Melatonin for Pancreatitis?

Maybe you've read or heard that some research suggests that the hormone and antioxidant melatonin, which many people know of as a sleep aid, may in fact be of benefit for those who suffer from acute and/or chronic pancreatitis.

Right now we only know that lab rats benefit from high doses of melatonin but when I began drinking large amounts of grapefruit juice in 1982 nobody knew it would stop my acute pancreatitis attacks, but it did. Now there is research that proves grapefruit seed extract (made from the juice, pulp and seeds of grapefruit) protects rats from acute pancreatitis and pancreas damage. Grapefruit juice protected me years before it protected rats so who knows about melatonin?

So far the good news is that melatonin seems to be non-toxic: "The acute toxicity of melatonin as seen in both animal and human studies is extremely low. Melatonin may cause minor adverse effects, such as headache, insomnia, rash, upset stomach, and nightmares. In animals, an LD50 (lethal dose for 50% of the subjects) could not be established. Even 800 mg/kg bodyweight (high dose) was not lethal.[138] Studies of human subjects given varying doses of melatonin (1-6.6 g/day) for 30-45 days, and followed with an elaborate battery of biochemical tests to detect potential toxicity, have concluded that, aside from drowsiness, all findings were normal at the end of the test period.[139,140]" If you are a registered Medscape user you can read the whole article here.

In other words melatonin won't kill you in 30 to 45 days at high doses. However ...

The article goes on to say: "Preliminary animal studies suggest that melatonin may accelerate the development of autoimmune conditions.[146] Melatonin transiently exacerbated neurologic symptoms in 1 patient with multiple sclerosis.[147]"

The above is not a good accolade since if you do not have an autoimmune disease now you may have one after using large doses of melatonin or if you do currently have an autoimmune disease such as MS, Celiac Disease, Sjogren's Syndrome etc., melatonin may make it worse. Plus ...

There are some other adverse effects as well including concern regarding increased atherosclerosis in the aorta of hypercholesterolemic rats, delayed puberty and hypogonadism in children, reduced sperm mobility, bipolar disease and classic depression.

So if you'd like to get a good nights sleep melatonin in small supplement doses ( 1 - 5 mgs) may be the answer but in regards to acute and chronic pancreatitis and the huge doses of melatonin given per hour, if it were me, I don't think I'd be going there anytime soon especially since I know for a fact that drinking grapefruit juice and taking the pancreatitis supplements for years has worked for me with NO adverse effects what-so-ever. And ...

I mean we're talking some healthy doses of supplements for 18 YEARS and I'm still breathing and my last blood tests (about 2 years ago) for amylase and lipase levels, pancreatic enzymes used to determine a diagnosis for pancreatitis, were NORMAL.