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Betreff: ALZHEIMERS....Dr. Hyla Cass re melatonin ...... |
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Von: JCMPelican @aol.com |
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Datum: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:53:55 EDT |
ALZHEIMERS - Dr. Hyla Cass re
Melatonin
To All: This is such an excellent
report by Dr. Hyla Cass that I thought I would send without adding emphasis or
further comment except to reiterate what I have reported in the past re
my husband, Bud. He is now said not to have Alzheimers
afterall, in spite of many years of declining memory as well as worsening
cognitive function.
After moving his electric clock radio off his
nightstand, he improved in one part of his Executive Function. The
lowering of his nighttime EMF exposure, in the same way that light at night
reduces one's producftion of melatonin, is most likely responsible for Bud's
initial improvement.
Since that time, follow-up neuropsych testing
indicates he has now improved in three areas of his Executive
Function. I currently give him two melatonin capsules with no
Vitamin B-6 as well as one or two melatonin with Vitamin B-6 as well as
theanine. I, myself, take four melatonin capsules without Vitamin
B-6 -- 3 milligrams each -- every night. We both take a number of other
vitamins and supplements and seem to fare better than most persons our ages --
74 and July birthday, age 71 for me.
Some of Bud's additional improvement may be attributed
to discontinuing his statin, Lipitor -- known to reduce Coenzyme Q-10
(important re energy to brain) and is also reported to be linked to memory
problems as well as many other symptoms. Cholesterol offers
protection to the brain. The combination of this dangerous medication,
while enduring night-after-night of EMF/EMR "toxic
pollution" due to the electric clock radio, is obviously very
dangerous. Bud can now walk again without pain and his liver
enzymes are now normal after being abnormal for a couple of years. I
never tolerated statins -- I developed chest pains (tried 5-6 different
statins) even tho they are touted as preventing coronary artery disease.
My concerns re statins, alone, are based
on reviews of "statin expert," Dr. Beatrice
Golumb's work ( University of California/San Diego -- funded by
the National Institute of Health) as well as Dr. Duane Graveline's book, "Dangers
of Statins" ( www.spacedoc.net
) . My lifelong, "best friends" are
dead. They both took statins. One slept close to a transformer box
for a cordless phone (new senior apartment -- I learned too late) and the other
was a great cook who stood by an electric clock mounted on handle of her
expensive stove. She ignored my advice to have the clock
disconnected.
Information regarding melatonin is based on numerous
studies and in particular, Dr. Russel Reiter's book, "Melatonin."
Dr. Andrew Weil has written an excellent review of this book. Click
on the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Melatonin-Russel-J-Reiter/dp/product-description/0553574841
In addition to improvements in memory and cognitive
function, Bud no longer has episodes of delusions and/or hallucinations or
middle-of-night agitation upon awakening, all of which he seemed not to be able
to recall. He now remembers if he makes a request for an additional
melatonin in the middle-of-the-night and returns to bed, without becoming
agitated, and sleeps until waking up at a normal time.
Scientist Roger Coghill offers natural alternatives
for melatonin. Information regarding his work and products are on the
following links : www.cogreslab.co.uk and www.asphalia.co.uk
Dr. Cass reports that studies have been done re
sundowning in Alzheimers' patients as well as other studies re
melatonin. I need to "restrain myself" at this point as I
wonder whether Dr. Cass is being offered the opportunity for "media
attention" regarding the vital facts surrounding melatonin supplementation?
I do know there are problems with the FDA and them not being able to regulate
melatonin because it is not a drug but "Big Pharma"
or not, " FDA or not," we have to "turn-the-tide"
because that is our only hope for some semblance of sanity in regard to
"known scientific facts" that must immediately be shared with the
public.....!!!!
