In a previous article, I discussed the benefits of melatonin for spinal health, which you can read about here: Melatonin and Spine Health.
Currently, I'm sharing the experiences of three friends who have seen encouraging outcomes from using topical melatonin to alleviate pain in their neck and lower back. Initially, I planned to observe and report on their progress after a month. However, due to the positive results observed in the first two individuals, I advised my third friend, Lydia, to begin using topical melatonin sooner than planned. Lydia was initially set to test an oral supplement for a different health condition for a month before trying topical melatonin. Upon my suggestion and seeing the success of the others, she decided to start the topical melatonin treatment immediately without waiting.
The first of the three friends, Greg, has had issues with lower back pain for at least five years. The pain would come and go, and at its best it was a low-level nagging pain in his lower back area that Greg said he was constantly aware of, especially when standing up from a seated position. At its worst, he said it was very difficult and painful to stand from a seated position and it could take time for him to straighten out, but he could not stand fully erect because it was too painful. So when his back pain was bad he could only stand with a bent forward appearance and he could not move very well. Greg had never discussed his lower back pain with his doctor, so he did not have a clinical diagnosis of the problem. He just attributed the pain to age and wear and tear on his spine from many years of working in construction.
Greg asked me if I had any suggestions for his back pain, and since he had no diagnosis, I initially suggested Stopain roll on. So he tried that for a month and said it did offer significant pain relief, but in order to maintain that relief required reapplication of Stopain every 5 to 6 hours, and if he was very active he might have to reapply every 3 to 4 hours and he said it was not very convenient for such frequent applications to maintain the pain relief.
Since Stopain was apparently not going to be a viable solution after testing it for a month, I suggested topical melatonin as a fairly noninvasive approach since he did not have an actual diagnosis of what was causing his back pain. I discussed with him the health benefits that melatonin has shown in studies related to melatonin and the spine as well as melatonin having a very good safety profile. He agreed and started using topical melatonin right away. I suggested that he apply it to his whole spine, not just the lower back where he had pain. He told me that after his first application, he did notice some pain relief, but not as much as he got with Stopain.
He said he was applying it sparingly, just twice a day, in the morning and the afternoon, and it was giving about the same pain relief for the first 3 or 4 days, but he said by the end of the week, the pain relief level was at least as good as the frequently applied Stopain. The following week he said he had little to no noticeable pain and was very happy with his results. I suggested that he continue using the topical melatonin at least once a day every afternoon or evening in order to see if the melatonin could help his spinal pain be eliminated entirely, and he said he would. Recently, we spoke and he said he is still applying the topical to his spine at night and is experiencing no pain.
In my last conversation with Greg, he said that he is going to continue applying the lotion to his spine in the evening and reports that he has had just a couple of quickly passing twinges of pain and feels that he is essentially normal now, but wants to continue to apply the lotion to his spine to try and keep his back in a more optimal condition indefinitely! In talking to Greg, I can see he is really surprised at his positive results for such longstanding back pain, but I can also detect some doubt on his part, but he is unable to argue with his positive results!
The second friend, Al, has pain in the mid and lower right side of his neck and the pain radiated outward toward his right shoulder. He told me that this had been an increasing problem for the past 6 months or so and he was noticing significant muscle tension on the right side of his spine between the shoulder blade and the spine. He said the pain would be very noticeable when sitting and watching tv or working on the computer. As with Greg, I initially suggested Stopain because Al did not have a diagnosis of what was causing the pain and stiffness in his neck and shoulder and he didn't want to go to the doctor to see if his doctor could figure out what was wrong because he didn't feel confident in his doctor for this purpose.
With the use of Stopain, Al said his symptoms were reduced by about 50 to 60% and he also said it required 4 to 5 applications during his waking hours to maintain that effect and he also said it wasn't very convenient to do so many applications per day. So I discussed topical melatonin with him and explained some of the potential benefits for the spine and he said he wanted to try it in place of the Stopain. He started using it right away and like, Greg, he felt it wasn't as effective as Stopain, but he said he only applied it in the morning and afternoon, which to him was much more convenient. The first day he noticed about a 40% decrease in pain and by the end of the week he felt it was right around a 50% pain reduction. By the end of the second week, he felt he was getting slightly more pain relief than Stopain had given him or about a 60% to 65% improvement. By the third week he felt there was a significant improvement over the previous week to about an 80% reduction in pain. He also said the muscle tension had significantly reduced as had the shoulder pain which was almost completely gone.
Al said he was still applying it in the morning and again in the afternoon everyday and felt that it was now easily more effective than Stopain had been. He said he will continue these applications indefinitely because he feels, up to this point, there has been a cumulative effect in his neck pain management, muscle tension and he said his shoulder pain is better also. He also told me he can now do stretching exercises for his neck and feels significant improvement now. He said he would update me about any other changes he notices.
