# melatonin



## 19384 (Jan 14, 2007)

A recent study shows that melatonin, a natural sleep remedy is effective in some patients with IBS.http://minochahealth.typepad.com/


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

This was a small preliminary study. It doesn't say how they diagnose IBS or used Rome, but J Clin Gastroenterol. 2007 Jan;41(1):29-32. Links A Preliminary Study of Melatonin in Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Saha L, Malhotra S, Rana S, Bhasin D, Pandhi P. Departments of *Pharmacology daggerGastroenterology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical, Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Melatonin is involved in the regulation of gut motility and sensation. We aimed to determine if melatonin was effective in improving bowel symptoms, extracolonic symptoms, and quality of life (QOL) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. METHODS: Eighteen patients (aged 18 to 65 y; 6 females) were randomly assigned to receive either melatonin 3 mg (n=9) or matching placebo (n=9) at bed time for 8 weeks. The overall IBS scores, extracolonic IBS scores, QOL scores were assessed at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks during treatment and at 16, 24, and 48 weeks during follow up. RESULTS: Compared with placebo, melatonin taken for 8 weeks significantly improved overall IBS score (45% vs. 16.66%, P<0.05). The posttreatment overall extracolonic IBS score was significantly lower (49.16% to 13.88%, P<0.05) when compared with placebo group. The overall improvement in QOL score was 43.63% in melatonin group and 14.64% in placebo group that is statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The result of this study showed that melatonin has some beneficial role in IBS. Further studies using large number of patients may provide a definite answer.PMID: 17198061 Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2005 Nov 15;22(10):927-34. Links Melatonin improves bowel symptoms in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome: a double-blind placebo-controlled study.Lu WZ, Gwee KA, Moochhalla S, Ho KY. Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore.BACKGROUND: Melatonin is involved in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility and sensation. AIM : To determine the potential therapeutic effects of melatonin in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). METHOD: Seventeen female patients satisfying the Rome II criteria for IBS were randomized to receive either melatonin 3 mg nocte or identically appearing placebo 1 nocte for 8 weeks, followed by a 4-week washout period and placebo or melatonin in the reverse order for another 8 weeks. Three validated questionnaires - the GI symptom, the sleep questionnaires and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - were used to assess symptom severity and to compute the IBS, sleep and anxiety/depression scores, respectively. RESULTS: Improvements in mean IBS scores were significantly greater after treatment with melatonin (3.9 +/- 2.6) than with placebo (1.3 +/- 4.0, P = 0.037). Percent response rate, defined as percentage of subjects achieving mild-to-excellent improvement in IBS symptoms, was also greater in the melatonin-treated arm (88% vs. 47%, P = 0.04). The changes in mean sleep, anxiety, and depression scores were similar with either melatonin or placebo treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Melatonin is a promising therapeutic agent for IBS. Its therapeutic effect is independent of its effects on sleep, anxiety or depression.PMID: 16268966 Gut. 2005 Oct;54(10):1402-7. Epub 2005 May 24. Links Comment in: Gut. 2005 Oct;54(10):1353-4. Melatonin improves abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome patients who have sleep disturbances: a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled study.Song GH, Leng PH, Gwee KA, Moochhala SM, Ho KY. Department of Medicine, National University of Singapore. mdchoky###nus.edu.sgBACKGROUND AND AIMS: Melatonin, a sleep promoting agent, is involved in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility and sensation. We aimed to determine if melatonin was effective in improving bowel symptoms and sleep disturbances in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients with sleep disturbance. METHODS: Forty IBS patients (aged 20-64 years; 24 female) with sleep disturbances were randomly assigned to receive either melatonin 3 mg (n = 20) or matching placebo (n = 20) at bedtime for two weeks. Immediately before and after the treatment, subjects completed bowel, sleep, and psychological questionnaires, and underwent rectal manometry and overnight polysomnography. RESULTS: Compared with placebo, melatonin taken for two weeks significantly decreased mean abdominal pain score (2.35 v 0.70; p<0.001) and increased mean rectal pain threshold (8.9 v -1.2 mm Hg; p<0.01). Bloating, stool type, stool frequency, and anxiety and depression scores did not significantly differ after treatment in both groups. Data from sleep questionnaires and polysomnography showed that the two week course of melatonin did not influence sleep parameters, including total sleep time, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, arousals, duration of stages 1-4, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and REM onset latency. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of melatonin 3 mg at bedtime for two weeks significantly attenuated abdominal pain and reduced rectal pain sensitivity without improvements in sleep disturbance or psychological distress. The findings suggest that the beneficial effects of melatonin on abdominal pain in IBS patients with sleep disturbances are independent of its action on sleep disturbances or psychological profiles.PMID: 15914575


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

: Klin Med (Mosk). 2006;84(11):30-6.[Irritated bowel syndrome: clinicomorphological aspects of treatment with melaxen][Article in Russian][No authors listed]The purpose of the study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of melatonin (melaxen, Unipharm, USA), and its influence on the ultrastructural and histological features on the colon mucosa (CM) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) corresponding to Rome criteria II. Twenty-one patients with IBS were examined before and after the end of the therapy (one month upon the beginning of treatment). All the patients had non-specific morphological changes in the CM, which were more pronounced during exacerbation and less significant during remission. The study showed that in terms of stool normalization and sleep improvement in IBS patients the combination of basic therapy and melaxen was more effective than either the combination of basic therapy and psychotropic drugs or basic therapy alone. Basic therapy plus melaxen is comparable in its effects to basic therapy plus psychotropic drugs in terms of coping with pain syndrome and dyspeptic syndrome in IBS patients, the normalization of their mental status and life quality improvement. The treatment of IBS with melaxen proved to be more effective than other therapies, which was proved by histological and electron microscopic studies of the CM.PMID: 17243607


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