For Informed People Using Alternative Treatments

juneping

here is the thread...if you want to read more.

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/6/topic/81...

hjpz

Anyone here take Milk Thistle or other liver detoxification products?  I am reading in "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Pre-Menopause" that this is recommended multiple times for estrogen dominant women.  It is also recommended for women who get ovarian cysts (functional), which is something I am currently dealing with (or I hope that it is just that!)    I am trying to get my nutrients through food as much as I can so am reluctant to add another pill to take but I bought a bottle of it to try out.  

cp418

hipz - This is the product my nutritionist told me to take.  http://www.pureprescriptions.com/taps-thorne-research/p595

 

 

 

hjpz

Thanks cp418! I will look into it.

juneping

i saw two netflix movies, the beautiful truth and the gerson miracle. both talked about doctor max gerson and his gerson therapy, a lot about toxins in our lives and i began to understand juicing and coffee enemas.

jojo68

Great movies!

geewhiz

Just a following up on my Whole Body Hyperthermia - it's all done. I did it without any anesthesia, and it lasted about 3 hours. Very simple process - the doctor puts you in a machine that looks like a tanning bed somewhat that emits infrared heat. You are in cotton pajamas. The first hour is getting you "into fever range" which for me was just under 105 degrees. They then hold you there. All your vitals are closely monitored - heart rate, blood pressure, pulse and temperature. They let you sip fresh young coconut juice. Afterwards they gave me a fresh blend of juices. I was out to dinner and a movie hours later feeling great.

 There was a second machine in the room and a fellow got in for his 21st treatment in 4 years. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is NED - crediting it to diligent nutrition, exercise and hyperthermia. It was fun to talk to him. He sang to himself through the hardest part of the temperature increasing, which was encouraging to me- since I was about to throw myself out the nearest window. I had an ipod but accidentally brought one of my kids...so I put it on and it was that damned gummy bear song...omg.

 It was a very professional environment. There was a doctor from Iran, one from South Korea, one from the Phillipines, one from Fred Hutchinson Cancer in Seattle, one from Lions Gate and one from India all collaborating that week. They were brainstorming cancer's origin and had a large whiteboard that was fascinating, though I only caught a glimpse ---things like Cox-2 and P56, and insulin pathways etc. There was a shelf with large notebooks of studies and research - mindboggling. I had no idea that so much research was done by the Ukraine on cancer. (As an aside, the doctor from Fred Hutch was conducting a trial on the upper dose limits of Vitamin D in cancer patients...they had yet to find an intolerable limit. He told me to take upwards of 10,000 a day to get my very low D levels up and also said to look into taking 20mg of melatonin a night for ER positive bc)

It all really renewed my commitment to this process and looking at it as a multipronged approach - diligent nutrition, supplements, exercise and for me yoga and meditation.

Whistler was great too. We went skiing and even went down the Olympic bobsled course at 76mph. The kids said it was their best vacation ever.

BrooksideVT

Thank you so very, very much for posting.  Amazing!  Three hours!  Truly fascinating (except for the jumping out the window feeling).  And what a piece of inspiration that the NED guy was there too.  Boy, are you brave (here I refer to the bobsled run, not the heat, which I imagine just as a grin and bear it undertaking).  I sure hope we hear more about their research and their successes.

As for yoga and meditation (forgive me if I've mentioned this before), years ago I had a shrink who believed all ills stemmed from stress.  It took a while, but eventually I agreed with him.  My guess is that meditation (including yoga, tai chi, prayer, and the like) is probably the very best thing any of us can do healthwise.  Ahh. If only I'd follow my own belief!

Fallleaves

Geewhiz, so glad to hear the Whole Body Hyperthermia went well. Doesn't sound like it was a pleasant experience, but also not intolerable, and you sure bounced back quickly. It's great that it's done without anesthesia, which has a lot of issues of its own. What a cool environment that must have been, seeing all the collaboration going on and all the research. Very exciting. Wonderful that it was your kids' best vacation ever, too!

wyo

Great post on the hyperthermia experience.  I am also interested in the melatonin for ER+- did he give any more detail than the dose recommendation. I know a lot of people on these boards are taking melatonin but I thought it was more for sleep issues when taking tamoxifen- hope you can say more. 