In our last conversation Al said that he feels he is holding in the 80% pain reduction area with longer periods where he forgets that he has a problem with his neck in terms of pain and discomfort. He also told me that he is only applying the topical lotion once a day now and the pain radiating out to his shoulder is apparently gone.
In this last talk with Al, he said he is going to go back to twice a day application to see if he can get even more benefit from the lotion. He told me that he is pretty much amazed at his results and plans to continue using the lotion and possibly applying it to his whole spine instead of just the neck area. He also mentioned that the periods where he forgets that he has a problem with his neck are increasing!
This brings us to my third friend, Lydia, who has a muscle disease(MD/FSH) diagnosed by two doctors and it causes muscle degeneration and muscle pain on top of the spinal related pain and her doctor's feel the muscle disease is a major contributing factor to her spinal pain. The muscle degeneration has caused significant pain in her neck, lower back and her spine in general. It also causes muscle pain. She was in the process of testing GABA for an unrelated issue and I initially suggested to her to finish her test of GABA before adding topical melatonin to her regimen, but after I saw how Greg and Al were doing, I suggested that she postpone her GABA testing and start with topical melatonin. She agreed to start topical melatonin, but she chose to continue her GABA testing anyway. I let her know that topically applied melatonin can ultimately enter the blood stream and cause sleepiness in some people and that oral GABA can also cause sleepiness and the two together are thought to be synergistic in terms of sleep promotion. Lydia said she understood, but wanted to do both anyway.
Lydia also started with two applications of topical melatonin, like Greg and Al, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
She told me that the first day of applying topical melatonin gave a little relief from the pain and stiffness in her neck, but not as much relief as the Stopain roll on she had been using. She reported similar effects the second and third days.
Around the third day, she let me know that she was getting very sleepy during the day and I reminded her about the potential synergy between the oral GABA and the topical melatonin and suggested she stop the GABA for awhile to try and get a more accurate idea of what the topical melatonin was doing, but she told me she didn't want to stop either one and instead would take her two applications of topical melatonin in the afternoon and before bedtime and see if that resolved the daytime sleepiness. Apparently it helped because she did not mention the daytime sleepiness again. Around one and a half weeks in she told me that she felt about a 70% relief of pain in her neck and lower back as well as slight improvement with tightness in her neck and muscle pain as she now had increased range of motion there and this was better than other things she had previously tried for the purpose. Overall she seemed very happy with her results so far and will receive further verification if it helped relax her neck muscles at her next chiropractor appointment which she said she will share those results with me this coming week.
As promised, Lydia called to let me know how her chiropractor appointment went. She told me her chiropractor confirmed that she had increased range of motion and her neck muscles were significantly more relaxed than in previous visits, making it easier for him to make the needed adjustments. She seemed very happy with his report as she seems to put a lot of weight into what he has to say, and she seemed happy that he confirmed what she thought the lotion was doing for her. I can hear in Lydia's voice a sense of happiness, relief and excitement as she discusses these positive changes that she is experiencing. She estimated that she feels about 75% better in terms of lower back, neck pain, muscle pain and muscle tightness and she made no mention of daytime tiredness this time either. She said she is still applying twice a day, once in the afternoon and once in the evening. She also reiterated that she feels the benefit has seemed to have increased with two a day applications easily surpassing the Stopain roll on that she was using. She mentioned that she is now able to do her swimming exercises for a longer period before having to take a rest and then she is able to continue exercising a bit more. When I look at her now I see that she appears to have more energy and seems happier. In my last talk with Lydia, she said that she will now highly recommend this lotion to her friends with muscular dystrophy!
I often mention that melatonin is protective of the major organs of the body and this includes the muscles which is the largest organ in the body. I plan to follow Lydia's progress closely since she has a muscle disease (MDFSH) for which there aren't any effective treatments and hopefully the topical melatonin will offer her further benefit in that area that oral melatonin does not.
So, all three friends are very happy with their results so far and plan to continue with daily applications to see exactly how much benefit they are able to get from topical melatonin over time. They are also quite happy that they were able to make this remedy themselves at home with common ingredients easily. Overall, for such a relatively short period of application, their results seem very impressive and cumulative, as in improvement seems to increase with continued use, at least within the first month of use.
It was very helpful for me to have a basis for comparison that all three friends were previously using Stopain roll on and could compare their topical melatonin results to the effects of regular use of Stopain.