We will still have a long way to go insofar as
evaluating which health problems are related to living too close to cellular
antennae, high voltage powerlines and how much harm is occuring due to WiFi
(alarming increases in problems already all the while more installations are
planned) as well as longterm cell phone usage, and more........ If
taking a supplement such as melatonin will help reduce even a small portion of
the "explosions" being reported re numerous symptoms and diseases
that appear to be related to chronic, prolonged low level EMF/EMR exposures,
the benefits will be substantial. If persons can consume melatonin in its
natural form as in the case of Roger Coghill's asphalia products, that appears
to be a sensible option. Take care everyone
- Joanne
Joanne C. Mueller
Guinea Pigs R Us
731 - 123rd Avenue N.W.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55448-2127 USA
Phone: 763-755-6114
Email: jcmpelican@aol.com (6-15-07)
*
*
*
Life-Enhancement.com
Article -
www.life-enhancement.com/
Article Title: Let There Be Dark—and Melatonin
Article Date: 3/1/2006
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Melatonin
Can Put You in the Dark
Let
There Be Dark—and Melatonin
Imagine how thrilled
those early humans must have been when they learned how to make a campfire
and could sleep close to it for its comforting warmth and even more
comforting light. Probably no discovery or invention in history can compare
with fire in terms of bettering the human condition. Fire enabled our
ancestors not only to cook their food and stay warm, but also, perhaps best
of all, to hold the demons of the night at bay. What a blessing! How a Great Thing
(Light) . . . The taming of fire also
did something else, though: for the first time in the history of any living
thing, it altered the natural cycle of light and dark. Suddenly, our
ancestors were able to see 24/7, just by keeping a fire going. It was an
epochal achievement, but it may have set the stage for certain kinds of
trouble that they could not have imagined and that did not become manifest
for a very long time. Flash forward about a
million years, from their time to that of our grandparents or
great-grandparents, most of whom were born into a world that had changed
little, in terms of the light/dark cycle, over that vast expanse of time. For
them, as it had for tens of thousands of generations before them, the day
began at dawn and ended at dusk, and the only illumination they would have
for the rest of the night was the soft glow of candles or oil lamps or
fireplaces. Sure, they could stay up for awhile and read or play games, but
with that low level of light, and with no Leno or Letterman to look forward
to, pretty soon they went to bed, had sex, and went to sleep—in a really
dark room, with no night light. . . . Became Too Much
of a Great Thing Then came Thomas Edison,
and everything changed. Indoors, and even outdoors, the night could be made
as bright as day. Suddenly, we could do almost anything we wanted, whenever
we wanted, wherever we wanted. And did we ever! We took to nightlife—in our
homes, offices, factories, playing fields, and, yes, nightclubs—as if born
to it. Little did we know, however, that by doing so, we were inviting a variety
of medical ills directly attributable to something that had never existed
before to any significant degree: too much light. The taming of fire
long ago may thus have provided the first example in history of what we now
know as the law of unintended consequences. It's not so much that
light is bad for us as that darkness is good for us. Thus, not
getting enough darkness can be harmful to our health. That's odd, isn't it? Our
ancestors would surely not have understood this paradox, but we are beginning
to understand it, thanks to medical research that has shed new, uh, light on
the subject of darkness. Darkness Produces
Melatonin With nothing more
dangerous than a kitty cat stalking us as we sleep, we can, and should,
consider darkness to be our friend, physiologically speaking. The reason is
that darkness—or, to put it the other way, the absence of
light—stimulates the production of a hormone, melatonin, from its
immediate precursor, the neurotransmitter serotonin. Like serotonin,
melatonin plays important roles in our physical and mental well-being. Well
discuss some of those shortly, but first let's see how our production of
melatonin is controlled. When light enters our
eyes, photoreceptor cells convert it to nerve impulses that travel via the optic
nerve to the brain. They go not just to the visual cortex, where they are
processed to produce the sensation of vision, but also to two clusters of
neurons called the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). Together, these
nuclei constitute the body's circadian pacemaker, popularly known as the
biological clock, which regulates many aspects of our physiology on a 24-hour
cycle. The pacemaker monitors the incoming light levels and sends relevant
information to the pineal gland, buried deep within the brain. This pea-sized
gland responds by adjusting the brain's output of melatonin accordingly. During daylight hours,
melatonin production is minimal, and blood levels of this hormone remain low.
When night falls, however, and the ambient light level plummets, the absence
of light induces biochemical changes that cause melatonin production to
increase dramatically, about 2 hours later. That's when we begin to feel
sleepy, the signal that it's time to go to bed. Melatonin levels peak during
the night and then decline to their previously low levels by morning—time
to wake up. Instead, We Turn on
the Lights In an ideal world, we
would go with the flow of nature's circadian rhythms, obeying the melatonin
signal by going to bed and getting a good night's sleep (which for most
people means 7 to 9 hours, depending on individual needs). Alas, however, our
modern world is far from ideal in this regard. When night falls, we turn on
the lights, thereby suppressing the melatonin signal and interfering with the
circadian rhythms that millions of years of evolution have programmed us for.
