LDN stands for Low-Dose Naltrexone.

Several years ago we were asked if we would help a number of patients with MS obtain this treatment, and so we did.  It would be fair to say that some of them, over 50%, improved; nobody got lastingly worse although some had short-term side-effects. For some it just didn’t work. Of course we advised them, as we are always ethically bound to, on other treatments that might benefit them; some at least saw some benfit from these also.

Since then there has been surprising progress in the use of LDN, and it has been found to be helpful in several other circumstances. For me, it is definitely time to revisit and reconsider it.

There are two major diagnoses in which LDN has shown success — you have to bear in mind that this does not mean randomised controlled trials of the therapy, and certainly not the systematic reviews of multiple RCTs that scientists now expect; it is “anecdotal” reports, published papers that state that it appeared to work for one patient or for a small number. The two diagnoses are:

• Auto-immune disease
• Cancer

Auto-immune disease is a growth area in medicine because we are discovering that more and more diagnoses fall in this category. They include:

We at the British Society for Ecological Medicine (BSEM) have been talking to the Pernicious Anaemia Society (PAS). Martyn Hooper and his colleagues there have achieved a remarkable amount, with 3,500 members after just two years, and a questionnaire that identifies several key symptoms of B12 deficiency about which none of us knew — the “strange tiredness” and “the gulps” for instance. We are looking forward to working with them, both to help sufferers and to prove that B12 deficiency is a real problem for many people. More of that on our website.

Here I want to talk about my own experiences with B12, which I’ve been using for more than 20 years — although we have learnt more all the time since then.

The first thing to say is that B12 is extremely safe. In all that time I have seen one instance of adverse effects, and that was back when we used cyanocobalamin — the original version if you like — and in a complicated case with other problems. Since we have used methylcobalamin and hydroxocobalamin the only adverse effect I have known is one male patient who called me from his car; he was on the way to casualty because just after the injection of B12 that I gave him his urine had turned pink! I was able to reassure him that it was simply overflow of the B12 he had received.

First published on the Alliance for Natural Health website, June 2009

Last week Cancer Research UK released figures showing that cases of melanoma exceeded 10,000 in 2006, the last available figures.

Predictably the media took this story and messed it up, producing headlines ranging from “More then 10,000 a year get skin cancer in quest for perfect tan” (Times Online) to “Recession linked to skin cancer” (The Herald).

What Cancer Research UK actually advise people to do is mainly sensible, but it does go one step too far;

“Most melanoma skin cancers are caused by over exposure to UV rays given off by the sun and sunbeds. But, crucially, if people are careful not to redden or burn, especially if they have fair, freckly or moley skin then most cases of malignant melanoma could be prevented.

“We advise people to enjoy the sun safely by spending time in the shade in the middle of the day, covering up with appropriate cool clothing and sunglasses and applying plenty of sun cream of at least factor 15.”

So what are the facts?

Melanoma rates are rising, but you can’t explain it all by UV exposure. For a start they have been rising for too long; a study in 1970 found that, beginning with those born at the beginning of the last century, every successive cohort of people of the same birth year develops more melanoma, and developed it at an earlier age. That’s not just sunbathing or sunbeds.