Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)
The late Dr. Bernard Bihari [Bihari2003], [Bihari2013 🕮 ], who discovered the
benefits of low dose naltrexone in 1986, reported extraordinary results treating a variety of
autoimmune and neuroinflammatory conditions [Bihari2003], [Bihari2013 🕮 ].
In particular, Low Dose Naltrexone (4.5mg/day) has been shown to have an immune-balancing
effect that benefits Crohn's disease, with a 67% remission rate
[Farmer1985 🕮 ]
[Smith2007 🕮 ]
[Smith2011 🕮 ]
[Smith2013 🕮 ]
[Shannon2010 🕮 ]
[LDN]
[LDN_Autoimmune] reports that Dr. Bernard Bihari treated a cohort of eight patients
having Crohn's disease with LDN, obtaining remission of symptoms within 14-21 days in all
cases.
According to the Low Dose Naltrexone home page [LDN], LDN has also been seen to benefit
Ulcerative Colitis.
[Raknes2018 🕮 ] has demonstrated in a retrospective study that adding LDN reduced the utilization
of conventionally prescribed medications for treating IBD in 256 patients.
[Lie2018 🕮 ] reports a clinical trial using LDN to treat IBD, in which
clinical improvement was observed in 74.5%, and remission in 25.5% of patients.
[Weinstock2014 🕮 ] reports a case series in which 6 out of 12 patients reported positive
clinical responses.
[Tawfik2016 🕮 ] reports an animal study of using LDN to treat Crohn's disease.
However, [Segal2014 🕮 ] cautions that additional research is necessary and
a Cochrane review noted the poor quality of some of the evidence reported [Parker2018 🕮 ]
The mechanism of action of LDN in treating inflammatory bowel disease appears to be via Toll-like
receptor 4 antagonism and/or opioid growth factor antagonism [Toljan2018 🕮 ].
Dr. Weyrich has been trained in the use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).
However, Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of Crohn's disease with LDN.
Please see What is Low Dose Naltrexone?
for more information.
IgG Food Sensitivity Avoidance Diet
There are different types of food allergies/sensitivities, which arise from different kinds of immune system reactions.
The most "famous" kind of allergy response, which is most often tested by conventional allopathic doctors,
is a skin scratch test that depends on the IgE part of the immune system. Alternative practitioners also look at
the reactions of the IgG part of the immune system, which is more subtle, but which is nonetheless often associated
with gut inflammation. Dr. Weyrich and Dr. Gear have had good results in treating a variety of complaints
using the IgG food sensitivity test from ImmunoLabs.
Immune System Balancing
[McCulley2018, pp 28, 33, 60, 89] reports that Crohn's disease is a
TH1- and TH17-dominant, localized,
autoimmune disorder, and proposes an approach to treating this disease, which should be
supervised by a properly trained medical professional.
Dr. Weyrich has considerable interest in this topic, but has
not treated any cases of Crohn's disease
with Immune System Balancing.
Please see What is Immune System Balancing?
for more information.
Hormone Balancing
[Risbridger2007 🕮 ] has pointed out the inflammatory effect of stimulating estrogen-receptor-alpha (ER-A)
in inflammatory bowel disease, and the anti-inflammatory effect of stimulating estrogen-receptor-beta (ER-B).
Both estriol and the naturally occurring substance genistein have been shown to selectively stimulate
ER-B.
Dr. Weyrich has considerable interest in this topic, but has not treated any cases of Crohn's disease or
ulcerative colitis with Hormone Balancing.
Neurotransmitter Balancing
Neuro Research [Hinz2015] reports that Crohn's disease
can be benefited by balancing neurotransmitter levels in the body.
Dr. Weyrich has been trained in neurotransmitter balancing protocols, but has not treated
Crohn's disease using this technique.
Please see What is Neurotransmitter Balancing?
for more information.
Probiotics
[Allegretti2021 🕮 ] reports that probiotics are helpful in treating Crohn's disease.
Dr. Weyrich also has one case in which a patient suffering from inflammatory bowel disease
benefited from high dose treatment with a certain probiotic formula.
Fecal Material Transplantation
[Allegretti2021 🕮 ]
review the use of fecal material transplantation (FMT) as a treatment for Crohn's disease.
(As of 2021) the FDA considers most uses of FMT to be experimental.