HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Other things you can do when dealing with brain mets

agness · 01-09-2016, 05:54 PM

Melatonin

My Medical Qigong teacher and Traditional Chinese Medicine doc says the best melatonin is what comes from the body itself, that exogenous supplementation isn't as good. We see greying hair when there isn't enough.

It turns out that there are two special melatonin receptors in the cerebellum.

I am taking 1-2 orally soluble tabs a night of melatonin. My sleep hasn't been as good since the start of December but the ketogenic diet is known to interfere with sleep. I try to take it in stride and get as much as possible besides that, even if it is in batches of 3-4 hours.

Preventing and Counteracting Adverse Effects of Radiotherapy
Melatonin reduces oxidative damage from the production of free radicals (Reiter RJ 2004). Several studies indicate that melatonin functions as a radioprotector (Karbownik M et al. 2000), reducing the toxic effects of radiation on mammalian cells (Vijayalaxmi et al. 2004)
http://www.lifeextension.com/protoco...herapy/page-07

Melatonin receptor subtype expression in human cerebellum.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9926848/

8 Foods to Naturally Increase Melatonin for Better Sleep
http://naturalsociety.com/8-foods-na...latonin-sleep/

The contribution of circadian rhythms to cancer formation and mortality
http://atlasgeneticsoncology.org/Dee...tsID20124.html

The Pineal Gland and Melatonin
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks...do/pineal.html

01-09-2016, 05:54 PM	#4
agness Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 285	Re: Other things you can do when dealing with brain mets Melatonin My Medical Qigong teacher and Traditional Chinese Medicine doc says the best melatonin is what comes from the body itself, that exogenous supplementation isn't as good. We see greying hair when there isn't enough. It turns out that there are two special melatonin receptors in the cerebellum. I am taking 1-2 orally soluble tabs a night of melatonin. My sleep hasn't been as good since the start of December but the ketogenic diet is known to interfere with sleep. I try to take it in stride and get as much as possible besides that, even if it is in batches of 3-4 hours. Preventing and Counteracting Adverse Effects of Radiotherapy Melatonin reduces oxidative damage from the production of free radicals (Reiter RJ 2004). Several studies indicate that melatonin functions as a radioprotector (Karbownik M et al. 2000), reducing the toxic effects of radiation on mammalian cells (Vijayalaxmi et al. 2004) http://www.lifeextension.com/protoco...herapy/page-07 Melatonin receptor subtype expression in human cerebellum. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9926848/ 8 Foods to Naturally Increase Melatonin for Better Sleep http://naturalsociety.com/8-foods-na...latonin-sleep/ The contribution of circadian rhythms to cancer formation and mortality http://atlasgeneticsoncology.org/Dee...tsID20124.html The Pineal Gland and Melatonin http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks...do/pineal.html __________________ Dx 2/14 3b HER2+/HR- left breast, left axilla, internal mammary node (behind breast bone). Neoadjuvant TCHP 3/14-7/2. PCR 8/14 LX and SND. 10/21-12/9 Proton therapy to chest wall. Dx 7/20/15 cerebellar met 3.5x5cm HER2+/HR-/GATA3+ 7/23/15 Craniotomy. 7/29/15 bone scan clear. 8/3/15 PET clean scan. LINAC SRS (5 fractions) Sept 2015. 9/17/15 CSF NED, 9/24/15 CSF NED, 11/2/15 CSF NED. 10/27/15 atypical uptake in right cerebellum - inflammation? 12/1/15 Leptomeningeal dx. Starting IT Herceptin. 1/16 - 16 fractions of tomotherapy to cerebellum, break of IT Herceptin during rads, resume at 100 mg weekly 3/2016 - stable scan 5/2016 stable scan 7/2016 pseudoprogression? 9/2016 more LM, start new chemo protocol and IV therapy treatment with HBOT 11/2016 Cyberknife to temporal lobe, HBOT just prior 12/2016 - lesions starting to show shrinkage 8/2017 - Stable since Dec 2016. Temporal lobe lesion gone. Using TCM, naturopathic oncology, physical therapy, chiro, massage, medical qigong, and energetic healing modalities in tandem. Stops at nothing. Mother of 2 boys - ages 7 and 10 (8/2017) and a lovely partner with lots to live for.