Patient Guide:
How To Talk to Your Doctor about LDN

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Before you visit your doctor…

1.  Practice saying “Low Dose Naltrexone” out loud.   This might sound silly, but it can
be a tongue twister, and you don’t want to stumble over your words when you say it
to your doctor.  

2.  Locate a compounding pharmacy.   Oddly, this was one of my doctor’s objections:  
“What a pain; you have to find a compounding pharmacy to do this.”   But I'd done my
homework, and showed her my list of pharmacies, which included a local
compounding pharmacy.   (Don’t know how to find one?  Call your local drug store
and ask for the name of the nearest compounding pharmacy.)

3.  Get a nice new manilla folder.

4.  Click here for the LDN FAQs -- Frequently-Asked Questions about LDN  -- print
out this file and put it in the manila folder.  This has been assembled many different
sources.   It is streamlined  and factual, without too much medical terminology.  (Some
doctors don’t like patients who use medical jargon.)  Claims of LDN’s effectiveness
are deliberately cautious and unemotional.   Your doctor doesn’t want to hear the
words “miracle drug.”  

5.  Familiarize yourself with everything in the FAQ's.  You don't want to be a know-it-
all, but you should be ready to answer your doctor’s questions, or at least know where
to find the answers.  

Don’t include any other material in the Folder.  These pages are just enough for a busy
doctor to absorb during a short appointment.   Most doctors will recoil from a big
stack of paper.


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During the Visit with Your Doctor...

1.  Play it cool.  Don’t say that you think LDN is a miracle drug.   Don’t volunteer a lot
of information at first.  Let your doctor be the smart one.   Nod a lot.  

2.  Without telling lies or hiding symptoms, try to appear as healthy as possible.   Don't
complain about your symptoms.   A doctor is more likely to prescribe an
“experimental” drug if he thinks your health is not in immediate jeopardy.

3.  Keep in mind that many doctors are simply unaware of Low Dose Naltrexone.  
Some doctors might think you are asking for Novantrone, another MS therapy.  If your
doctor dismisses you outright, make sure he isn't confusing the two.

4.  Present the material in the Doctor’s Folder a little bit at a time.  How should you do
that?  Keep reading…


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Talking to Your Doctor...

All doctors are different, so I can’t guarantee that my approach will work with your
doctor.  But perhaps my story will help you figure out the best way to approach your
doctor.  


My LDN Story

After diagnosing me with MS, my neurologist handed me a stack of marketing kits for
Copaxone, Rebif, Avonex  and Beta Seron.   She told me to take them home and look
them over, and said that we’d discuss them at my next appointment.

After looking at the kits, and getting more and more confused, I decided to do a little
research on the internet.   I wanted to know what actual patients thought of these
drugs.  

It wasn't long before I began seeing references to LDN.  I’d never heard of it.  Being
the research geek that I am, I wanted to know more.  

Over the next couple of weeks, I learned a lot about LDN.  Assuming my neurologist
didn’t know about it either, I put together a folder of information to show her at our
next appointment.  I created the Doctor's Folder. I included everything I imagined the
doctor would want to know.     

During our next appointment, she listened to what I had to say, read everything in the
Folder, and prescribed LDN.  


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Your doctor and the internet…

How does your doctor feel about patients who do medical research on the internet?   
Some doctors think it’s great.  Others are infuriated by it.  If your doctor disapproves
of it, tread very softly.  If your doctor says something like “All those people are
crazies,” don’t get defensive.  Just shrug and say something like, “Yeah, that’s for
sure, there really are some lunatics out there… but I did find some interesting stuff, and
I wanted your opinion about it.”    

Avoid using the word “internet.”  Use the words “information” and “research” instead.  
If your doctor asks you a question you can’t answer, just say, “I don’t know, but I
can find out for you.”  


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Addressing your doctor’s objections ...

If your doctor objects to LDN, don’t panic.  Ask (in a friendly, curious way) what his
objections are.   Here’s what he might say:

You can point out that Naltrexone (at the higher 50mg dose) has had FDA approval for
a long time, and guide your doctor to the Q&A section that discusses FDA approval.  


Your doctor might be right about this one.   Most of the standard MS drugs (with the
probable exception of Copaxone), are immunosuppressant and thus tend to counteract
the beneficial effects of LDN.   Depending on your general health, if you ask your
neurologist to take you off the standard MS drugs to try LDN, you might be facing an
uphill battle.   Don’t give up.  It just means that you have more homework to do.   Tell
your doctor you will look into it and find out for sure.  


Some doctors are uncomfortable admitting they don’t know something, especially to a
patient.   This might be a good time to back off, give your doctor the folder, and ask
her to look it over at her convenience.  Suggest this in a way that indicates that you’re
not trying to prove your case, you value your doctor’s opinion, and you’re willing to
wait.  


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In Closing...

Let me know how it goes for you…  I welcome any advice or suggestions to improve
the contents of this site.   You can send your comments to gazorpa@gazorpa.com.




Good luck!!!!
How to Talk to Your
Doctor About LDN