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Bill Beats MS With Low Dose Naltrexone
My name is William (Bill) Roberts; I am 59 years old, and was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in 1998. In 2002, my diagnosis was changed to Secondary Progressive.
My chief symptoms were extreme mixed sleep apnea, COPD, inability to walk, total deafness in my left ear, and inability to concentrate for any period of time.
I have been treated with Avonex, Copaxone, and Rebif of the "disease modifying" CRAB drugs, and had chemotherapy (Cytoxan), plasma exchange, and many sessions of IV steroids (Solumedrol).
By June of 2005, I was on oxygen 24/7, wheelchair-bound, and experiencing an MS exacerbation on an average of once a month. My doctors told me that my breathing difficulties, caused by the MS, would ultimately result in my demise. I had also ballooned in weight to around 300 pounds.
I consulted two of the top neurologists in Birmingham, Alabama, and they agreed that, while continuing on Rebif, I should begin taking a week of IV steroids every three months, regardless of my condition. I felt that the steroids were no longer offering enough positive results, and I did not want to take them any more. I asked if they would mind my getting an alternate opinion from another neurologist. They agreed.
My new neurologist reran all of the standard MS tests, including MRI's. After studying the results, she suggested I stay on the Rebif and see what the next two months revealed with regard to flares or episodes, then to probably go back on chemotherapy.
I asked her if she would prescribe for me a drug called Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). I had read a great deal about it and talked to a number of MS sufferers who had improved with the use of LDN, a medication that is FDA-approved as a treatment for heroin addiction and alcoholism. She said she had never prescribed it before, but had also read a lot about it. She agreed to prescribe it.
I began taking LDN around the first of July, 2005, at a dose of 1.5 mg per day for the first week, and then increased it to 3 mg. I also stopped taking the Rebif at that time.
While I did not notice any improvement for the first three months, I also had NO MS-related flares either. I also began to notice that my breathing was improving--I could take time off from the oxygen for extended periods of time; the strength in my legs and arms was improving--I began to be able to take short walks with a walker, then longer walks, then changed to a cane, then actually walked to the bathroom without assistance! My sleep began to improve, as well.
Improvement continued and actually increased, so that when I went for my six-month examination with my neurologist, I did not even take my cane, and I blew away my neurologist by acing all the tests.
I am now driving again after four years, walking totally without assistance, and have dropped my weight down to 232 pounds. I hope to get back to my normal weight of 195 by year's end.
In April of 2006, after my wife was diagnosed as a borderline diabetic, I participated in a "Walk For Diabetes" fundraiser. I walked just over 21 miles with no assistance. I began with the starting group and finished with them, something I never thought I would be able to do. I also spent the next summer building a fence in our back yard and re-landscaping it.
LDN is NOT a cure for MS. I still have it, and I still have issues with it that I have to deal with on a daily basis, but I attribute my miraculous improvement to LDN, a positive attitude, faith, and my new neurologist's willingness to prescribe it. It is allowing me to do things I never thought I would do again. If LDN were to become an approved treatment for MS, it might do for others what it has done for me, as well as free up millions of dollars that could be used to find the cause of diseases such as MS. Finding the cause of a disease brings researchers MUCH closer to finding a true cure.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, relatively little research has been done to prove the effectiveness of LDN, because pharmaceutical companies need to be able to make a profit from the drugs they develop. The cost of such research is very high, and LDN, a very inexpensive medication, will not produce the profits those companies need in order to warrant their doing the trials to get it approved for MS, not to mention ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s, many types of cancer, autism, and even rheumatoid arthritis.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
William (Bill) Roberts
An Introduction to Low Dose Naltrexone
How to Obtain Low Dose Naltrexone
Side Effects & Dosing of Low Dose Naltrexone
Drugs To Avoid When Taking Low Dose Naltrexone
Why I Became An Advocate For Low Dose Naltrexone
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