I worked with an Internal Medicine physician from India who also believed that stress/toxins was at the root of all disease. He followed his own advice and when you would call him with a patient question, they would not interrupt him if he was meditating. He said one day of stressful behavior and negativity would have toxins in your system for 2 weeks.  We worked in a busy ICU so the point was each stressful day with negative thoughts just built up in our systems over time. I started doing Yoga in 2000 when a good friend said I "needed it" because of the stress of our job- I have always been grateful and have expanded and continued my practice over the years. 

So in looking at the 3-pronged approach I still need to do some work in the nutrition area and am working hard to not eat any food that I am not cooking and if I do its something basic that I can know whats in it- have not had fast food much at all over the past 10 years.  Thanks so much for sharing what sounds like a really good experience coupled with a fantastic vacation 

peacestrength

Geewiz - thanks for the update!

hjpz

Thanks for the update!

geewhiz

WYO - I don't have any studies to cite. The office was going to follow up with me this week so I will ask if they can provide references for melatonins effectiveness.

I did tell him I took 10mg occasionally and he said to work my way up to 20mg daily. The doctor from Singapore was in the initial exam room as well and nodded his head emphatically. He said something about signaling from various estrogen receptors... I was distracted with thoughts of the impending frying. If I get a reference from them I will post it.

juneping

geewhiz - thank you for the update. it just sounds very encouraging to read that many international doctors are in that facility to cure cancer.

wyo - i totally agreed with the idea that stress is the main reason, it affects how our body function again bad cells and free radicals. dr Wong told me stress (actually it's more like a state of mind, we spoke in chinese, so it translates into this meaning the closest i can come up with) was the main factor, then diet.

i watched this documentary Stress: the portrait of a killer, it's fascinating and very profound in a way. check it out. i am taking some time off work after a MX and two huge deadlines. so i have a lot of time to educate myself lol.

Srh242

I think more than stress, they are going to find a bunch of other genes related to this. Look into the nextgen test.

juneping

i watched this documentary Stress: the portrait of a killer. it is a very interesting subject and stress has everything to do with how the immune system going to fight the bad cells. not saying genes are not important, but there got to be a trigger to manifest some thing to happen. even the ppl with brca genes don't always have BC, is it like only 10% of them have BC??

i also think put too much emphasis on the genes are just so passive to approach this decease. but i do believe some ppl are genetically proned to have C. but not all of us. when you map the BC patients all over the world, it's more geographic then genes. ppl moved from east to the west are just having the same high risk as the westerners.

flaviarose

I take 20 mg. of melatonin on advice of nutritionist.  Here are some of her references:

2. Oncol Rep. 2013 May;29(5):2058-64. doi: 10.3892/or.2013.2314. Epub 2013 Feb 28.

Melatonin modulates aromatase activity and expression in endothelial cells.

Alvarez-García V, González A, Martínez-Campa C, Alonso-González C, Cos S.

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria,
39011 Santander, Spain.

Melatonin is known to suppress the development of endocrine-responsive breast cancers
by interacting with the estrogen signaling pathways. Paracrine interactions between
malignant epithelial cells and proximal stromal cells are responsible for local estrogen
biosynthesis. In human breast cancer cells and peritumoral adipose tissue, melatonin
downregulates aromatase, which transforms androgens into estrogens. The presence of
aromatase on endothelial cells indicates that endothelial cells may contribute to tumor
growth by producing estrogens. Since human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs)
express both aromatase and melatonin receptors, the aim of the present study was to
evaluate the ability of melatonin to regulate the activity and expression of aromatase on
endothelial cells, thus, modulating local estrogen biosynthesis. In the present study, we
demonstrated that melatonin inhibits the growth of HUVECs and reduces the local

