HONEST MEDICINE: My Dream for the Future

LIST of Conditions Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Has Been Found to Help

Many thanks to LINDA ELSEGOOD of the LDN Research Trust for this list of conditions LDN has been known to benefit. To learn more about Linda's UK organization, please go HERE.

 

Transcript of Dr. Bihari Video

00:00 to 02.26—Dr. Bihari gives his background and credentials.

Dr. Bihari: My medical training started at Harvard Medical School. I graduated in 1957. Then I trained in Internal Medicine at one of the Harvard teaching hospitals in Boston, Beth Israel, and then in Neurology at Massachusetts General in Boston. Then I went to the National Institutes of Health for two years doing brain physiology—brain research. I did another residency training in Psychiatry in New York, at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and then, over the following five or six years, I got very involved in working in Drug Addiction. By 1974, I was the City Addiction Commissioner.  I ran all the programs that the city funded for addicts. Then in 1978, the governor and the mayor met, when the governor took over management of the city’s addiction programs, because the city was in a budget crisis. Mayor Koch saved about $8 million and I moved to the city health department as a Deputy Commissioner. I was the only deputy medical commissioner. I basically ran the city health department for about three years. Then I moved to King’s County Hospital, where I ran a cluster of addiction programs for drug addicts and alcoholics. By the early ‘80s, as the AIDS epidemic began, I got very concerned about it. I was seeing large numbers of the heroin addicts I was treating die. I had a couple of friends who died of HIV in the late ‘80s.  I got very concerned about what I saw as a major epidemic—a worldwide epidemic—coming over time. That’s sort of a background, taking me up to the point where I started doing this research.    
QUESTION: Can you talk about working with methadone?

Dr. Bihari: Yes, my first job with city government was running all of the city health department’s methadone programs. There were forty-one—shortly after the methadone system had been put in place. It was while I was doing that that the mayor, Abe Beame, moved the addiction services agency into the health department, and I took over the management of all the addiction programs: the drug-free and the methadone programs. And I ran both for about four years. I was one of the early proponents of methadone and, because of my job in city government, for a couple of years I was a major spokesperson for methadone—which in subsequent years, I had mixed feelings about. Then I became more broadly involved in drug addiction and alcoholism as a public health problem. Then, later, I shifted my energy to AIDS.

Q: How did your connection with Naltrexone begin?

Dr. Bihari: In 1984, the National Institute on Drug Abuse finished the development of Naltrexone as an adjunct to treating heroin addicts. Its purpose was to block the heroin high with the hope that it would become a very useful treatment for heroin addicts.  It works in heroin addicts by blocking the receptors in cells, mostly in the brain in that situation. Heroin uses primarily the pain receptors. They're all called opioid receptors. Those that are involved in pain relief, and relief of fear. It’s a designer drug, really. It was designed in the laboratory to block those receptors and prevent heroin from having access to them. So addicts would take 50 mg a day in the morning and couldn't get high for hours. It would take a very large amount of heroin to overcome the high. The blockade caused by naltrexone. And when the drug came out, I was interested in trying it. I gave it to about two dozen heroin addicts who had recently stopped using heroin. None of them would stay on it. At the doses involved it caused anxiety, depression, irritability. They couldn't sleep, and even minor stresses that they could handle the day before, they couldn't handle on days that they took naltrexone in the morning.  So it was out on the market, and has remained so since, but has been relatively little used.

One of the things I did know from its development, which I had followed closely because I was treating addicts, is that naltrexone, when taken in these high doses, would get the body to triple its production of endorphins. Endorphins are the hormones that heroin works by mimicking. They have a number of functions in the body. They relieve pain; they relieve fear. They're the hormones we use when we’re teenagers to cope with social situations and other anxiety-producing situations. It’s really endorphins that relieve the anxiety. They also play a major role during acute stress. For example, an animal who’s attacked in the jungle—his body responds by pouring out large amounts of endorphins, and in parallel, of corisol, which is a cortisone-related hormone. And the endorphins in that situation not only relieve the pain so that when the animal gets injured he’s not distracted. They relieve the fright. They also shift blood from the whole gastrointestinal tract where a lot of the blood flow is to the muscles and brain, which need it during a fight. And, most importantly, in this situation, they boost the immune system so that the immune cells double very quickly and the immune functions all improve with the large amount of endorphins poured out, so that if the animal gets injured, it’s much less likely to get infected, so there will be better wound healing.  Because of its role in regulating immune function, I got interested in it in the mid-‘80s. In 1985, as I saw the AIDS epidemic expanding, I decided to shift my research energies from addiction to AIDS, and in particular, to look for something that might boost immune function. I knew that the immune system was regulated almost entirely by endorphins, and that also the endorphin production was markedly increased by naltrexone. My colleagues and I worked to find some way of using that ability of naltrexone to raise endorphins, but without the downside of naltrexone blocking the endorphins, the purpose being to find a way to raise endorphins to boost immune function. Along the way, we tested endorphin levels in ten people with AIDS and found they were extremely low—less than 30% of normal. So the hormones that people with AIDS need the most, to have the immune system fight the virus—those hormones are lacking. So, what we did was to do what's called a “dose ranging trial” to find the best dose of the drug to use to raise endorphins without blocking them at the same time.

