I have been keeping track of what friends and the EC community are telling me that melatonin lotion has helped them, and that list has been growing steadily to 40 items. I will list those items below. What has become clear from these reports is that when it comes to pain relief, melatonin lotion is far superior to oral melatonin, even at oral dosing as high as 360 mg of melatonin per day. This brings me to the conclusion that a combination of oral melatonin in conjunction with topical melatonin is better than either one alone. It also brings up another important point I want to discuss with you.
One drawback to oral melatonin is that it has very poor bioavailability, and only about 3% of your oral dose actually becomes bioavailable as discussed here :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4759723/
Here is a relevant study quote :
This cohort crossover study estimated pharmacokinetics of oral and iv melatonin, respectively in healthy volunteers. Bioavailability of oral melatonin was only 3 %.
So, if you take 100 mg of melatonin in capsules, only 3 mg will become bioavailable, which could potentially explain why even 360 mg of oral melatonin can not offer the pain relief that melatonin lotion can. Melatonin taken orally has little, if any, access to the skin, whereas topically applied melatonin can exert its protective effects on the skin.
Another downside to oral melatonin is that it is only active in our bodies for about 4 to 5 hours, and then it is pretty much done. In comparison, topical melatonin not only passes through the skin, it also enters the circulatory system and, from there, can pretty much reach everywhere in the body, including the organs, muscles, brain, and bones. When the lotion is initially applied, the melatonin begins to accumulate in the stratum corneum, which can be about 10 to 30 layers thick. From that state of accumulation, the melatonin is ultimately released into the blood over a period of time somewhat like a melatonin patch might do. The following study briefly describes this process :
Here is a relevant study quote:
This indicates that melatonin is able to penetrate the skin and accumulate in the stratum corneum through prolonged release over a 24 h period from the skin into the blood system.
This study suggests that melatonin cream is released over a 24-hour period, far surpassing oral dosing in this respect.
One of the problems I have always had with oral melatonin was a practical way to overcome the fact that it is essentially done in approximately 5 hours. So if you are trying to keep a steady state of melatonin in your system for 24 hours+, you might have to take oral melatonin 4 to 5 times per day. It appears that melatonin lotion may be a way to keep a more steady state in your system over a 24-hour period.
I take the above to mean that melatonin lotion may be a way to overcome some of the shortcomings of oral melatonin, while offering another way to avail ourselves of all of the potential health benefits that melatonin has for human health.
Given the above information, I have decided to take both oral and topical melatonin to try to get the best of both delivery methods. I will take oral melatonin at night and apply one application of topical melatonin, possibly sparingly to my stomach or back.
Here is the list of what benefits have been reported to me so far by friends and EC community members who are testing or using melatonin lotion:
1. Neck pain from multiple causes.
2. Lower back pain.
3. Shoulder pain.
4. Migraine headache relief.
5. Head and neck pain relief from a neck injury after falling backward onto the rim of a plastic bucket.
6. Eczema of the scalp.
7. Scalp pain.
8. Completely relieved jaw pain from two jaw fractures and helped to get to sleep. Based on studies may also help the fractures to heal faster.
9. Synergy pain relief with the Hyaluronic Acid / Stopain remedy for degenerative disc disease (DDD) as discussed here:
https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/ddd-art-solbrig.html
10. Headache relief
11. Muscle pain
12. Eliminated nerve tingling in feet
13. Ankle pain
14. Knee pain
15. Swelling of the neck caused by injury
16. Calf pain of unknown cause
17. Nerve pain
18. Hand and finger pain
19. Back pain that required a cane to walk was relieved enough that no cane was needed after regular twice daily applications.
20. Relieved sciatic nerve pain
21. Relieved thyroiditis and swelling with pain + sore throat pain that made even swallowing saliva very painful and of unknown origin and eliminated it in about a week eliminating the need for further application of melatonin lotion to the area. My friend thought it might have been caused by a recent endoscopy.
22. Relieved hip pain
23. Relieved bulging disc pain
24. Relieved Atopic Dermatitis
25. Stomach discomfort relief after applying to the surface of the stomach.
26 Relieved thumb joint pain
27. Helped a person to alleviate pain and muscle tension prior to her chiropractic appointment allowing her chiropractor to make what they both described as very good adjustments to her spine, which he had previously been unable to do because of muscle stiffness caused by the pain.
28. Helped two people with arthritic hand pain, one that was unresponsive to Borax and one that was only minimally responsive to Borax.
29. Helped a person with pain from liver cancer in the area of the liver to temporarily effectively relieve the recurring pain.
30. Helped a friend to sleep well when applied in the early evening.
31. Relieved pain in sore toes
32. Stiffness and discomfort of the hands without pain present was eliminated.
33. Improves wound healing.
34. Adds to the effectiveness of certain topical psoriasis medications.
35. Relieved toe cramps.
36. Alleviates spinal stenosis pain.
37. Much more effective pain relief than 360 mg of oral melatonin per day.
38. The very significant pain relief in multiple areas of the body caused high blood pressure to decrease, allowing for a halving of the hypertension medication dose by one friend.
39. Reduced the swelling of swollen arthritic finger joints.
40. Healed trigger finger in four days for one EC member.
Melatonin lotion has the potential to cause tiredness from overuse or overapplication, or for people who are very sensitive to topical melatonin lotion. In such cases, only a once-a-day application in the evening may be best, or one application in the late afternoon and once again at bedtime if that works.
I will add to this list as I get more feedback about what melatonin lotion helps.
Art
