Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Migraneurs discover Melatonin
        
(Message started by: floridian on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:02pm)

Title: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by floridian on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:02pm

Quote:

Neurology. 2004 Aug 24;63(4):757.

Melatonin, 3 mg, is effective for migraine prevention.

Peres MF, Zukerman E, Da Cunha Tanuri F, Moreira FR, Cipolla-Neto J.

Probably because the 3mg dose makes them fall asleep and forget about their meegrain ;) ;;D Jus kidding. Actually, this one wasn't too suprising...

Meds we have in common:
Triptans
Ergotamine, methysergide
Cluster busters
Magnesium
Melatonin
Verapamil
CGRP inhibitors (preliminary research)

Meds that help with migraine that might help clusters:
Cox-2 inhibitors
Co-Q10

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by Lizzie2 on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:06pm

Also share:

Depakote
Topamax

to name a couple more!

LOL my doc has been telling me to take melatonin back before I even had clusters...it cracks me up when these studies give "new information" sometimes!!

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by thomas on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:07pm

Doesn't O2 help with meegraines too?

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by Margi on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:10pm

on 08/25/04 at 16:07:04, thomas wrote:

Doesn't O2 help with meegraines too?

yep.

we should get a family discount from Medigas in my house. ::)

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by don on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:31pm

Geeze, you forgot the biggie !

Excedrin Extra Strength and a warm towel..

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by thomas on Aug 25^th, 2004, 4:54pm

on 08/25/04 at 16:31:34, don wrote:

Geeze, you forgot the biggie !

Excedrin Extra Strength and a warm towel..

Duh, and laying down in a dark, quiet place.

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by Fatcat on Aug 26^th, 2004, 4:32am

Does anyone know where someone from the UK can get Melatonin? It's not available OTC here :-/ It's actually for a friend of mine who's sleep patterns have been totally knackered for the past 5 years. It might work for him.

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by clarence on Aug 30^th, 2004, 10:02am

FatCat,

Just went looking for it today. Went to Napiers, a "Medical Herbalist," whatever that is...(I don't have much experience with anything in that shop). They told me Melatonin was not available in the UK, but gave me 5HTP, and said it was the "precursor" of Melatonin. Each pill has 100 mg 5HTP. I don't know if it is comparable, but I am planning on searching around on these boards before I use it, only because it was £13.50 for 30 pills!:o If it doesn't work the same, I will probably take it back before opening it, as, that's a lot of cake.

Casey

edit - just found this by searching "5htp melatonin" on the net:
--
5-HTP bypasses the brain's light-regulation system that controls the secretion of melatonin. 5-HTP results in the increased the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that stimulate the noradrenergic receptors in the brain. This stimulation directly triggers the production and release of melatonin.
Thus, when you take 5-HTP, it causes the release of melatonin irrespective of how much light is present. The higher levels of melatonin in circulation, helps you to fall asleep and stay asleep better.
--

It is probably somewhere on these boards, but I am having trouble using the search function. I am sure someone has a better answer than this. I thougt I saw 5HTP somewhere on these boards. I'll keep looking.

Also, how do you do that nifty quote box?

Title: Re: Migraneurs discover Melatonin
Post by floridian on Aug 30^th, 2004, 11:00am

My experience with 5-htp is that it does improve the quality of sleep. It has been proven to help migraines, and I believe it helps with clusters. 100 mg is a rather large dose - most capsules in the US are 50 mg, and I usually divide that into two doses (25 mg a.m. and 25 p.m.).

5-htp is the immediate precursor to serotonin. It passes across the blood-brain barrier better than the amino acid tryptophan (which is 2 or 3 steps away from serotonin). Serotonin is then converted to melatonin. Different people with different metabolisms may respond somewhat different - depending on how their enzymes to convert 5htp>>serotonin>>tryptophan work.

Long term use of 5-htp could theoretically cause heart valve problems like phen-fen did. This hasn't been observed and the most recent research indicates 5-htp appears to be safe. But I limit my 5-htp intake - I take enough to get back to normal, then lay off.

Quote:

Toxicol Lett. 2004 Apr 15;150(1):111-22. Related Articles, Links

Safety of 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan.

Das YT, Bagchi M, Bagchi D, Preuss HG.

ISSI Laboratories Inc., 515 Blue Ridge Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.

5-Hydroxy-L-tryptophan (5-HTP) is the immediate precursor in the biosynthesis of 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT; serotonin) from the essential amino acid L-tryptophan (L-Trp). The use of L-Trp as a dietary supplement was discontinued in 1989 due to an outbreak of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) that was traced to a contaminated synthetic L-Trp from a single manufacturer. 5-HTP has since become a popular dietary supplement in lieu of the removal of L-Trp from the market. Because of its chemical and biochemical relationship to L-Trp, 5-HTP has been under vigilance by consumers, industry, academia and government for its safety. However, no definitive cases of toxicity have emerged despite the worldwide usage of 5-HTP for last 20 years, with the possible exception of one unresolved case of a Canadian woman. Extensive analyses of several sources of 5-HTP have shown no toxic contaminants similar to those associated with L-Trp, nor the presence of any other significant impurities. A minor chromatographic peak (peak X) reported in some 5-HTP samples lacks credibility due to chromatographic artifacts and infinitesimal concentrations, and has raised undue speculations concerning its chemistry and toxicity.

Quote:

Adv Exp Med Biol. 1999;467:177-82.

L-5-hydroxytryptophan can prevent nociceptive disorders in man.

Nicolodi M, Sicuteri F.

Interuniversity Centre of Neurochemistry, Florence, Italy.

Prevention of primary pain is a new topic, endowed with social and economic interest. We observed that L-5-HTP can induce a significant decrease of the cropping out of migraine, the commonest primary pain. This finding seems interesting, since it represents the first data in the field and was obtained in a prospective, long-term, placebo controlled study. The result obtained suggests that CNS abnormalities underlying the mechanism of migraine can be changed by L-5-HTP, if the amino acid is administered to subjects who are predisposed to headache.