Author |
Topic: Melatonin (Read 285 times) |
|
Oddfellow
Guest
|
Hi fellow sufferers CHECK THIS OUT.
I have had cluster headaches on and of for 33 years. The attacks disappeared for 12 years when I stopped smoking. Recently I started treatment for high blood pressure and the attacks retruned with a vengeance.
I stopped hypertension medication but the clusters kept on coming. Then I stumbled on a paper "New Treatments in Cluster Headache" by Todd D Rozen MD
In it he mentions all the known treatments and some of the less known.
THIS ONE HELPED ME AND THREE OTHER CLUSTER SUFFERERS DRAMATICALLY. And there are no side effects. Hope it can help some of you.
Here is Dr. Rosens text:
Melatonin
Serum melatonin levels are reduced in patients with cluster headache, particularly during a cluster period. This loss of melatonin may be the inciting event necessary to produce nocturnal cluster attacks. Providing melatonin via an oral supplementation route theoretically could act as a cluster preventive. The efficacy of 10 mg of oral melatonin was evaluated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial [26]. Cluster headache remission within 3 to 5 days occurred in five of 10 patients who received melatonin compared with zero of 10 patients who received placebo. Melatonin only appeared to work in episodic cluster patients. Anecdotally, it is my belief that melatonin should be initiated in all cluster patients as a first-line preventive, sometimes even before verapamil. It has very minimal side effects, and in a large number of patients it can turn off nocturnal clusters (typically the most severe attacks) within 24 hours. Melatonin also appears to prevent daytime attacks. In addition, even when melatonin does not completely resolve all of the attacks, it appears to lower the dose necessary of the other add-on preventives. For example, a long-standing cluster sufferer at an academic headache clinic always became cluster free on valproic acid at a dose of 1500 mg. After being placed on melatonin, he only needed a valproic acid dose of 500 mg to become cluster-free. Melatonin in the clinic appears to work as well in chronic cluster as episodic, and some chronic cluster patients become cluster-free on melatonin monotherapy. The typical dose of melatonin used is 9 mg at bedtime (three 3-mg tablets), but higher doses may be necessary. If one brand of commercial melatonin does not work, another should be tried because the true amount of melatonin in different over-the-counter brands varies widely.
|
|
 IP Logged |
|
|
|
Drk^Angel
Guest
|
Been there, done that... But others have used melatonin successfully I think. I don't think this is the first time this article has been posted. Dunno... I remember reading this before though... On well... Brain don't function like it used to. Good to hear ya found something that works for you.
PFDAN....................... Drk^Angel
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
Jaybee
Guest
|
I have had some sucess with melatonin. I would suggest the time released tablets, as this maintains a steadier dose over a longer time (more akin to natural sleep). The formulation I have is 50% immediate release, 50% over 8 hours.
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
dougW
New Board Veteran
pain is inevitable. suffering is optional
Gender: 
Posts: 104
|
 |
Re: Melatonin
« Reply #3 on: Sep 10th, 2002, 8:54am » |
 Quote  Modify
|
Oddfellow: I've recently done a lot of research on melatonin. I can't reach you by e-mail (you didn't leave one), so hence, this post.
Please e-mail me dawright@telus.net
Doug Wright
|
|
IP Logged |
Out beyond wrong doing and right doing there is a field of luminous consciousness. I'll meet you there. (Rumi)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
Help
Search
Members
Member Map
Login
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print
Remove
test rss