melatonin EVERY night????? Safe??????

Liba

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 4:28 pm

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69298.cfm
Sloan Kettering:
The anti-proliferative properties and synergistic effects of melatonin with anticancer agents have been reported in both in vitro and in vivo studies (8) (9) (32). It also showed protective effects against adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity (33). Clinical trials evaluating melatonin as a monotherapy, as well as in combination with other agents, in patients with solid tumors, suggest improvements in quality of life and survival time (10) (11) (12) (13).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu.....ation
The NIH:

"100 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) participated in a study of melatonin as an adjunct to chemotherapy treatment. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either chemotherapy alone (cisplatin and etoposide) or chemotherapy plus melatonin (20 mg/day in the evening seven days prior to chemotherapy). Patients receiving melatonin continued to take the herbal supplement after the completion of the four cycles of chemotherapy. No patients in the control group showed complete response after five years of followup, whereas, two patients in the chemotherapy plus melatonin group showed complete response. increased response rates (17% versus 35%) and decreased progressive disease rates were statistically significant. Furthermore, incidents of neurotoxicity, thrombocytopenia, weight loss greater than 10% and asthenia were significantly lower as well. Researchers suggest that the study demonstrates that melatonin is a safe and effective adjunct to chemotherapy for NSCLC."

I keep searching, but can find nothing to support you claims.

FWIW I did research before I started taking melatonin (as well as speaking with my doctors).

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 5:32 pm

granolamom wrote:

no one who has had a child with sleep issues would suggest 'why dont they sleep train'
I've walked miles in those shoes. and honestly, sleep is a priority for them right now. get the kid sleeping and when the parents are well rested they will be able to reevaluate their methods if necessary.

Um, this child is four. The not sleeping without melatonin has been for a few years already.....
The mother is a night owl anyway, so until 11 or 12 pm she is awake anyway. I dont really see your point.

granolamom

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 8:53 pm

life'sgreat wrote:

granolamom wrote:

life'sgreat wrote:

granolamom wrote:

I'm not sure how you know that this mom tried what you did or has the same issue.

ok, true. point taken.
but most people who have kids that sleep somewhat normally dont explore other options like melatonin.

Not necessarily. Many moms love the easy way out because bedtime takes time and is tough.

I prefer not to judge.
some people dont have the stamina for the 'hard way'. If I'm really bad at math, who can fault me for carrying a calculator everywhere I go? I know its different, but as I get older I am learning to see things from other perspectives.
a sleep issue isnt always about bedtime, my child had a true problem falling asleep. it requires much more than the usual effort on the part of the parent. she was my first but I imagine I would have a much harder time dealing with it now that I have BAH a bunch of kids and hours of homework and laundry and cooking, etc etc. also, I dont work so if I'm a sleep deprived zombie its not as bad as it would be if I had to interface with 'real people' during the day.
'course, I'm also stubborn and never choose the easy way, but that has its own pitfalls. I look back and wonder if our lives would've been smoother/happier if I had gone the 'easy route' and medicated her.

granolamom

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 9:01 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

granolamom wrote:

my point is that if you have had a child with sleep issues, you know that it isnt about regular run-of-the-mill sleep training. similar to saying that a child with a learning disability needs a behavioral chart to encourage him to get good grades. could be that once you get the child appropriate special instruction he will still need charts for motivation, but first you must identify a way to reach him.
so too, if a childs brain does not quiet and allow for sleep, they first need a way to physiologically sleep. then we can talk about bedtime routines and training.

as pointed out, I dont know the whole story about the child in question, but that was my point when I posted that remark.

life'sgreat

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 12:39 am

granolamom wrote:

life'sgreat wrote:

granolamom wrote:

life'sgreat wrote:

granolamom wrote:

I'm not sure how you know that this mom tried what you did or has the same issue.

ok, true. point taken.
but most people who have kids that sleep somewhat normally dont explore other options like melatonin.

