Melatonin Affects Muscle and Exercise

Impact of Melatonin on Skeletal Muscle and Exercise – free full-text /PMC7072499/ – Cells. Feb 2020

Skeletal muscle disorders are dramatically increasing with human aging with enormous sanitary costs and impact on the quality of life.

Melatonin, the indole produced at nighttime in pineal and extra-pineal sites in mammalians, has recognized anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant properties.

Mitochondria are the favorite target of melatonin, which maintains them efficiently, scavenging free radicals and reducing oxidative damage. Here, we discuss the most recent evidence of dietary melatonin efficacy in age-related skeletal muscle disorders in cellular, preclinical, and clinical studies.

The HPA – Immune Axis in the Brain

The HPA – Immune Axis and the Immunomodulatory Actions of Glucocorticoids in the Brain – free full-text /PMC3978367/ – Front Immunol. 2014;

In response to physiological and psychogenic stressors, the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis orchestrates the systemic release of glucocorticoids (GCs).

By virtue of nearly ubiquitous expression of the GC receptor and the multifaceted metabolic, cardiovascular, cognitive, and immunologic functions of GCs, this system plays an essential role in the response to stress and restoration of an homeostatic state.

GCs act on almost all types of immune cells and were long recognized to perform salient immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory functions through various genomic and non-genomic mechanisms.  

Self-administration of Hydrocortisone for Pain

General theory of inflammation: patient self-administration of hydrocortisone safely achieves superior control of hydrocortisone-responding disorders by matching dosage with symptom intensity – free full-text /PMC6581742/ – J Inflamm Res. 2019;

Objective: To determine if patient self-administration of hydrocortisone will safely achieve superior symptom control for all hydrocortisone-responding disorders as it does for Addison’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: 2,480 participants with hydrocortisone-responding disorders were brought to a minimum symptom state using daily administered hydrocortisone tablets in a 24-week, open study.

Thereafter, participants used 5-day, low-dose hydrocortisone regimens to quench subsequent disorder exacerbations (flares) to maintain the minimum symptom state. Stressors such as emotional traumas, infections, allergies, and injuries were minimized to reduce disorder intensity, hydrocortisone consumption, and participant discomfort.  

The Critical Importance of Corticoid Hormones

e.hormone | The Hormones : Corticoids – Tulane University – 2007 or later

Here’s some basic information on corticoid steroids, like prednisone, which can often provide dramatic relief from inflammatory pain.

Unfortunately, these steroids act by suppressing our whole immune system, not just inflammation, so they become dangerous if taken too regularly for too long. For me, they can be the best pain relievers with the worst long-term consequences.

In my darker moments, I’m willing to make this pact with the devil: relieve my pain now and I’ll deal with the fallout later – especially since I don’t expect to have a particularly long life because my body is literally disintegrating due to the faulty collagen from EDS. 

Stress Hormone Causes Epigenetic Changes

Stress Hormone Causes Epigenetic Changes | National Institutes of Health (NIH) – September 27, 2010

Researchers found that chronic exposure to a stress hormone causes modifications to DNA in the brains of mice, prompting changes in gene expression. The new finding provides clues into how chronic stress might affect human behavior.

And how about the chronic stress from living with constant pain? And never being able to plan ahead because it’s impossible to know how much pain any day or time will bring, impossible to know what you’ll be capable of at any specific time?

What about the stress of being disabled from earning a paycheck and making a living, of having to rely on government handouts and the generosity of family and friends?

And, to top it off, always having to worry whether your doctor will continue prescribing opioids or leave you to suffer the endless torture without relief? 

Some Patients Need Adrenaline for Pain Control

Patients with Arachnoiditis and Ehlers-Danlos Need Adrenaline for Pain Control — Pain News Network – By Dr. Forest Tennant, PNN Columnist – Feb 2020

In this era of opioid controversy and tragedy due to forced opioid reduction, the scientific information on adrenaline-type agents can help control constant, intractable pain and help reduce opioid use.

Overlooked in the opioid controversy is the key point that an adequate supply of adrenaline-related neurotransmitters – such as dopamine and norepinephrine – are necessary in the brain and spinal cord for pain relief.

Unfortunately, constant intractable pain depletes the natural supply of endorphin, dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenalin, and their levels must be replaced to adequately control pain.  

This is just a small part of the damage wrought by our chronic pain andyou can find many more posts here itemizing all the ways that untreated pain ravages a body. 

Effect of Estrogen on Musculoskeletal Performance

Effect of Estrogen on Musculoskeletal Performance and Injury Risk –  free full-text /PMC6341375/ – Jan 2019

Estrogen has a dramatic effect on musculoskeletal function.

Beyond the known relationship between estrogen and bone, it directly affects the structure and function of other musculoskeletal tissues such as muscle, tendon, and ligament. In these other musculoskeletal tissues, estrogen improves muscle mass and strength, and increases the collagen content of connective tissues.

However, unlike bone and muscle where estrogen improves function, in tendons and ligaments estrogen decreases stiffness, and this directly affects performance and injury rates.

This can be important for those of us with EDS or HMS (or perhaps some other connective tissue problem) because it affects tendon & ligament function by decreasing stiffness.

The role of genetics in estrogen responses

The role of genetics in estrogen responses: a critical piece of an intricate puzzle – free full-text article /PMC4232287/ – Dec 2014

The estrogens are female sex hormones that are involved in a variety of physiological processes, including reproductive development and function, wound healing, and bone growth.

In addition to the role of estrogens in promoting tissue growth and development during normal physiological states, they have a well-established role in determining susceptibility to disease, particularly cancer, in reproductive tissues.

As with so many other biochemical components at work in our bodies, estrogen has both positive and negative effects and we each react differently depending on how the rest of our body is built. 

How the loss of estrogen impacts muscle strength

Here are 3 studies on how estrogen can prevent muscle wasting and improve mitochondrial function.

Aging of the musculoskeletal system: How the loss of estrogen impacts muscle strength. – PubMed – NCBI – Jun 2019 

Skeletal muscle weakness occurs with aging and in females this is compounded by the loss of estrogen with ovarian failure.

Estrogen deficiency mediates decrements in muscle strength from both

1. inadequate preservation of skeletal muscle mass and
2. decrements in the quality of the remaining skeletal muscle.

Modulation of pain by estrogens

Here are 4 PubMed scientific studies exploring how estrogen affects all different aspects of pain: its sensation, its interaction with opioid receptors, and its memory. Estrogen is clearly important, but the interactions with pain sensation are very complex.

Just like with hormone replacement therapy, the effects of estrogen on pain probably differ a great deal between individuals.

Pronociceptive and Antinociceptive Effects of Estradiol through Endogenous Opioid Neurotransmission in Women – NCBI – May 2006

Prominent interindividual and sex-dependent differences have been described in responses to sustained pain and other stressful stimuli. Variations in μ-opioid receptor-mediated endogenous opioid neurotransmission may underlie some of these processes.