biosynthesis of estrogens through the downregulation of aromatase. These results are
supported by three lines of evidence. Firstly, 1 mM of melatonin counteracted the
testosterone-induced cell proliferation of HUVECs, which is dependent on the local
biosynthesis of estrogens from testosterone by the aromatase activity of the cells.
Secondly, we found that 1 mM of melatonin reduced the aromatase activity of HUVECs.
Finally, by real-time RT-PCR, we demonstrated that melatonin significantly downregulated
the expression of aromatase as well as its endothelial-specific aromatase promoter region
I.7. We conclude that melatonin inhibits aromatase activity and expression in HUVECs by
regulating gene expression of specific aromatase promoter regions, thereby reducing the
local production of estrogens.

PMID: 23450505 [PubMed - in process]

3. BMC Cell Biol. 2013 Jan 7;14:1. doi: 10.1186/1471-2121-14-1.

Melatonin enhances DNA repair capacity possibly by affecting genes involved in DNA
damage responsive pathways.

Liu R, Fu A, Hoffman AE, Zheng T, Zhu Y.

Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of
Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.

BACKGROUND: Melatonin, a hormone-like substance involved in the regulation of the
circadian rhythm, has been demonstrated to protect cells against oxidative DNA damage
and to inhibit tumorigenesis. RESULTS: In the current study, we investigated the effect
of melatonin on DNA strand breaks using the alkaline DNA comet assay in breast cancer
(MCF-7) and colon cancer (HCT-15) cell lines. Our results demonstrated that cells
pretreated with melatonin had significantly shorter Olive tail moments compared to non-
melatonin treated cells upon mutagen (methyl methanesulfonate, MMS) exposure,
indicating an increased DNA repair capacity after melatonin treatment. We further
examined the genome-wide gene expression in melatonin pretreated MCF-7 cells upon
carcinogen exposure and detected altered expression of many genes involved in multiple
DNA damage responsive pathways. Genes exhibiting altered expression were further
analyzed for functional interrelatedness using network- and pathway-based bioinformatics
analysis. The top functional network was defined as having relevance for "DNA Replication,
Recombination, and Repair, Gene Expression, [and] Cancer". CONCLUSIONS: These
findings suggest that melatonin may enhance DNA repair capacity by affecting several key
genes involved in DNA damage responsive pathways.

PMCID: PMC3543845 PMID: 23294620 [PubMed - in process]

4. J Pineal Res. 2012 Aug 16. doi: 10.1111/jpi.12007. [Epub ahead of print]

Regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor by melatonin in human breast cancer cells.

Alvarez-García V, González A, Alonso-González C, Martínez-Campa C, Cos S.

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria,
Santander, Spain.

Melatonin exerts oncostatic effects on breast cancer by interfering with the estrogen-
signaling pathways. Melatonin reduces estrogen biosynthesis in human breast cancer cells,
surrounding fibroblasts and peritumoral endothelial cells by regulating cytokines that
influence tumor microenvironment. This hormone also exerts antiangiogenic activity in
tumoral tissue. In this work, our objective was to study the role of melatonin on the
regulation of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in breast cancer cells. To
accomplish this, we cocultured human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) with human umbilical
vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). VEGF added to the cultures stimulated the proliferation
of HUVECs and melatonin (1 mm) counteracted this effect. Melatonin reduced VEGF
production and VEGF mRNA expression in MCF-7 cells. MCF-7 cells cocultured with
HUVECs stimulated the endothelial cells proliferation and increased VEGF levels in the
culture media. Melatonin counteracted both stimulatory effects on HUVECs proliferation
and on VEGF protein levels in the coculture media. Conditioned media from MCF-7 cells
increased HUVECs proliferation, and this effect was significantly counteracted by anti-
VEGF and 1 mm melatonin. All these findings suggest that melatonin may play a role in the
paracrine interactions between malignant epithelial cells and proximal endothelial cells
through a downregulatory action on VEGF expression in human breast cancer cells, which
decrease the levels of VEGF around endothelial cells. Lower levels of VEGF could be
important in reducing the number of estrogen-producing cells proximal to malignant cells
as well as decreasing tumoral angiogenesis.

