The Pineal Gland

The Questions
Calcification
Pineal Gland Calcification
"Brainfog"
Hormone Regulation
Anticoagulant
Insulin Regulation
Fatigue and Phosphate Retention
Toxicity
Depression
IBS
FMS and CFS
Pain Reduction
Temperature Regulation
The Female Factor
Factors in Pineal Gland Calcification
First Do No Harm
Melatonin Supplementation
References
 

The Questions

We have consistently taken the approach that our focus is to improve our own health and help others improve their health by addressing the root cause of the symptoms. In time, this has come to include other people besides those diagnosed with FM/CFS who have very similar symptoms. This includes people who have been diagnosed as having heavy metal toxicity, and those who appeared to have heavy metal toxicity, although they had been diagnosed with FM. We also include those who have Lupus, ADD, and OA that to our way of thinking are variants in severity of the same symptom clusters.
 

Many have experienced that the pharmaceutical guaifenesin, a known anticoagulant, muscle relaxant and mild uricosuric agent, has both made their symptoms worse, and in time, relieved them. Others have experienced that Custom Homeopathics remedies formulated to improve kidney function and stimulate the body to release excess calcium phosphates have improved their symptoms. There are no proven theories as to why this should be so in either case.
 

Dr. P. St. Amand, the main proponent of guaifenesin use, reports success at reversing phosphate deposits in the muscles of those he personally treats and who continue with his treatment. Similarly, Custom Homeopathics reports that those taking the homeopathics for calcium phosphate accumulation have reduced their phosphate accumulation. Neither Dr. P. St. Amand nor Custom Homeopathics employ validated tests or techniques to measure phosphate reduction. Both Dr.P. St. Amand and Custom Homeopathics postulate that, in theory, given enough time, the body would eliminate all excess phosphates. In practice, this is not as certain. The homeopathics have not been in use long enough to know, and it appears that many who initially found the guaifenesin treatment helpful "plateau" at 3-4 years, hanging on to their original gains and not improving further.
 

The questions that have to be asked are, "Is phosphate removal enough?" and "Is years of pharmaceutically aided phosphate removal or removal by improved kidney function through homeopathics the most efficient route?"
 

Do we think that the liver and kidney remedies are the total answer? No we do not. For some people they appear to give total relief within a short period of the time. For others, these remedies appear to give significant relief, without addressing all their symptoms. While with time, all aspects of everyone's disease may be improved, we think there must a more efficient approach. It appears that we need to address a further aspect more directly, one which focuses on the pineal gland, as explained below.
 

In putting together the "pieces of the puzzle" we lean heavily on our own experience and the experiences others share with us, recognizing the limitation of this in drawing scientific conclusions. We also draw on scientific findings, realizing the limitations they may have in helping us understand our own experience. In the following pages, we will try and bring these two - the scientific and the experiential - together, and present our current understanding of the whole picture. We will try to move from the experiences we know, into a theory of why this may be so.

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Calcification

Although we kept working with calcium phosphate, and saying calcium phosphate, we were thinking calcium PHOSPHATE. Then one day, we realized we might more accurately be dealing with CALCIUM phosphate.
 

This may seem like a moot point, except that it opens up a whole new direction of thinking. The more we looked at the calcium aspect, the more it fit the symptom cluster we were working with, and explained why guaifenesin and the Custom Homeopathics could be effective in reducing that symptom cluster.
 

A number of publications describe calcification in Lupus. One study found ectopic calcification in 40% of Lupus patients.⁽¹⁾ Case publications have demonstrated calcium accumulations in the soft tissues,⁽²⁾ subcutaneous fat tissue,⁽³⁾ thoracic and abdominal walls and extremities,⁽⁴⁾ the spleen,⁽⁵⁾ and brains of adults^(6,7,8) and children⁽⁹⁾ with Lupus. In one case, some of the calcification was removed from the forearm to decrease pain, and upon analysis was revealed to be composed of pure calcium phosphate.⁽¹⁰⁾
 

Calcification is know to occur in soft tissue, such as muscle tissue, that has been damaged. ⁽¹¹⁾ It is generally considered "clinically insignificant", and can be felt as granular or hard bumps below the skin.
 

The organ where calcification is so widely accepted that it is almost considered a natural consequence of aging, is the pineal gland. In Japan, a study of 2877 ⁽¹²⁾ people of all ages, after pathological cases were excluded, showed a 81% pineal calcification rate in people between 70 and 79 year old. The youngest person they found to have calcification of the pineal gland was 8 years old. They found that calcification increased with age. Another Japanese study of 450 subjects, found a 70% pineal calcification rate in people over 30 years, and also found the rate of calcification was proportional to increase in age.⁽¹³⁾ A German study focused on pineal calcification in 1044 children found calcification in 3% of children under 1 year, rising gradually to 7% at 10 years of age, and 33% by 18 years of age.⁽¹⁴⁾
 

Studies have tried to discern whether pineal calcification is more predominant in one racial group than another. Studies find an incidence of 18% in Iran, compared to approximately 55% in the USA for those over 20 years of age,⁽¹⁵⁾ and a similar low incidence in Nigeria⁽¹⁶⁾ and India.⁽¹⁷⁾ A study in Uganda shows a rate similar to, or higher than the USA, at 43% incidence after the age of 10 years,⁽¹⁸⁾ suggesting that while there may be differences in various clusters of people, the difference is likely due to a factor other than race.
 

The composition of the calcification in the pineal gland has been shown to have calcium and phosphorus as the major elements⁽¹⁹⁾ and accumulations of calcium associated with phosphorus have been localized in vesicles,vacuales, lipid droplets, lipopigments, and mitochondria of dark pinealocytes.⁽²⁰⁾

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Pineal Gland Calcification

The important question, of course, is what impact calcification in the pineal gland has on those of us with FM/CFS/OA/Lupus/toxicity, outside of the fact that we feel like we are a 150 years old when we are only 55.