Not necessarily. Many moms love the easy way out because bedtime takes time and is tough.

I prefer not to judge.

I'm not judging. I am simply telling you what I was told by said mothers. And it was simply a response to the above.

granolamom

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 6:41 pm

Ruchel wrote:

It's not even legal here to give it to a kid or even an adult without a doctor note, my DH says. I bought it to try in a country where basically anything is found around. But still, I would NOT give it to a child regularly. And I do not think it to be a miracle remedy either.

Sleeping pills have their own issues, from drowsiness to memory loss to addiction.

true, almost anything you take has its pro's and con's
like anything else its about weighing the cost/benefit ratio

there are a million things to try before resorting to melatonin, but if nothing else works I'd probably give it a try.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 6:48 pm

granolamom wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

This mother did not try anything else, she went straight to melatonin.

shnitzel

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 7:07 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

granolamom wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

This mother did not try anything else, she went straight to melatonin.

I think people are quick to use melatonin because they think that because it is natural it is automatically safe.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 7:12 pm

shnitzel wrote:

shabbatiscoming wrote:

granolamom wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

This mother did not try anything else, she went straight to melatonin.

I think people are quick to use melatonin because they think that because it is natural it is automatically safe.

I am sure that that is why she is using it. I mean, this child is 4 years old. I hope that she will not have to use it for the rest of her life because she neve got to learn how to sleep on her own.

718

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 7:19 pm

Im confused. Isnt melatonin a natural resource? Why is it being referred to as a prescription, drug or hormone then?

My son is 4 and lately has also had a really hard time falling asleep. Before I knew that there might be more to it, I was frantic and upset at ds for giving me such a hard time at bedtime. I was speaking to my sister as I was trying to "massage" my son to sleep and she mentioned that she gave her 6 year old melatonin at the doctor's recomendation. Now that I know this might be an actual proble, Im trying different tactics.

Its common in active boys. I have a 4 year old nephew who takes it every night.

Personally I dont want my son to become dependant on anything, even natural. I would consider it if the situation became impossible but B'H Im not there.

I was hoping to hear more support for this problem... Most parents dont try to "get away" with anything. Its a temporary solution for a difficult problem.

shnitzel

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 8:31 pm

718 wrote:

It is natural. A natural hormone. Your body produces it to help with your sleep rhythm. Scientists don't actually no much more than that. I did a pub med search and it seems nothing harmful has been shown but there are also don't seem to be any long term studies so we don't really know if there are harmful effects. Some doctors recommend it and some don't. It isn't something we know a lot about so you can't really say anything either way.

When we are having sleep issues I feel like I am going insane, it isn't long term but I don't know what I would do if she never slept.

granolamom

Tue, Oct 18 2011, 9:35 pm

718 wrote:

like shnitzel said, melatonin is a hormone normally produced in your brain by the pineal gland when it is in the absence of light. so first thing to do if your kid isnt sleeping is make sure he has no light in the room. no nightlite, no clock, blackout shades and everything. also, make sure he gets plenty of natural sunlight during waking hours. my mil swears that light exposure in the later hours of the day are crucial, not sure why.
active kids need LOTS of activity during the day but also at least 2 hrs of calm quiet time before bed.
but 4 yo's are also notorious for putting up a fuss at bedtime. so in your case, since it seems from your description that this is recent, its likely a stage and will pass.

my understanding was that melatonin is sometimes recommended for kids who have never been able to stay asleep all night long. the studies I read were concerning children who otherwise would have been put on ritalin. given melatonin, their add symptoms were manageable because the theory was that many of the symptoms were due to sleep deprivation. so if you weigh melatonin vs ritalin, melatonin suddenly doesnt look so bad.
like I said before its a cost/benefit thing.

I guess if you use it to help your child fall asleep, then maybe once he gets used to falling asleep quickly you can wean him off of it and the habit will stick.