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

PMID: 23013414 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

5. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2013 Jun;70(12):2139-2157. Epub 2012 Sep 25.
Molecular mechanisms of melatonin's inhibitory actions on breast cancers.
Proietti S, Cucina A, Reiter RJ, Bizzarri M.

Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.

Melatonin is involved in many physiological functions and it plays an important role in many
pathological processes as well. Melatonin has been shown to reduce the incidence of
experimentally induced cancers and can significantly inhibit the growth of some human
tumors, namely hormone-dependent cancers. The anticancer effects of melatonin have
been observed in breast cancer, both in in vivo with models of chemically induced rat
mammary tumors, and in vitro studies on human breast cancer cell lines. Melatonin acts at
different physiological levels and its antitumoral properties are supported by a set of
complex, different mechanisms of action, involving apoptosis activation, inhibition of
proliferation, and cell differentiation.

PMID: 23007844 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

6. J Pineal Res. 2012 Jun 27. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-079X.2012.01027.x. [Epub ahead of print]

Genome-wide profiling in melatonin-exposed human breast cancer cell lines identifies
differentially methylated genes involved in the anticancer effect of melatonin.

Lee SE, Kim SJ, Yoon HJ, Yu SY, Yang H, Jeong SI, Hwang SY, Park CS, Park YS.
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.

Epigenetic alterations have emerged as an important mechanism involved in tumorigenesis.
The epigenetic impact of DNA methylation in various types of human cancer is not
completely understood. Previously, we observed melatonin-induced differential expression
of miRNA and miRNA-related genes in human breast cancer cell lines that indicated an
anticancer effect of melatonin. In this report, we further characterized epigenetic
changes in melatonin-exposed MCF-7 cells through the analysis of DNA methylation
profiles in breast cancer cells to provide new insights into the potential mechanisms of the
anticancer effect of melatonin. Microarray-based DNA methylation and gene expression
profiling were carried out using human breast cancer cell lines. We further identified a
number of mRNAs whose expression levels show an inverse correlation with DNA
methylation levels. The mRNA expression levels and methylation status of candidate genes
in melatonin-exposed cells were confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR and bisulfite PCR.
This approach led to the detection of cancer-related genes, which were oncogenic genes,
including EGR3 and POU4F2/Brn-3b were down-regulated, while the tumor suppressor
gene, GPC3, was up-regulated by 1 nm melatonin-treated MCF-7 cells. Our results provide
detailed insights into the DNA methylation patterns induced by melatonin and suggest a

potential mechanism of the anticancer effect of aberrant DNA methylation in melatonin-
treated breast cancer cells.

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

PMID: 22856590 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] 

flaviarose

More on melatonin:

7. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2012 Jun;21(6):819-31. doi:
10.1517/13543784.2012.681045. Epub 2012 Apr 16.

Melatonin uses in oncology: breast cancer prevention and reduction of the side effects of
chemotherapy and radiation.

Sanchez-Barcelo EJ, Mediavilla MD, Alonso-Gonzalez C, Reiter RJ.

University of Cantabria, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, 39011 Santander,
Spain. barcelo@unican.es

INTRODUCTION: The possible oncostatic properties of melatonin on different types of
neoplasias have been studied especially in hormone-dependent adenocarcinomas. Despite
the promising results of these experimental investigations, the use of melatonin in breast
cancer treatment in humans is still uncommon. AREAS COVERED: This article reviews the
usefulness of this indoleamine for specific aspects of breast cancer management,
particularly in reference to melatonin's antiestrogenic and antioxidant properties: i)
treatments oriented to breast cancer prevention, especially when the risk factors are
obesity, steroid hormone treatment or chronodisruption by exposure to light at night
(LAN); ii) treatment of the side effects associated with chemo- or radiotherapy. EXPERT
OPINION: The clinical utility of melatonin depends on the appropriate identification of its
actions. Because of its SERM (selective estrogen receptor modulators) and SEEM
(selective estrogen enzyme modulators) properties, and its virtual absence of
contraindications, melatonin could be an excellent adjuvant with the drugs currently used
for breast cancer prevention (antiestrogens and antiaromatases). The antioxidant actions
also make melatonin a suitable treatment to reduce oxidative stress associated with
chemotherapy, especially with anthracyclines, and radiotherapy.