So, these three friends used the same TML they each made themselves. They used an empty four-ounce jar and added one gram of pure melatonin powder and one and a half ounce (1.5 oz.) of gin and shook until all the melatonin had dissolved. Once the melatonin was completely dissolved and the gin looked clear again, they added two and a half ounces (2.5 oz.) of Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion to the mixing jar and shook until the contents were well mixed. They applied this mix sparingly, twice a day as noted above. They said the mix seems like it will last for quite awhile and applies very smoothly and easily. It only has a minimal odor from the lotion which they said was quite mild and did not bother them at all. Lydia commented that she liked the easy spreadability of the lotion mix. There are commercial lotions and creams of melatonin available, but they tend to be relatively weak, small and or expensive. Some products may seem to be for topical use, but are often sprays intended for spraying in the mouth and are generally sweetened and flavored and relatively low dose. My friends chose to make their own topical because they wanted to know exactly what was in it. The initial ingredients cost is a little pricey, but once you figure out how many refills you can get from those initial ingredients, the price is very reasonable.
Gather Ingredients and Container:
Step 1: Add 1 gram of pure melatonin powder to the empty four-ounce jar.
Step 2: Pour 1.5 ounces of gin into the jar with the melatonin powder.
Step 3: Shake the jar vigorously until the melatonin completely dissolves and the gin appears clear.
Step 4: Add 2.5 ounces of Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion to the jar.
Step 5: Shake the jar again until all the ingredients are well mixed and the lotion is smooth.
Application: Apply the lotion mix sparingly, twice a day.
Here are simplified instructions for making a three-ounce batch of melatonin lotion without the need for a milligram scale:
1. Prepare Your Ingredients and Container
2. Measure Melatonin Powder
3. Add Gin
4. Mix Melatonin and Gin
5. Add Cetaphil Lotion
6. Final Mixing
7. Usage
This simplified method uses readily available measuring tools and ensures a consistent, easy-to-make lotion.
The above is a relatively strong mix that these friends chose to use because they had all taken higher dose oral melatonin and tolerated it well. A milder mix would be the use of 500 mg of pure melatonin powder instead of a gram, with the other two ingredients remaining the same. This might be a more tolerable dose for some people to consider who can only tolerate moderate or lower oral dosing of melatonin.
I find the use of topical melatonin intriguing as a potential way to add another avenue to help fully take advantage of the potential health benefits of melatonin beyond what practical oral dosing of melatonin is capable of and I like the specific potential that topically applied melatonin may offer to the spine, muscles, nerves and joints.
Another friend heard that these three were having a positive experience with use of topical melatonin and has decided to try it as soon as she can get the ingredients and make it. I will report on her experience when she gives me feedback. The more confirmation I get on the effectiveness of topical melatonin for these purposes, the better and more useful the information will be to more people.
I am not recommending this mix or topical melatonin, just relating what my friends are using and finding beneficial for their particular situations.
Given that some people do not tolerate melatonin and the fact that melatonin when applied topically has shown the ability to reach the blood circulation as Lydia found with her experience and the fact that I have seen this happen before in other friends, it is highly likely that if you do not tolerate oral melatonin, topical melatonin may give you the same negative effects as oral melatonin. If you are thinking of trying topical melatonin, I highly recommend that you get your doctor's approval and supervision before trying topical melatonin. Melatonin is contraindicated with certain medications or is known to cause adverse events with certain medications. All three of my friends have used higher dose oral melatonin so they already knew that they tolerated melatonin well and wanted to try the topical application to see if it might help their respective back, shoulder, muscle and neck pains where oral melatonin did not. I would like to emphasize the fact that all three friends said they used the lotion very sparingly to achieve their results.
Two of my friends had no diagnosis, so it is impossible to know why melatonin helped them other than some of melatonin's known methods of action. It seems highly unlikely that melatonin will help all causes of back and neck pain. Still, for the three of them, it offered very significant relief and is a noninvasive approach compared to other treatments that can be considered very invasive. Lydia had a diagnosis that was not directly related to the spinal pain issues but is known to cause spinal pain in many people with her disease because of the poor muscle condition.
Since Lydia mentioned she felt some relief from her muscle pain and tension, I told her that melatonin does improve muscle and joint pain in studies. Melatonin is also known to improve mitochondrial function throughout the body, including the muscles and her topical application is allowing melatonin to reach higher local tissue levels than can likely be gotten from oral dosing, even at higher levels. The fact that she never felt that pain relief from taking higher dose oral melatonin tends to support that idea. The following study discusses how melatonin is beneficial for muscles and mitochondria and works to reduce muscle frailty:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072499/
Here is an important quote from the study link:
Melatonin is a highly evolutionary-conserved ancient molecule that was only recently rediscovered as a safe dietary supplement in muscle disorders and in exercise. This review attempts to shed light on potential and promising therapeutic roles of melatonin to limit muscle deterioration, mainly mitochondrial function, and sarcopenia.
