5 ms·

Melatonin and Melanin are closely related chemicals that are used all over the body and are synthesized in the body through related mechanisms and pathways. Mel

Melatonin and Melanin are closely related chemicals that are used all over the body and are synthesized in the body through related mechanisms and pathways. Melatonin is used in the sleep-wake cycle and melanin is used by the skin to darken it and protect from solar radiation. When you need to sleep and when you need solar protection tend to be inversely related. The interaction between these processes is still being studied and is likely to involve many other things currently not under study. In general, unless you are under the close supervision of your doctor, I would HIGHLY AVOID injecting peptides or really any other thing into you. In relation to just melanin and melatonin, the interactions are complicated and not well understood. We likely do not have the full picture of what melanin is doing in your body and there could be big problems. There also could be no problems at all. That said, I would not want to be the test cases for a M&M conference on this. I do not think that people on /r/peptides are doing anything but unnecessarily putting their health at risk and (possibly) doing harm to their families, friends, and other relationships. As we know so little about this area of research, the risks are not well constrained and could result in death or worse. When it comes to health and wellness, especially biochemically, it is much better to leave it to ethical and well trained medical researchers that know what to look out for and how to help when things go bad. Auto-biochem hacking is a hard pass from me for now.

meesles 7y ago
While I agree personally, I am comfortable letting others experiment with new drugs and take on that risk with the potential to discover things a bit faster than traditional medicine. Regardless of what you think of CBD, it has garnered steam because of non-medical use and I think brought it up to popular culture which researchers are then hearing about and interested in researching more. At the end of the day, in the USA, we tend to avoid telling adults what to put in their bodies. I like it that way and I see this as just an extension of the same thing. That being said, they shouldn't be selling their solutions or misleading people with non-existent medical data. You are hacking your biology, death and injury are very real potential risks you can only accept for yourself.
- dekhn 7y ago
  researchers have been working on CBD much longer than it was in the popular culture (I'm not contradicting your statement that it garnered steam in the popular culture). For example, in England there is a whole company that has gotten CBD through clinical trials and approval (you couldn't have done this in the US at the time). The researchers knew two decades ago that CBD had medical potential, although they only completed trials in 2015 and it was approved in the US in 2018. One of the big changes for researchers (in the US) is that it's a lot easier to obtain materials, but it's still really onerous.
cwkoss 7y ago
Totally agree, and your comment compelled me to add a disclaimer to the top of my comment to discourage anyone from jumping into these based on the reported benefits without understanding the serious risks. That being said, if people are going to try these, I'm glad that they are sharing their experiences online to both warn others of negative reactions and indicate promising avenues for further clinical research. I would love to see a website that organizes clandestine research like this in a way that makes it more functionally useful - reddit and other forum testimonials are the best I've seen so far, and they leave a lot to be desired. This is something that I'd like to work on, but my biggest concerns are legal liability and how to screen out profit-motivated fake testimonials.
doctoboggan 7y ago
The comment you are replying to is referring to Melanotan and you are referring to Melatonin. Two very different things (but the same caution about injecting peptides should apply to both)
- cwkoss 7y ago
  You point out an important distinction. However, Melanotan has been reported to cause yawning and sleepiness as a side effect, so I think concern that MelanotAn could interfere with the melatonIn system is certainly plausible.

meesles 7y ago

While I agree personally, I am comfortable letting others experiment with new drugs and take on that risk with the potential to discover things a bit faster than traditional medicine. Regardless of what you think of CBD, it has garnered steam because of non-medical use and I think brought it up to popular culture which researchers are then hearing about and interested in researching more. At the end of the day, in the USA, we tend to avoid telling adults what to put in their bodies. I like it that way and I see this as just an extension of the same thing. That being said, they shouldn't be selling their solutions or misleading people with non-existent medical data. You are hacking your biology, death and injury are very real potential risks you can only accept for yourself.

dekhn 7y ago
researchers have been working on CBD much longer than it was in the popular culture (I'm not contradicting your statement that it garnered steam in the popular culture). For example, in England there is a whole company that has gotten CBD through clinical trials and approval (you couldn't have done this in the US at the time). The researchers knew two decades ago that CBD had medical potential, although they only completed trials in 2015 and it was approved in the US in 2018. One of the big changes for researchers (in the US) is that it's a lot easier to obtain materials, but it's still really onerous.

cwkoss 7y ago

Totally agree, and your comment compelled me to add a disclaimer to the top of my comment to discourage anyone from jumping into these based on the reported benefits without understanding the serious risks. That being said, if people are going to try these, I'm glad that they are sharing their experiences online to both warn others of negative reactions and indicate promising avenues for further clinical research. I would love to see a website that organizes clandestine research like this in a way that makes it more functionally useful - reddit and other forum testimonials are the best I've seen so far, and they leave a lot to be desired. This is something that I'd like to work on, but my biggest concerns are legal liability and how to screen out profit-motivated fake testimonials.

doctoboggan 7y ago

The comment you are replying to is referring to Melanotan and you are referring to Melatonin. Two very different things (but the same caution about injecting peptides should apply to both)

cwkoss 7y ago
You point out an important distinction. However, Melanotan has been reported to cause yawning and sleepiness as a side effect, so I think concern that MelanotAn could interfere with the melatonIn system is certainly plausible.