Oh man! This sleep thing is really horrible. So, I have something that
might help us all. Although I have tried this medicine and it didn't work.
Do you guys know about this? They are stating in this article that
sometimes it works if you take it and then stop. Here I have copy pasted it
for you all. I try not to send attachments or forwards. Try this out.
Psychiatr News September 1, 2006
Volume 41, Number 17, page 26
© 2006
American Psychiatric Association
Clinical & Research News
Melatonin Effective In Totally Blind People
Lynne Lamberg
Melatonin corrects circadian-rhythm disturbances that often lead to severe
and persistent insomnia in individuals who are totally blind.
Totally blind people-those who cannot perceive light-often report difficulty
falling asleep and staying asleep, as well as fatigue, poor concentration,
and irritability while awake.
More than half of these individuals, an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people
in the United States alone, may have a potentially correctable
circadian-rhythm
sleep disorder, sleep specialists say.
Exogenous melatonin is the treatment of choice for blind people with
non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder," said robert Sack, M.D., a professor of
psychiatry
at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland.
Sack chaired a symposium on using melatonin in the blind at the annual
meeting of the associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in Salt Lake
City,
Utah, in June. He and other speakers recently discussed their research with
Psychiatric News.
The high prevalence of sleep problems in the blind underscores the
importance of light in regulating circadian rhythms in the sighted, Sack
said. In sighted
people, sunlight signals travel from the eyes to the body's master
biological clock in the hypothalamus over a pathway distinct from that for
vision. Shifting
levels of light across the day entrain, or synchronize, the sleep-wake
cycle, endogenous melatonin release, and other biological rhythms with the
earth's
day/night cycle.
Most people, sighted and blind, have innate daily cycles of 24-25 hours,
noted Alfred Lewy, M.D., professor and senior vice chair of psychiatry at
OHSU.
In sighted people, daily exposure to sunlight automatically resets cycle
length to the world's 24-hour day. More than half of totally blind people
have
a 24.5-hour circadian cycle, Lewy said. They commonly drift later and later
around the real time clock, a phenomenon known as "free-running."
Even if they try to sleep at regular times, they typically sleep well only a
few days a month, when their internal clocks fall in sync with preferred
schedules.
At other times, they sleep poorly and feel drowsy while awake. Some
experience depressive symptoms.
Daily oral doses of melatonin can entrain these blind free-runners,
researchers at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom reported in
January 2000
in the Journal of Endocrinology.
Lewy's group suggests doses of about 0.02-0.3 mg/day, approximating
physiological secretion, usually taken in the late afternoon or early
evening, may
be
most effective. They published a dose-response curve for use of exogenous
melatonin in the physiological range in totally blind people in
Chronobiology
International in December 2005.
Jonathan Emens, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at OHSU, working
with Lewy and others, reported at the APSS meeting that his group had shown
for the first time that exogenous melatonin also can entrain blind
free-runners with periods less than 24 hours. The researchers helped a blind
41-year-old
woman and a blind 9-year-old girl stop drifting earlier around the clock.
(The long-term safety of giving melatonin to prepubertal children has not
been
established.)
Melatonin also may help blind people with 24-hour rhythms that persistently
run early or late, disrupting work and social life, Emens said. Melatonin
shifts
biological rhythms earlier or later depending on when it is taken.
Findings from research in the blind, he suggested, may be applicable to
shift work, jet travel, and other circadian sleep disorders.
Figure 1
©
iStockphoto.com/hidesy
Determining the optimal dose and timing of melatonin administration for the
individual user is a key focus of ongoing research, said Debra Skene, Ph.D.,
a professor of neuroendocrinology at the School of Biomedical and Molecular
Sciences, University of Surrey in Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom. An
individual's
response to melatonin depends on both clock time and circadian time, she
said, and on how long the person takes it.
Individual circadian cycle length also may affect treatment outcome, Skene
said. People with an innate period longer than 24.5 hours seem to have more
trouble
entraining than those with shorter cycles. Different formulations of
melatonin, including fast release, sustained release, and controlled
release, may
have different effects.
Before treatment starts, every patient needs a correct diagnosis, said
Steven Lockley, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical
School.
"I know of blind people with non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder who have been
given hypnotics to use at night and stimulants to use in the day because
their
physicians did not recognize the cyclic nature of their disorder," he said.
An estimated 1 in 4 totally blind people can entrain to 24-hour rhythms
using nonphotic time cues in their environment, Lockley noted. These cues
include
regular times for sleep, meals, exercise, work, social relationships,
caffeine, and medications. Some blind people with no conscious light
perception still
may have light-sensitive cells in the retina that enable entrainment.
Blind people able to perceive any light are unlikely to have a circadian
rhythm sleep disorder, he said. However, visually impaired people overall
have
higher rates of sleep disorders than people with normal vision.
Asking a patient to keep a sleep diary or wear a wrist activity monitor for
at least two months probably will reveal a cyclic sleep-wake disorder if one
exists, he said. Collection of urine samples every four to eight hours for
48 hours every two weeks for two months to assess melatonin or cortisol
rhythms
can help make a definitive diagnosis and aid a decision about appropriate
treatment timing. These noninvasive, relatively inexpensive measures, he
said,
are practical in primary care practice.
Melatonin may improve sleep regardless of circadian entrainment, he added,
but correcting an underlying circadian disorder, if one is present, can
improve
daytime performance, alertness, and overall quality of life.
: 11/8/2006
----- Original Message -----
From: "VIRGIE UNDERWOOD" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 3:41 AM
Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land
> Apparently it is not going to happen here tonight!
> Virgie and Hoshi
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Vicki and The Rors" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 2:22 AM
> Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land
>
>
>> Yes. And you should too. Right?
>>
>> Vicki
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "VIRGIE UNDERWOOD" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:04 PM
>> Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land
>>
>>
>>> So far sleep is escaping me! I am wide awake and wish I were sleeping!
>>> We can have all the caffine we want this weekend! Heck, it is the
>>> weekend isn't it? You should be off work tomorrow shouldn't you?
>>> Virgie and Hoshi
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Vicki and The Rors" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 12:45 AM
>>> Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land
>>>
>>>
>>>>I hope both of us can sleep. Sure makes a long day when you don't
>>>>sleep. I feel like some green tea, but then, that has caffeine in it.
>>>>Oh well, save it for the weekend.
>>>>
>>>> Hugs,
>>>> Vicki
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "VIRGIE UNDERWOOD" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 10:32 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Well I guess I don't have any reason to complain, this is the first
>>>>> night in a few weeks I haven't been able to sleep! I hope you are
>>>>> able to get some good sleep tonight.
>>>>> Huggs,
>>>>> Virgie and Hoshi
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Vicki and The Rors" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 12:29 AM
>>>>> Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh what a bummer Virgie. I'm thinking about trying that. Praying
>>>>>> you soon can rest and get much needed sleep.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Vicki
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>> From: "VIRGIE UNDERWOOD" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 10:21 PM
>>>>>> Subject: Anybody awake out there in computer land
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>> Is anyone awake out there tonight? I went to bed but couldn't get
>>>>>>> to sleep!
>>>>>>> Virgie and Hoshi
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.14.1/527 - Release Date: 11/9/2006
>
>
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