Lyn,

It didn't touch me!  <GRRR>

--
Carol - Reading, UK

To you, o Lord, I lift up my soul;
In You I trust, o my God.  . . .."  PS25:1-2 NIV.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyn Latham" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: Anybody awake out there in computer land


> 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
>>
>>