What we did was we measured the endorphin rises with different doses of Naltrexone.  We got the same rise with 50 mg, 10 mg, 5 mg, and 3 mg. What we were looking for was the smallest dose that could produce a full naltrexone-induced endorphin rise, if taken late at night. The reason the hour is important is that 90% of the endorphins are made in the middle of the night, between 2 and 4 in the morning. If a small dose of naltrexone is taken in the late evening, generally at bedtime, generally endorphin production is boosted as much as threefold, 300%. The naltrexone itself is gone in about 3 hours, but the endorphins remain elevated all the next day. So the naltrexone doesn't significantly block the endorphins but does cause them to rise. If someone with low endorphin levels starts taking low dose naltrexone every night, their endorphin levels will triple and stay tripled as long as they're taking the drug.

HONEST MEDICINE Is Now Available for the KINDLE!

By popular demand, my book, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases, is now available for the KINDLE. It took a long time—and about 100 hours of work by my dear friend Mark—but it is finally ready. And it looks great!! (Why it took so long to prepare is another story—for another posting. But please trust me, it did!)

So, please tell all your ebook-savvy friends, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and other relatives: You can download HONEST MEDICINE for Kindle for $8.99.

MOBI files (the kind of file the KINDLE uses) can be viewed on Kindles (both handheld and computer-based), as well as on smartphones and ipads.

Thanks so much for telling everyone you know who owns a KINDLE or other device about HONEST MEDICINE's arrival as an ebook. I can’t wait to hear how you enjoy reading it!

Go here to download HONEST MEDICINE for Kindle.

Julia Schopick Interviewed by Dr. Ronald Hoffman about HONEST MEDICINE: The HOFFMAN EFFECT

On February 8th, I was interviewed by the wonderful integrative physician and author, Ronald Hoffman, MD, on his New York radio show, “Health Talk.”

Frankly, I knew that Dr. Hoffman would do a great interview:

I had read his books and loved them. And as a matter of fact, I myself had interviewed Dr. Hoffman for HonestMedicine.com, after his book, How to Talk with Your Doctor came out. I was introduced to him by his co-author, Sidney Stevens, a friend of mine, who thought that Dr. Hoffman would provide me with a great interview. He did. (Click here to listen to that interview.)

After that interview, Dr. Hoffman and I became friends, and I asked him to write a testimonial for my book, which he graciously did.

When HONEST MEDICINE was published, I knew that I wanted to be interviewed by Dr. Hoffman for his WOR-AM radio show in New York. I knew he’d do a great job, and that his large listenership would provide me with a unique opportunity to spread the word about the amazing treatments I feature in my book.

The interview aired on February 8th, 2011. I urge you to listen to it.

But nothing prepared me for what I now refer to as “The Hoffman Effect”:

Before the show was even over in New York, I began getting emails from Dr. Hoffman's listeners, telling me how much they were enjoying the interview, and asking for information about the treatments featured in mybook. I was happy to oblige.

Then the next day, it happened:

HONEST MEDICINE was an AMAZON.COM BEST SELLER!

I call it “The Hoffman Effect.”

Here is an Amazon.com screen shot two days after Dr. Hoffman’s interview. As you can see, HONEST MEDICINE was in the top 4137 books, and #1 in Immune System books, and #2 in the Holistic category!!

I can’t thank Dr. Hoffman enough for giving me this opportunity to get the word out about HONEST MEDICINE, so that thousands of people will be able to learn about it. As most of you who are reading this know, this book is a mission and a passion for me.

NOTE: If you know of a radio host who is really good--like Dr. Hoffman--and who (like Dr. Hoffman) is knowledgeable about health topics, please write to me. I'd love to be a guest on many more shows like Dr. Hoffman's!!

Integrative Physicians Praise Julia Schopick's Just-Published Book, "HONEST MEDICINE"!

Drs. Julian Whitaker, Ronald Hoffman, Jeffrey Dach—and others—praise HONEST MEDICINE.