PMID: 22500582 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

8. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012 Apr;132(2):765-71. doi: 10.1007/s10549-012-1953-4.
Epub 2012 Jan 12.

Melatonin suppresses aromatase expression and activity in breast cancer associated
fibroblasts.

Knower KC, To SQ, Takagi K, Miki Y, Sasano H, Simpson ER, Clyne CD.

Cancer Drug Discovery Laboratory, Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, PO Box
5152, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia. kevin.knower@princehenrys.org

The main biological active substance secreted by the pineal gland, melatonin (MLT),
counteracts the effects of estrogens in breast cancer via exerting a number of its own
oncostatic properties. Recent studies of postmenopausal women have identified that the
major metabolite of MLT is statistically significantly associated with a lower risk of
developing breast cancer. While MLT production decreases with age, breast cancer risk,
however, increases with age and obesity. We hypothesize that MLT inhibits estrogen
production in breast adipose fibroblasts (BAFs), the main local source of estrogen in
breast tumors of postmenopausal women, by inhibiting transcription of the CYP19A1 gene
that encodes the key enzyme aromatase. Normal BAFs were cultured from women
undergoing breast reduction surgery, while breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)
were isolated from three women with estrogen receptor (ER) positive invasive ductal
carcinomas. MTNR1A and MTNR1B receptor expression and CYP19A1 mRNA expression
following MLT treatments were determined by qRT-PCR. BAFs express the G-protein
coupled MLT receptors MTNR1A and MTNR1B with elevated levels of MTNR1A found in
CAFs. Treatment of BAFs and CAFs with MLT resulted in significant suppression of
CYP19A1 transcription and aromatase activity at pharmacological, physiological and sub-
physiological concentrations. MLT suppression occurred through promoter-specific PI.4-,
PI.3- and PII-derived CYP19A1 mRNA. Stimulation of CYP19A1 PII-mRNA and aromatase
activity by prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) were significantly attenuated by physiological doses
of MLT. Lower levels of MLT in aging women may increase the risk of progressing ER-
positive breast cancer through a decreased ability to suppress CYP19A1 expression and
subsequent local estrogen production in BAFs/CAFs.

PMID: 22237979 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

9. J Pineal Res. 2012 Apr;52(3):282-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-079X.2011.00940.x. Epub 2011
Dec 12.

Melatonin interferes in the desmoplastic reaction in breast cancer by regulating cytokine
production.

Alvarez-García V, González A, Alonso-González C, Martínez-Campa C, Cos S.

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria,
Santander, Spain.

Melatonin exerts oncostatic effects on breast cancer by interfering with the estrogen
signaling pathways. Melatonin inhibits aromatase enzyme in breast cancer cells and
fibroblasts. In addition, melatonin stimulates the adipogenic differentiation of fibroblasts.
Our objective was to study whether melatonin interferes in the desmoplastic reaction by
regulating some factors secreted by malignant cells, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a,
interleukin (IL)-11, and interleukin (IL)-6. To accomplish this, we co-cultured 3T3-L1 cells
with MCF-7 cells. The addition of breast cancer cells to the co-cultures inhibited the
differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes to mature adipocytes, by reducing the
intracytoplasmic triglyceride accumulation, an indicator of adipogenic differentiation, and
also stimulated their aromatase activity. Melatonin counteracted the inhibitory effect on
adipocyte differentiation and aromatase activity induced by MCF-7 cells in 3T3-L1 cells.
The levels of cytokines in the co-culture media were 10 times those found in culture of
3T3-L1 cells alone. Melatonin decreased the concentrations of cytokines in the media and
counteracted the stimulatory effect induced by MCF-7 cells on the cytokine levels. One
millimolar melatonin induced a reduction in TNF-a, IL-6, and IL-11 mRNA expression in
MCF-7 and 3T3-L1 cells. The findings suggest that melatonin may play a role in the
desmoplastic reaction in breast cancer through a downregulatory action on the expression
of antiadipogenic cytokines, which decrease the levels of these cytokines. Lower levels of
cytokines stimulate the differentiation of fibroblasts and decrease both aromatase
activity and expression, thereby reducing the number of estrogen-producing cells proximal
to malignant cells.

