Re: Melatonin/ no negative feed back loop

November 30, 2002

,

This is a common misconception about Melatonin. According to

Regelson M.D., in the book, " The Super Hormone Promise " , melatonin

does not have a negative feed back loop, like other hormones. Taking

exogenous melatonin apparently does not damage the body's ability to

produce this hormone in the future.

This correlates well with my personal experience.

Zippy

===============================================================

> >

> B/c melatonin is a hormone and as such, if one has normal levels

one should

> not be taking it. If one is deficient (like I was shown to be)

then one

> should be taking it. Pretty simple.

>

November 30, 2002

Melatonin is a strong antioxidant, esp of the brain I believe. That may

explain why it helps some of us (those in a subgroup that need

antioxidation), while other qualities might make some other subgroups worse.

Personally I stopped taking melatonin after reading 1 bad thing about it

with respect to CFS several years ago, but then I started taking it again

after reading many more positive things and few negative things. It is

possible it is doing something bad I can't detect, but all I can detect is

that I sleep a lot better and that makes me feel a lot better.

Doris

December 1, 2002

Hi Doris and All-

My beloved doc recommended the book The Superhormone Promise by Regelson and

Colman and I think that someone on our list recently referred to it.

It has turned my perception around on all the super hormones including

Melatonin. It has a fantastic chapter on Melatonin and has helped me to

appreciate what a major player it is in the body. Melatonin is about much more

than sleep as this book tells how it has some type of indirect effect on just

about every organ system in the body. It is described as being the director of

an orchestra.

I find it very interesting how they describe the hypothalmus' role in telling

the pineal glad whether it is light or dark outside so it can produce to right

amount of Melatonin. They further elaborates that as the conductor, the job of

the pineal glad is to regulate and harmonize the functiong of a number of bodily

systems and a few of many sytems mentioned is the endocrine and immune. That's

a huge big deal for me.

There is a section in the back of the book on how to take the superhomones. For

Melatonin, it addresses how to take it for general supplementation, for sleep

disorders and for jet lag with a suggested dosage schedule.

Interesting to note: " There are two forms of Melatonin on the market: the

synthetic form and the so-called natural melatonin made from the extract of

animal pineal glands. We prefer and recommend SYNTHETIC Melatonin..... " I

cannot find where they say why, perhaps someone else knows????

Kathy