Those of you who have read my just-published book, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases, know that several well-known integrative doctors have written testimonials for it. I have included them in the book.

I am very grateful to these doctors for their support, and would like to thank them here by sharing their kind words with you.

In another post, I will share the testimonials of several others. But for now. . .

Julian Whitaker, MD, Founder of the Whitaker Wellness Institute, Editor of Health & Healing newsletter, and author of many best-selling books, including Dr. Whitaker’s Guide to Natural Healing, Reversing Diabetes and Reversing Heart Disease:

“I commend Julia Schopick for spreading the word about these remarkable, yet overlooked therapies that can improve the lives of so many.”

 

  Ronald Hoffman, MD, Founder and Medical Director of the Hoffman Center in New York, Host of “Health Talk,” nationally syndicated radio talk show, and best-selling author of several books, including Intelligent Medicine and Alternative Cures that Really Work:

“Any patient who is interested in learning about nontoxic, inexpensive alternatives to costly, side-effect-laden pharmaceuticals should read Julia’s book. I predict that Honest Medicine will become an instant classic.”

 

  Jeffrey Dach, MD, author of Natural Medicine 101 and founder of the Bio-Identical Hormone Blog:

“Join with Julia Schopick and thousands of other health activists demanding these effective treatments ignored by mainstream medicine. A revolution is at hand, and Julia’s new book, Honest Medicine, is leading the charge with banner held high.”

 

David Brownstein, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West Bloomfield, MI, and author of nine books on integrative medical topics:

“I recommend Honest Medicine to all who are open-minded and looking for safe, effective therapies that have a sound biochemical basis behind them. This book should be required reading for all physicians and patients searching for safe and effective therapies." 

 
Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, author of the best-selling book, From Fatigued to Fantastic!

"When doctors tell you they can’t help you, thank them for their honesty. And then read Julia Schopick’s book!"

 

Thanks to these integrative doctors for their testimonials. I hope that more doctors will become like them--and start prescribing treatments like those featured in HONEST MEDICINE.

 

HONEST MEDICINE Now on Amazon.com

For over a year, I have been busy writing my book, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases. It has been wonderful, terrible, exhausting—and ultimately, life-changing time.

And now it is published--and on Amazon.com!

The idea for HONEST MEDICINE started germinating in 2002, when my husband Tim was in the hospital with a non-healing post-surgical head wound caused when his suture line wouldn't heal. His doctors performed 8 surgeries to try to get his skin to heal. Nothing worked.
 

Then, through a friend and colleague, Dr. Carlos Reynes, I found Silverlon, a different kind of wound-healing system. Just hours after placing Silverlon on Tim’s head, his skin started to heal.

I was elated. (You may read about our experience here.)
 

But then, the strangest thing happened: Tim's doctors thought his healing was “anecdotal.” Some even thought it was THEIR treatments that worked, rather than Silverlon!

Read about our experiences here:

That was the beginning of HONEST MEDICINE.

I figured that mine couldn't be the only instance of a treatment that was way more successful than the treatments doctors routinely used—only to be shunned by them.

I was right.

I found three other treatments—all of which are:

--Effective
--Non-toxic
--Inexpensive
--Lifesaving

And although all of them SHOULD be considered standard of care, they aren’t—yet. (I hope HONEST MEDICINE will help to change this.)

These treatments are:

--The Ketogenic Diet for pediatric epilepsy
--Low Dose Naltrexone for MS, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s Disease and other autoimmune diseases
--Intravenous Alpha Lipoic Acid for end-stage liver disease and (when combined with LDN) for some very serious cancers, including pancreatic.

To learn more about HONEST MEDICINE, please become a FAN of the book's Facebook Page.

And please visit AMAZON.com to buy HONEST MEDICINE.

International Low Dose Naltrexone Awareness Week: October 19-25th, 2009

an old drug
a controversial treatment
successful across a range of diseases linked
by immune system dysfunction
BUT
 YOU won't hear of it, and YOU won't be offered it

 

On October 19th, patients, physicians and researchers alike will convene at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, for the Fifth Annual Conference on Low Dose Naltrexone.

  October 19th will also kick off the First International LDN Awareness Week – a concerted push to get the word out through the media, about thousands of patients with autoimmune diseases who are benefitting from the off-label use of one inexpensive generic drug protocol, low dose naltrexone (commonly referred to as LDN).
 
  It is estimated that thousands of patients worldwide are now enjoying improved health due to LDN. Most learn about it through a combination of word of mouth, success stories, internet research, online forums, and an ever-growing number of doctors who are prescribing it for their patients with autoimmune diseases.

