Fatigue, Melatonin & MS

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) and is often the one that has the biggest impact on quality of life.  A new study from Dr Lauren Strober, a researcher at the Kessler Foundation and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, has shown that fatigue is often a secondary symptom caused by sleep deprivation.  Dr Strober suggests that screening for sleep problems and providing solutions for them should become an essential part of any treatment plan to overcome the debilitating effects of fatigue.

Featuring the above study lead to a member of our Facebook community asking us to review what is known about the role of melatonin in MS.  Melatonin is known to modulate sleep patterns and has been shown to be an effective treatment for people with jet lag, those performing shift work and people with MS-related sleep disorders (Adamcyzk-Sowa, 2014).

It is also known that melatonin levels are decreased in people with MS (Ghorbani, 2013), and that taking Tysabri can increase these levels (Bahamonde, 2014).  However, melatonin may also play a role in other aspects of MS, with some recent studies in mice showing treatment with melatonin can improve disease course by altering the immune response (Alvarez-Sanchez, 2015).  

Melatonin remains a valid treatment of sleep dysfunction and may have potential as a novel therapeutic agent in MS, though this requires further investigation.