Re: OT:Jay's comment about melatonin/cortisol was Melatonin use

[Guest guest]

Hi Doug,

What tipped me off was that I would wake up with the same feeling I

had after adrenal stress - feeling really tired, tight neck muscles,

headache, digestive problems, needing more salt, etc.

The first night of melatonin (250mcg) I'd sleep great and wake up

feeling ok. The second night it would feel like I had mild adrenal

stress and the third night it would be unmistakeable because I would

wake up in the middle of the night from the pain of my neck and head..

I tried this whole cycle three times to be sure. It did help me fall

asleep though.

I read last week on stopthethyroidmadness that someone used melatonin

instead of PS to lower nighttime cortisol, but maybe it doesn't work

for a lot of people because melatonin is a lot cheaper than PS. Maybe

it does have something to do with liver metabolism like you said

because I have had some occasional liver issues too.

I found that 1-2 tsp of GABA powder sublingually would help me fall

asleep but it had the same effect on cortisol as melatonin. I have not

seen anyone else mention this so maybe its not very common.

Hope that helps..

Jay

>

> Hello Jay,

> " I've used it (melatonin) before but had to stop because it has a

> strong cortisol lowering effect on me and made my adrenal fatigue

> worse. It helped with sleeping though. "

>

>

> Can you describe the symptoms you found worsening that tipped you off

> that melatonin supplementation was suppressing cortisol?

> A little backgroud: 2 years post amalgam revisions (2005) my saliva

> test indicated reverse circadian rhythm in cortisol production and low

> DHEA. Hydrocortisone 2mg in the early AM gave me a new lease on life,

> After I tapered off about a year ago most improvements remained up

> until a very stressful and busy 2007 holiday season topped off by a GI

> bug in January.

> Just about to start DMPS chelation but adrenals are now fatigued,

> acutely. I added 5-10 drops of sublingual melatonin around 9PM about

> two weeks ago, but in that time I'd have to say that adrenal problems

> have worsened even further. Read through the references posted by AC

> and his comments. Not sure why if half life of serum melatonin is

> very short it would affect cortisol production? I do know that in my

> case liver clearance of various hormones and other substances (meds)

> quite slow.

>

> Doug

>