© 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

PMID: 22151118 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

10. Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov. 2011 May;5(2):109-23.

Melatonin, immune function and cancer.

Srinivasan V, Pandi-Perumal SR, Brzezinski A, Bhatnagar KP, Cardinali DP.

Sri Sathya Sai Medical Educational and Research Foundation, Prasanthi Nilayam, 40-Kovai
Thirunagar Coimbatore-641014, India. sainivasan@yahoo.com

Melatonin is a natural substance ubiquitous in distribution and present in almost all species
ranging from unicellular organisms to humans. In mammals, melatonin is synthesized not
only in the pineal gland but also in many other parts of the body, including the eyes, bone

marrow, gastrointestinal tract, skin and lymphocytes. Melatonin influences almost every
cell and can be traced in membrane, cytoplasmic, mitochondrial and nuclear compartments
of the cell. The decline in the production of melatonin with age has been suggested as one
of the major contributors to immunosenescence and development of neoplastic diseases.
Melatonin is a natural antioxidant with immunoenhancing properties. T-helper cells play an
important role for protection against malignancy and melatonin has been shown to enhance
T-helper cell response by releasing interleukin-2, interleukin-10 and interferon-?.
Melatonin is effective in suppressing neoplastic growth in a variety of tumors like
melanoma, breast and prostate cancer, and ovarian and colorectal cancer. As an adjuvant
therapy, melatonin can be beneficial in treating patients suffering from breast cancer,
hepatocellular carcinoma or melanoma. In this paper, a brief review of recent patents on
melatonin and cancer has also been presented.

PMID: 22074586 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

And melatonin for gallbladder:

1. J Pineal Res. 2008 Apr;44(3):250-60. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-079X.2007.00520.x.

Protective effect of melatonin on Ca2+ homeostasis and contractility in acute
cholecystitis.

Gomez-Pinilla PJ, Camello PJ, Pozo MJ.

Department of Physiology, Nursing School, University of Extremadura, Caceres, Spain.

Impaired Ca2+ homeostasis and smooth muscle contractility co-exist in acute cholecystitis
(AC) leading to gallbladder dysfunction. There is no pharmacological treatment for this
pathological condition. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of melatonin treatment on Ca2+
signaling pathways and contractility altered by cholecystitis. [Ca2+]i was determined by
epifluorescence microscopy in fura-2 loaded isolated gallbladder smooth muscle cells, and
isometric tension was recorded from gallbladder muscle strips. Malondialdehyde (MDA)
and reduced glutathione (GSH) contents were determined by spectrophotometry and
cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression was quantified by western blot. Melatonin was tested
in two experimental groups, one of which underwent common bile duct ligation for 2 days
and another that was later de-ligated for 2 days. Inflammation-induced impairment of
Ca2+ responses to cholecystokinin and caffeine were recovered by melatonin treatment
(30 mg/kg). This treatment also ameliorated the detrimental effects of AC on Ca2+ influx
through both L-type and capacitative Ca2+ channels, and it was effective in preserving the
pharmacological phenotype of these channels. Despite its effects on Ca2+ homeostasis,
melatonin did not improve contractility. After de-ligation, Ca2+ influx and contractility
were still impaired, but both were recovered by melatonin. These effects of melatonin
were associated to a reduction of MDA levels, an increase in GSH content and a decrease

in COX-2 expression. These findings indicate that melatonin restores Ca2+ homeostasis
during AC and resolves inflammation. In addition, this indoleamine helps in the subsequent
recovery of functionality.

