Alyssa, Marilyn others, On Craving Chocolate/Cancer/LDN

[Guest guest]

So I'm reading this very enlightening interview with Dr. Bihari on LDN,how it works, how he discovered its efficacy in AIDS patients and cancerwhich I recommend to everyone - I had somehow missed it before. Healso refers to the fact that using endorphins/the lack of endorphins is a different model for health/disease - and that many Western trained doctorsare uncomfortable thinking in that mode so won't go there. (Similarto acupuncture or other non-Western ways of thinking about disease.) http://honestmedicine.typepad.com/ebook-sept%2023-2009--The%20Faces%20of%20Low%20Dose%20Naltrexone.pdforhttp://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/gazorpa/interview.htmlSo it turns out - I knew this once but had spaced it in this context - that chocolate helps create endorphins. It's a substance in the chocolate known as Phenylalanine that does the trick - slightly different than LDN, in that instead of boosting the amount, I believe,it makes the endorphins last longer. (Hmm, I wonder if this chemicalis in the cocoa butter?) So, Alyssa, I'm wondering when you just had your recent flare, if that is what your craving for chocolate was all about - instead of a bad bug thing. Maybe your body was craving chocolate to get endorphins to upregulateyour immune system to help get rid of the flare. I know this is a common craving for people with Parkinson's disease,for example, and that is also because they have very low endorphincounts, which is the reason LDN helps them as well in stopping thedisease's progression. Marilyn - you should give this article to your oncologist in January. Itreally explains things well. For example:Dr. Bihari: There's no downside. One of the reasons that the war on cancer failed is that the oncologists doing the research failed to take into account that chemotherapy really wipes out the immune system, which the body needs to fight cancer cells. So they are giving drugs that kill cancer cells, but at the same time weakening the body's defense against cancer. Naltrexone strengthens the body's defense, and the increased endorphins kill cancer cells directly. Also, the immune system when it's strengthened kills cancer cells through its natural killer cells.Dr. Kokayi: What you‘re saying is, that a boost in endorphin levels also activates other components of the immune system.Dr. Bihari: The endorphins are the hormones centrally involved in regulating the immune system. About 95% of the regulation or orchestration comes from endorphins. People with cancer -- especially adults – have very low natural killer cells. They have a weakened immune system. I‘ve discovered, after seeing such a large number of people, that the vast majority of them have experienced major life stresses lasting weeks, months to years – anywhere from two to six years before they get the cancer.Also, I didn't know that endorphins was the hormone that was in charge of 95% of the bodies regulation of the immune system. And here's his general description of why LDN works for auto-immunediseases:Dr. Bihari: It‘s an endorphin deficiency which weakens the immune system, so that certain cells in the body forget to distinguish between the body tissues and bacteria or viruses, so when these cells are activated by an infection they attack the bacteria and they attack you. Restoring the immune function to normal stops that. So far, the drug works dramatically in all the diseases that are labeled autoimmune diseases.........It's an entirely different approach to the body and illness.Also, if anyone has a doctor who is reluctant to prescribe LDN, tell them to call Dr. Bihari -who says - at least he said in 2003 - (I'm emailing about this on the LDN group now, so if that no longer holds, I will post it.)Dr. Bihari: I'm always happy to take calls from doctors and spend as much time as I need, because the more doctors prescribe it, the more widely used it will be. Currently, as far as we can calculate it, over eighty thousand people in the U.S. and western Europe are on the drug, and the numbers are increasing rapidly.BERNARD BIHARI, M.D.139 East 33rd Street, #10KNew York, NY 10016http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/bbihari_cv.htm

[Guest guest]

So, Alyssa, I'm wondering when you just had your recent flare, if that is what your craving for chocolate was all about - instead of a bad bug thing. Interesting...because it was just a craving for chocolate, not other illegals. Peace =)Alyssa 15 yoUC April 2008, dx Sept 2008SCD June 2009 (restarted)No meds!