The LDN protocol employs approximately 1/10 the dose of naltrexone, a drug that was approved in 1984 by the FDA to treat alcoholism and drug addiction. Today, thanks to the work of patient advocates, dedicated physicians and researchers, thousands of patients are taking LDN to successfully halt the progression of diseases that are compromised by an impaired immune system, such as Multiple Sclerosis, HIV, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, Lupus and Fibromyalgia.
 
Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is literally changing their lives.

“Before I started taking LDN in 2003, I was an invalid,” says Linda Elsegood, one of the founders of the LDN Research Trust, a non-profit charity in England, which was formed in 2004 to raise both awareness of and research for LDN. “I had just about every symptom of Multiple Sclerosis that a person

Guest Columns by Daphne White About Comparative Effectiveness Research -- Reprinted from TheIntegratorBlog.com

When I first learned of the Obama Administration’s commitment to implementing Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) as a way of determining which treatments are effective and which ones are not, I was very hopeful. I thought that, done right, CER would assure that the best of conventional and the best of alternative medicine would finally be used together to give American patients the best results. In my enthusiasm, I decided to write articles for HonestMedicine.com on the topic of combining both medical worlds to assure the best patient care, and how CER could help to make this happen.

While doing my research, I discovered that another health writer, Daphne White, CHTP, was addressing the same topic. Her slant, very similar to mine, was the importance of including CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) protocols in the New Medicine. She, too, had both hopes and doubts that this would happen.

The first article by Daphne that I found, “Sen. Harkin: Time to End Discrimination against Alternative Health Care Practices,” had been reprinted on Izabella Tabarovsky’s ProjectCreativeVision blog. I was so impressed with this posting that I

(a)  left my own comment

(b)  researched further and discovered that Daphne had originally written this, and other articles, for John Weeks’ excellent Integrator Blog. (Her articles may be found here.

and finally

(c) as originally planned, I wrote my own postings on the topic, here and here.

I am so impressed with the level of Daphne’s commitment to Integrative Healthcare – a combination of conventional and alternative medicine – that I am reprinting two of her articles here. I believe that together, our four combined postings – hers and mine – give a very accurate representation of how the alternative/complementary/integrative medicine communities must work proactively so that Integrative Healthcare will, indeed, come to pass.

Daphne White’s Postings on CER:

CAM and Comparative Effectiveness Research - Are We Going to Play?

and

The "Kabuki Play" of Monied Interests Around the $1.1-Billion Comparative Effectiveness Research Initiative

I want to thank both Daphne and John for allowing me to publish these two excellent postings, thereby giving me this opportunity to get an important message out to the public.

The "Kabuki Play" of Monied Interests Around the $1.1-Billion Comparative Effectiveness Research Initiative, By Daphne White, CHTP

(This column was first published by John Weeks on TheIntegratorBlog.com.)

John Weeks’ Introduction:

In this section of a two-part series, Integrator contributor Daphne White, CHTP focuses on the political-economic dynamics behind the $1.1 billion "clinical effectiveness research" (CER) initiative. White examines what she calls the "Kabuki play" - intense dynamics as the medical industry seeks to gut the value of the initiative, while not appearing to do so.

Would you assume that this initiative would look at cost or would inform the care people receive? As White points out, Congress appears to already have caved in on key aspects of apparent value. One wonders if CER can be the point of leverage for reform which White House Budget Director Philip Orzack thinks it can be. And if Orzack can't get what he wants out of CER, what might the integrative practice community extract from this big money battle in which maybe we can't, well, talk about money. In the other section, White explores the potential value of CER for the integrative practice community. 

I am among those who excitedly greeted the $1.1-billion "comparative effectiveness research"(CER) initiative in Obama's economic stimulus plan as an excellent direction for getting a handle on a medical system in which a third to half of care is deemed wasteful, and much of that harmful, according to our own Institute of Medicine. (See From Waste to Value in Health Care, JAMA, February 2008.) Not a moment too soon for the system, it would seem, and an excellent opening for integrative practice, particularly given the key backing by friends of integrative care.

Integrator contributor journalist, Daphne White does an excellent job of analyzing why this $1.1-billion piece of the Obama stimulus package may never live up to its value for consumers and for policy makers, and may have been partially aborted at birth. This is a sobering look at one of the first battle grounds for healthcare reform, 2009. Blood, it would appear, has already been shed via restrictions placed, at the request of the wasteful industry, by members of Congress who were doing their bidding. White takes you behind what she calls the "Kabuki play" she witnessed at the first 'listening session" of the Federal Coordinating Council for Effectiveness Research. Written comments can be submitted to the Council until May 31, 2009.