Instead of getting ready for bed, we keep on working or playing, doing
chores, pursuing hobbies, watching TV, etc. For some of us, actually, our day
is just beginning, as we prepare to go to our night-shift jobs, where we'll
be exposed to bright light all night long. Our poor biological
clocks get thrown out of whack by all this. In a very real sense, we are
fooling Mother Nature, and, as everyone knows, that's not nice. It's also
unhealthy. The most obvious casualty is adequate and restful sleep. With our
busy, fast-paced lifestyles, and with deficient levels of melatonin in our
systems during the night, we sleep poorly and not enough. The result is a
population that is chronically and dangerously sleep-deprived, with
consequent fatigue, irritability, depression, impaired reflexes, and
susceptibility to accidents, just to name a few. Night-shift work exacerbates
most of these problems and is seen as a serious threat to the workers'
health. Poor or inadequate sleep can even lead to premature death.1* *For more on melatonin and sleep, see Melatonin Is Good … for … Zzzz (July 2002), Better Sleep May Mean Longer Life (June 2003), Melatonin Can Reset Your Biological Clock (March 2005), and Had Any Good Sleep Lately? (June 2005). The Elderly Lack
Sufficient Melatonin The elderly are
especially prone to sleep disorders because, as with many other vital
hormones, our ability to produce melatonin declines sharply with age (obesity
is another culprit in this regard). In a recent review of the clinical uses
of melatonin by researchers in Argentina, the authors stated,2 Aging has been associated with a significant
reduction in sleep efficiency and continuity and coincides with a significant
reduction in amplitude of the melatonin rhythm. Increase in early morning
awakenings and difficulty in falling sleep [sic] have been frequent [sic]
reported in the elderly. Impaired melatonin secretion has been shown to be
associated with the sleep disorders that are encountered in elderly
insomniacs. Indeed, aging may be a process resulting in part from relative
melatonin deficiency, and melatonin can be effective for improving the
quality of life in the elderly. They go on to discuss
some of the physiological functions that are influenced by melatonin, which
they refer to as a chronobiotic agent because its effects oscillate
rhythmically with the status of the biological clock. Among these functions
are sleep regulation, immune function, inhibition of tumor growth, blood
pressure regulation, retinal physiology, control of mood and behavior, and
free radical scavenging (melatonin is a strong antioxidant, as are several of
its metabolites). Most of these functions are relevant in both normal and
pathological aging. Alzheimer's Disrupts
the Sleep/Wake Cycle Among the most notorious
pathologies related to aging is dementia, of which Alzheimer's disease is by
far the most prevalent kind. A characteristic symptom of this disease is
severe disruption of the sleep/wake cycle. The Argentinean researchers point
out that this is believed to result from damage to the suprachiasmatic
nuclei, causing the patients' melatonin secretion to be highly irregular. Many Alzheimer's patients
exhibit a sleep disturbance called sundowning, which is a worsening of
cognitive functions and an increase in behavioral anomalies during the
evening and nighttime hours. The pattern includes increased confusion, agitation,
inattention, restlessness, pointless repetition, and wandering, among other
things. Naturally, this can add greatly to the caregivers' burden, often
making it impossible for them to get a good night's sleep as well. Melatonin Helps with
Sleep and Memory With abundant clinical
evidence of the strong correlations between melatonin deficiency and
Alzheimer's disease (even in its earliest, preclinical stages), it makes
sense to try to alleviate Alzheimer's-related sleep disturbances, including
sundowning, with supplemental melatonin. The Argentinean authors discussed
nine such studies, with melatonin doses ranging from 2.5 to 10 mg/day. All of
them had produced positive results, including, in some cases, improvements in
memory. In reference to five of the studies, the authors stated that the
declines in cognitive functions that one would expect to see in untreated
patients were halted by melatonin. They also discussed a
number of studies demonstrating strong neuroprotective mechanisms of
melatonin, one of which is its antioxidant activity, mentioned above. They
mentioned melatonin's more general cell-protecting properties as well, citing
its very strong cytoprotective activity in situations such as osteoporosis,
ischemia-reperfusion (the restoration of blood flow after an occlusion, which
causes oxidative damage to blood vessels and tissues), and diabetic
microangiopathy (the damage done to capillaries as a result of diabetes). Melatonin Protects
Against Brain Damage Most intriguing, however,
is melatonin's ability, in numerous animal experiments, to prevent the
neurotoxicity of amyloid-beta, the protein that is the principal
constituent of senile plaques. These harmful deposits, a hallmark of
Alzheimer's disease, attack and destroy neurons, resulting in the substantial
loss of brain matter seen in Alzheimer's victims at autopsy. They also
stimulate the production of another pathological feature of the disease,
neurofibrillary tangles, which contribute to the same dreadful outcome. The authors concluded, Melatonin may provide an innovative
neuroprotective strategy in normal and pathological aging. Melatonin protects
against several mechanisms of neuronal death … Through restoration of
slow-wave sleep, melatonin treatment can result in better regulation of
neuronal metabolism. Indeed, better sleep must be considered as a
neuroprotective strategy that can potentially improve the course and outcome
of several brain disorders associated with aging, and thus the quality of
life of the affected individuals and their family members. To promote and
protect an appropriate sleep can substantially reduce the costs of treatment
and management—in particular, the enormous costs of lifetime treatment of
some neuropsychiatric disorders. More Melatonin, Please Scientific studies on the
use of supplemental melatonin for improving sleep have generally used dosages
in the range of 0.3 to 5.0 mg/day. Melatonin is best taken shortly before
bedtime, because it usually takes effect about 30 minutes after ingestion. It
gradually leaves the circulation during the night, and by morning, it's
virtually gone. Its worth noting that melatonin is nontoxic and very
safe—much safer than prescription sleeping pills, which can have dangerous
side effects, particularly in those over 60 years of age. How bizarre it is to
think that here, in the twenty-first century, one of the demons of the night
that we have to contend with is light, the very thing our primordial
ancestors must have craved most during those long, scary nights in the jungle
or savanna. Imagine how astounded they would be if they could see the
luminous world we live in and hear our cries for more darkness—or, at
least, more melatonin. References
Dr.
Hyla Cass is a nationally recognized expert in integrative medicine, an
assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine,
and the author or coauthor of several popular books, including Natural Highs: Supplements,
Nutrition, and Mind-Body Techniques to Help You Feel Good All the Time and
8 Weeks to Vibrant Health: A Woman's Take-Charge Program to Correct
Imbalances, Reclaim Energy, and Restore Well-Being. |
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