PMID: 18339120 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2. Curr Med Chem. 2010;17(34):4150-65.

Melatonin, a potential therapeutic agent for smooth muscle-related pathological conditions
and aging.

Pozo MJ, Gomez-Pinilla PJ, Camello-Almaraz C, Martin-Cano FE, Pascua P, Rol MA, Acuña-
Castroviejo D, Camello PJ.

Department of Physiology, Nursing School, Avda Universidad s/n, 10071 Cáceres, Spain.
mjpozo@unex.es

Increases or decreases in the contractile response of smooth muscle underlie important
pathological conditions such as hypertension, incontinence and altered gastrointestinal
transit. These disorders are also frequently encountered in the aged population. Oxidative
stress and inflammation are key features in the initiation, progression, and clinical
manifestations of smooth muscle disorders. Melatonin, the major secretory product of the
pineal gland, has free radical scavenging and antioxidative properties and protects against
oxidative insult. Recently, widespread interest has grown regarding the apparent
protective effects of melatonin on smooth muscle dysfunction. "In vitro" studies have
shown that melatonin decreased vascular tone of vascular beds from control, hypertensive
or aged animals, through the reduction of adrenergic contraction and the increase in
acetylcholine-induced relaxation. "In vivo", melatonin also attenuates sympathetic tone by
direct activation of melatonin receptors, scavenging free radicals or increasing NO
availability in the central nervous system. In the gastrointestinal tract, melatonin
treatment improves age-related impairments in gallbladder contractility and prevents
deleterious effects of cholecystitis on smooth muscle and the enteric nervous system
through suppression of oxidative stress. In addition, melatonin improves colonic transit
time in constipation-predominant IBS patients. Melatonin is also able to restore impaired
contractility of the detrusor muscle from old animals through normalization of Ca(2+)
dependent and independent contraction, mitochondrial polarity, neuromuscular function
and oxidative stress, which would explain the effects of melatonin counteracting
cystometric changes in senescent animals. It also reverses bladder damage following
ischemia/reperfusion. In conclusion, melatonin may be a promising candidate for future
research of agents that modulate smooth muscle motility.

PMID: 20939818 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 

juneping

something i wanted to share, just watched "pink ribbons inc" and found out that a pharmaceutical company produced growth hormones and also make breast cancer drugs. i found it to be very ironic and sad...

http://bcaction.org/milking-cancer-campaign-brief-...

hjpz

 I think there might be somewhat of a misunderstanding  about the BRCA gene mutation - since I have the BRCA2 mutation I can say only around 10% of women who have BC have the genetic mutation but that doesn't mean that I only had a 10% chance of getting BC.  In fact, I had a 86% chance of getting it with my particular mutation and over 40% chance of getting it in my other breast.   IMO I am facing an even more uphill battle than those without the mutation  - I do think if you don't have the mutation changing your lifestyle will be a huge factor in keeping you BC free.  I won't give up on making positive lifestyle changes as I am sure it also helps me.   I still figure I have to do something so I try to focus on diet and exercise as much as I can.  Working on dealing with stress better is always something I struggle with but won't give up on that either.   

hjpz

Hmmmm I thought I had read it was a bad idea to take Melatonin regularly.  I am so confused. It is so hard to know what is good for you!  

desalonde

Go ahead and rant and I will cheer you on june ping

I share your concern that there is so little options for breast cancer treatments and also for prevention.

All the treatments are potentially a cause of other health problems and impact quality of life even if it doesn't affect survival.

Ok survival is good but it's a minimal goal... quality of life, reduction of harms which are avoidable from treatments by finding out how to "tailor" treatment to the person is a better goal. They don't even have info on whether the boost dose for a given person should be 10, 12, 14, or 16 for example and it matters to total radiation dose and fibrosis risk to use the minimum effective dose.