Interestingly, melatonin is thought to also help in some instances of Osteoarthritis by offering joint protective effects of cartilage and regenerative qualities, inhibition of chondrocyte apoptosis, anti-inflammatory qualities, and reduction of elevated oxidative stress levels as discussed here:
Here is a relevant quote from the review of multiple studies;
With regards to OA, melatonin reportedly promotes synthesis of cartilage matrix, inhibition of chondrocyte apoptosis, attenuation of inflammatory response, and suppression of matrix degradation by regulating the TGF-β, MAPK, or NF-κB signaling pathways . Notably, melatonin has been associated with amelioration of oxidative damage by restoring the OA-impaired intracellular antioxidant defense system in articular cartilage. Findings from preliminary application of melatonin or melatonin-loaded biomaterials in animal models have affirmed its potential anti-arthritic effects.
One problem with melatonin for osteoarthritis is that effective oral dosing may be very high, whereas topical melatonin application may potentially offer a viable option to high oral dosing. Future studies will determine the feasibility of topical melatonin for osteoarthritis.
Previously, I wrote about how melatonin may be useful as part of a plan for peripheral neuropathy, which is one form of nerve damage. You can also have nerve damage in the spinal column as well as the sciatic nerve. Here is a link to that peripheral neuropathy article :
https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/five-supplements-for-peripheral-neuropathy.html
One other point about melatonin as regards the spinal nerves is its potential to help with nerve damage, and given that the spine is loaded with nerves that can become damaged, TML may be useful in this area of spinal problems also. The following newer research (August 2023) suggests that melatonin may have nerve regenerative and protective effects in spinal cord injury (SCI) :
Here is a relevant quote from the research;
Generally, melatonin copes with oxidative stress and mitigates subsequent neuroinflammation and cellular apoptosis in SCI, resulting in reduced neural death and debris, restored BSCB, attenuated edema, decreased scar formation, a better neuronal regeneration, and neuroplasticity and microcirculation in the injured spinal cord (Figure 1). Moreover, melatonin attenuates oxidative damage, prevents functional disorders in the peripheral organs, and has a beneficial influence on systemic recovery in SCI (Figure 1). Though the melatonin’s protective roles in preventing secondary injuries in SCI have been studied for decades and many signaling pathways are reported involved in melatonin facilitating functional recovery and attenuating tissue damage, the receptor-dependent mechanism is rarely mentioned, e.g., MT1 or MT2.
This 2023 study discusses how melatonin may be helpful to for brachial plexus compression injury, a common and painful problem usually caused by a significant shoulder injury, including damage to nerves. It is only an animal study, but it suggests that melatonin may help repair peripheral nerve damage as it has shown it can do in other studies ;
A relevant study quote;
Our results suggest that melatonin effectively promotes nerve regeneration and improves the function of damaged nerves. Melatonin treatment is a promising strategy for the treatment of acute brachial plexus compression injury.
My thinking is that TML may offer a very good way to apply a high level of melatonin directly to the area where it is needed in order to instigate nerve repair at a level greater than oral melatonin can afford, even at higher dosing. I imagine it will take significant time to achieve such healing of the nerve, but this is a very non-invasive approach when compared to surgical repair, which is typically used for this injury and comes with no guarantees and potential complications. I don't know what dose of melatonin would be required for such an injury, but the dose my friends used seems like a possibility worthy of consideration.
Given the effect that melatonin showed in the study above for acute brachial plexus compression injury and knowing that melatonin has been suggested in studies for sciatic nerve injury, it seems like TML may be a potentially easy way to test melatonin for sciatic nerve injuries. Here is a link to a typical animal model of sciatic nerve injury and the effect of melatonin compared to electroacupuncture :
https://www.journal-jams.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.51507/j.jams.2021.14.5.176
Here is a relevant study quote:
Sciatic nerve damage caused a significant decrease in nerve conduction velocity. Both electroacupuncture treatment and melatonin treatment significantly increased the nerve conduction velocity. Both sciatic functional recovery and histological regeneration were faster in these treatment groups compared to the saline. However, no significant difference was observed between the two treatment groups.
So, aside from the many health benefits I have already written about melatonin, TML offers further promise and a potential way to try and get the maximum possible benefit from melatonin without having to take ultra-high oral dosing.
I will update this article as I get more feedback from my friends that they said they would give me once they know more, but at the rate that they have improved to this point, there is little room for improvement to report now. I am also testing topical melatonin for other uses, and if any of those tests show positive results, I will share my experiences with them as I learn more.
Question for Art Solbrig about his topical melatonin lotion? Please get in touch with him here.
Bulk Supplements sells a large bag of pure melatonin powder reasonably priced.
Melatonin Powder Bulk Supplements - $18.96 for 25 grams - 8,333 servings
Cetaphil Lotion - Amazon
Gin From Costco - an example to show natural botanicals in the gin.