Comparative Effectiveness "Listening Session": Research, Politics, Evidence and Money

What happens when you mix together science, politics and $1.1 billion in government money?

When the issue is comparative effectiveness research (CER), the resulting brew is a Health & Human Services “listening session,” with 40 lobbyists, industry reps and advocacy groups each granted three minutes to speak. What you get is a three-hour-long Kabuki play: it’s long, it’s repetitive and it’s tedious.  And you sit there feeling that even though these people are speaking in plain English, what is coming out of their mouths is not even remotely connected to that thought bubble floating above their head.

Before we look at the action, let us review the back story, as explained first by Julie Rovner of National Public Radio. “That $2 trillion we spend on health care every year, every penny of that is someone’s income,” she told an audience at the Institute of Medicine last December, not mincing any words.  “The dirtiest word in health reform [is] not rationing … [it’s] redistribution.  Every time you take one of those dollars and give it to someone else, the donor is going to yelp and hire a lobbyist.” (ED: The text of Ms. Rovner’s statement may be found here.)

CAM and Comparative Effectiveness Research: Are We Going to Play? (By Daphne White, CHTP)

(This column was first published by John Weeks on TheIntegratorBlog.com.)

John Weeks’ Introduction:

The idea of "comparative effectiveness research" (CER), the new $1.1 billion economic stimulus program, strikes a happy chord for many in the integrative practice community. Isn't this the appropriate research terrain for showing value of integrative care?  In this first of two part Integrator series, reporter and regular Integrator contributor Daphne White, CHTP, shares how she attended the "listening session" of the government's CER advisory board to understand what was going on and see if the integrative practice community was showing up. White ended up taking off her journalist hat and testifying. She shares her perspectives on why and how the integrative practice community should be involved. White's second is a very well-reported analysis of the "kabuki dance" she witnessed as vested medical interests developed their strategies to make sure that the CER initiative does not gore their own oxes.    

CAM AND COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH: Are we Going to Play?

By Daphne White, CHTP

When I walked into the HHS “Listening Session” on Comparative Effectiveness Research on April 14, the first thing I saw was a written statement from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and, for good measure, another from the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.  I picked up a list of the presenting panelists, and found speakers from PhRMA, Johnson & Johnson, the Personalized Medicine Coalition, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, the National Pharmaceutical Council, and a variety of patient groups (at least some of whom are heavily subsidized by the pharmaceutical and/or device industries.)

Where was the CAM and integrative practice community?  Missing in action, as far as I could tell:  if anyone was representing the acupuncturists, chiropractors, homeopaths or other CAM providers, they certainly weren’t leaving a paper trail.  Although I serve on the Advisory Board of Healing Touch International, I had not come with the intention of making a presentation.  I did not have an official (or even unofficial) statement. 

But since I was present and my CAM and integrative practice community did not seem to be accounted for, I took a risk and put my name on the list of possible last-minute presenters. Naturally, my name was selected and I had one hour to come up with a three-minute statement.  It seemed important, somehow, that CAM was represented at this “listening session.” As John Weeks said in a recent post, we need to start playing in all the playgrounds, just like the hip and knee surgeons.

The emerging policy debate around CER

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is becoming a huge issue. Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) actually voted against the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary because of her position on this very issue. At the other end of the spectrum, it turns out that CER is a “pet cause” of Peter Orszag, the director of Obama’s Office of Management and Budget. Orszag sees CER as “an opening to reforming American health care,” and a means of cutting unnecessary fat out of the system.  “They’re going to go after the provider community in a big way,” predicted James Capretta, who worked at OMB during President George W. Bush’s first term.

In fact, there is increasing talk among policymakers about placing more emphasis on wellness, prevention and primary care.  Isn’t that one of the areas where CAM and integrative modalities excel? Shouldn’t we be part of that comparative conversation? 

In their 2005 report called Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States, the Institute of Medicine noted that “the extent to which CAM use is a trigger for positive behavioral change is unknown […] and constitutes an important research issue because of the benefit of positive behavioral change to the public’s health.” Can we really expect the hip and knee surgeons to advocate for this kind of research? 

We talk among ourselves about “wellness” and “prevention” and “a heath care system, not a sick care system.”  Isn’t it time we took this private conversation public?

The fact is we are already players:  30 to 62 percent of adults in the U.S. already use CAM, according to the IOM report. And total out-of-pocket expenditures for CAM therapies and integrative practices were “conservatively estimated to be $27 billion in 1997,” according to the IOM.  “This is comparable to the projected out-of-pocket expenditures for all U.S. physician services.”