Also even with what is known the docs I have encountered do NOT try to share info when asked for so a person can make an informed choice based on their own tolerance for risk and benefit.

GlobalGirlyGirl

I totally believe stress is what brought on my breast cancer. 

And I take 15 mg of Melatonin - in addition to my sleeping pill.

juneping

hjpz - i was wondering the melatonin too....but not about long term taking it but how does it affect the sleeping pattern if taken long term. anyone??

desalonde - for that exact reason, i have been thinking going off tamxo and go with supplements instead. but i am hesitated to do so....the hot flashes are kind of starting, i woke up every night now around 3am because i felt very warm and sweated mildly. before BC i had a little symptom like this but this is stronger. if it gets worse i will need to go off it.

juneping

globalgirl - mind sharing how long have you been taking it? do you worry it will affect your sleep pattern down the road? back in 07, i had chronic insomnia for 3 months....and since then i have been a sensitive sleeper. i want to know more about melatonin. hope you don't mind sharing....

pipers_dream

Geewhiz, thanks for posting about the hyperthermia--don't know yet if I'll try it but it's an option--please keep us posted in the weeks and months to come.  I wonder if it's based off of Coley's research?  He would inject people with toxins to raise their fever but of course he lost an unacceptable number to the illness too. I was glad to read about what you said about the new research with the vit D and melatonin, b/c those were exactly the recommendations that my holistic MD made and I was worried about that high a dose of vit D.  Now I have even more confidence in him, and less in mainstream medicine, where it seems they're not keeping up with the times. 

Another thought about melatonin, based on things I've read, is that your own body produces it but needs complete darkness at night.  You can't even have a nightlight and no turning on the lights when you go to the bathroom.  I've got my bedroom completely dark for the night these days and it seems as if I sleep a lot better than I ever did.  I usually have to get up to go the bathroom at least once but I always fall right back asleep.  I'm a night owl, so I've had to make a gargantuan effort to get to bed at a decent hour--it's as hard as going on a diet b/c my mind wants to stay up and do interesting things until late in the night.

Also about the stress--I know it caused mine.  It was major major for the last 5 years (and now this BC didn't help!) and I'd only have a little break and it would start right back up again.   I'm trying to settle myself down to meditate but it's so hard--for now though I'm exercising and being social.  That has helped a lot.  And, this sounds terrible but I'll say it anyway--my mother was a huge source of stress in my life and she passed away 2 years ago.  Not glad she's dead, but when she did die I forgave her for everything and that was a huge burden off my mind and soul.  She's wasn't mean and abusive--more like narcissistic and I was the scapegoat.  She did not treat my brother that way so it was hard on me as I tend to be sensitive. I kept trying to forgive her all that time but then she'd twist the knife again.  Now all that is gone and I'm at peace. Not all of us can have such a neat closure to their stress and I wish all of us the best on this.   

hjpz

I hope all you ladies aren't beating yourself up about "causing your BC" due to stress!  IMO it is just a piece of the puzzle.  Women are hard enough on themselves so I am hoping I am reading too much into this!  If I am just ignore me! It is well meant

hjpz

juneping- do you remember in "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You" they mentioned Melatonin but did not recommend taking it as a supplement because your body should be producing it on it's own??  I can't remember for sure so maybe you can help!

juneping

hjpz - i believe stress was the main reason for my case...but i sure wasn't self blaming. i blamed my previous evil boss

but it was a really dark page of my life...i couldn't sleep for 3 months. i was physically ill at that time. BC compared to that evil boss was much much easier for me to handle. one guy developed an ulcer and one guy jumped off the building. the one thing we had in common was we all worked under the same evil boss.

the reason i brought it up was if stress is one factor, then it would help tremendously how we can relax and deal with stress in a much positive approach. to me stress simply means unhappy state of mind for a prolonged period of time.

juneping

hjpz - i remembered that don't recall the detail. let me go back and read it again...and report back.

okay pg. 79

it says don't take it if under the age of 50 unless having trouble sleeping and can't attribute it to estrogen dominance , too much caffine + stress