proceedings. In addition, many thanks are
due to Dr. Skip Lenz, his wife Cyndi, and
his son Adam, who graciously provided
audio/visual support and other printing
services for the conference.
Ms. Sedlock
chose to designate the Second Annual Low
Dose Naltrexone Conference as a fund raiser
for THE LDN FOR MS RESEARCH FUND, and
has contributed all registration fees to
that cause. We continue to encourage all of
our readers to support the Fund if at all
possible—click
here for donation information.
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A
Photo Gallery of the 2006
conference can be found
here.
Susan
Sedlock, the organizer and
coordinator for the 2006 conference,
greeted the attendees and emphasized the
great improvement that LDN had provided
for her father for the several years
after he was diagnosed with multiple
myeloma in his late 80's.
Dr.
David Gluck, editor of the website
www.ldninfo.org and one of the
organizers of last year's conference,
discussed "The Year in LDN." He
highlighted major contributions since
June 2005 to strengthening the belief in
LDN's efficacy and in its probable mode
of action. In the latter half of his
talk, he read remarkable messages from
two people with multiple sclerosis and
one person with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, all of whom were struck with
the obvious benefits of their LDN
treatment.
The
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Jill Smith,
Professor of Gastroenterology at the
Hershey Medical Center (Pennsylvania
State University), described her two
breakthrough trials that demonstrated
the successful use of LDN both in
Crohn's disease in humans as well as in
induced inflammatory bowel disease in
mice.
Dr. Smith's studies, to be published in
a major gastroenterology journal,
represent the first reported human
research on LDN at an American medical
center. Dr. Smith presented the detailed
results at Digestive Disease Week in May
2006 in Los Angeles. This meeting
attracts more than 20,000
gastroenterologists and is the largest
such in the world.
Dr. Jaquelyn McCandless, a
Board-certified specialist in Psychiatry
and Neurology, took up the cause of
childhood autism 10 years ago when her
granddaughter was diagnosed with that
disorder. Dr. McCandless delivered a
detailed discourse on the suspected
causes of autism spectrum disorders and
highlighted the role of LDN, which has
impressed some 75% of affected parents
as contributing to significant
improvements in cognition and
socialization in their children.
She also announced a current clinical
study using LDN in autism involving 30
children and 70 adults, which will
measure a panel of immune markers both
before and after the sixteen weeks of
the research, ending in June 2006.
Dr. McCandless said that, with LDN and
other new treatment approaches, if she
were given an autistic child by the age
of three, she has grown much more
optimistic about the child's being able
to attend a mainstreamed kindergarten.
Dr. McCandless is the author of the book
Children With Starving Brains,
and has written an
article summarizing her work in
using LDN to treat autism.
William Way spoke as one of five
participants on the LDN Advocates Panel.
He described having first tested
positive for HIV 16 years ago—since that
time he has used nothing stronger than
nightly LDN to treat the HIV infection.
During these many years he reports that
his CD4 cell count has, for the most
part, remained in a favorable zone, and
he has been symptom free. In contrast to
virtually any other person who has
carried an HIV infection for many years,
Mr. Way has never had to use
antiretroviral drugs, thus avoiding the
attendant expense, annoying schedules,
and risk of side-effects. Mr. Way's
entire talk can be viewed
here.
The LDN Advocates Panel featured
presentations by Ann Brasher,
Brenda Powell (whose words were read
by Joel Gluck), William Way,
Susan Sedlock, and
Mary Boyle Bradley.
Dr.
Phil Boyle, a specialist in
fertility care in Galway, presented a
talk entitled "LDN in Clinical
Practice—a Family Physician's Experience
from Ireland." Dr. Boyle's presentation
provided a compelling window into his
journey from being an LDN skeptic to
achieving unambiguous results with the
drug in his own clinical practice. He
spoke with honesty and humor of his
experiences with both physician
specialists (most of whom refused to put
his findings into practice) and a wide
range of patients troubled with
rheumatoid arthritis, MS, gynecologic
issues, and other disorders.
Following the work of Dr. Thomas Hilgers
of Omaha, Nebraska, who has used
naltrexone since 1990 in the treatment
of infertility, Dr. Boyle has begun to
see the application of LDN in his own
infertility practice for patients who
appear to have an underlying problem
with inadequate endorphins. He suggests
that issues such as endometriosis,
polycystic ovarian disease, and
premenstrual disorders may all respond
favorably to LDN. Dr. Boyle has written
a
patient information leaflet on the
use of LDN for abnormal gynecologic
health.
Dr.
Skip Lenz presented his survey of
255 new patients who received
prescriptions for LDN.
This was done to determine the incidence
of side effects among those who had
discontinued its use (80) and those
still taking it (175). Of the 255
patients surveyed, only 13% experienced
side effects while taking LDN. Half
of the side effects were mild, temporary
sleep disturbances; one-fourth of the
side effects reported were related to
muscle stiffness.
Dr.
Pat Crowley is currently working in
County Kilkenny, Ireland in a two-man
family practice. He participated in
making a half-hour documentary film
about LDN that features an extensive
interview with Dr. Bernard Bihari and
comments from two of Dr. Crowley's
patients with MS.
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