The pineal has wide ranging effects, and affects most aspects of our body's functions. Its most commonly know function is to produce melatonin.

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The Pineal Gland and "Brainfog"

In the tasks of daily life, calcification in the pineal gland affects our brain's ability to function. Increased calcification impairs our sense of direction⁽²¹⁾ and explains how we can become disoriented and miss a turn off on a road we've driven a 100 times. The effects of disturbed sleep on memory are well documented. Studies have shown increased pineal calcification is significantly related to sleep disturbance and day time tiredness.⁽²²⁾

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The Pineal Gland and Hormone Regulation

a) Human Growth Hormone - Calcification of the pineal gland, and the resultant sleep disturbance, means we don't get the deep sleep that is necessary for the production of Human Growth Hormone, a hormone needed to repair muscles.⁽²³⁾
 

b) Hypothalmic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis - The pineal gland, through its production of melatonin and its effect on serotonin, affects many neuroendocrine functions. Reduced melatonin, through various pathways, disrupts cortisol rhythms, and significantly impairs the sensitivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.⁽²⁴⁾ As well, one study has shown a reciprocal relationship between the pineal and pituitary gland,⁽²⁵⁾ so that if the pineal is impaired, it affects the pituitary. This has a whole cascade of effects on the other glands and hormone production.
 

c) Reproductive Hormones - The pineal gland is instrumental in our sexual development at puberty for both sexes. Menstrual cycling and menopause are associated with melatonin fluctuations,⁽²⁶⁾ as is pregnancy, with melatonin increasing 200-300% in the first 20 weeks of gestation. Melatonin stimulates the production of progesterone. It is argued that compromised pineal gland function may be implicated in spontaneous abortions not due to chromosomal anomalies.⁽²⁷⁾ Pathologies of the pineal gland have been associated with disruption of reproductive hormones,⁽²⁸⁾ and administered melatonin has been shown to alter the semen quality in healthy men.⁽²⁹⁾
 

d) Thyroid - One study shows that administering melatonin produces changes in thyroid hormones.⁽³⁰⁾

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Melatonin as an Anticoagulant

Melatonin's interaction with serotonin, and its resultant role as an anticoagulant has been demonstrated repeatedly.^(31-35)

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Melatonin and Insulin Regulation

Research on the role melatonin plays on insulin regulation is in its early stages. There are a number of animal studies,^(36-38) indicating melatonin impacts on insulin sensitivity. Studies in humans indicate decreased production of melatonin by the pineal gland may increase insulin levels.⁽³⁹⁾ Another shows that supplementing with 1 mg of melatonin can reduce glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity⁽⁴⁰⁾ in elderly women.

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Melatonin, Fatigue and Phosphate Retention

Ironically, melatonin is itself involved in the regulation of calcium and phosphorous metabolism by stimulating the parathyroid and inhibiting calcitonin release and prostaglandin synthesis.⁽⁴¹⁾
 

As well as contributing to fatigue by disrupting the sleep cycle, decreased melatonin further contributes to fatigue due to its role in the ATP cycle, the energy producing cycle that happens within the cells.⁽⁴²⁾ Lower melatonin results in more difficulty incorporating phosphorous into the ATP cycle, with the result that there is less energy produced and the phosphorous becomes incorporated into calcium pyrophosphate.
 

Thus reduced melatonin caused by pineal calcification may be a mechanism for the phosphate retention Dr. P. St. Amand describes. The cells begin to calcify and then die. In time organs, such as the pineal gland, calcify, thereby reducing melatonin production further, in turn increasing the phosphorous accumulation and calcification process. This increases all the symptoms, both from further decreased melatonin and from increased calcification of the organs. The self-perpetuating, downward spiral is complete.
 

The cause of the phosphate retention occurring at the cellular level may account for the fact that no increased phosphate levels are found in the blood stream, as would be expected with Dr. P. St. Amand's theory. Although compromised kidney function would certainly contribute to phosphate retention, and the kidneys could be among the first organs that accumulate phosphates themselves, it may be that of itself, kidney function is not as much the problem as pineal gland function.

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Melatonin and Toxicity

One of the questions in this symptom cluster that we have not yet addressed is the question of toxicity. For those who have been diagnosed with mercury and other heavy metal toxicity this question speaks directly to their diagnosis. At the same time it is a question faced by everyone with a FM/CFS/OA/ADD/Lupus diagnosis. Anyone who has searched for various treatments for their disease has met the "detox philosophy", which has convinced us at some point, that if only we would detoxify, eat properly, and get lots of oxygen, we would be cured. Most of us have tried, possibly to feel better briefly, and not had lasting results. The "detox proponents" do not explain why it is that we should need to detox when our neighbour, whose lifestyle is much more toxic than ours, seems healthier than we are. Or why, when mercury is toxic to everyone, we are the ones whose body is totally overwhelmed by it. Why is it that in our bodies, nobody is "taking out the garbage"?
 

The role of melatonin in "taking out the garbage" and protecting us from building it up in the first place, is explained best in the following (emphasis and paragraphing added) : "Melatonin, the chief secretory product of the pineal gland, is a direct free-radical scavenger and indirect antioxidant. In terms of its scavenging activity, melatonin has been shown to quench the hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion radical, singlet oxygen, peroxyl radical, and the peroxynitrite anion. Additionally, melatonin's antioxidant actions probably derive from its stimulatory effect on superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase;-and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and its inhibitory action on nitric oxide synthase. Finally, melatonin acts to stabilize cell membranes, thereby making them more resistant to oxidative attack.
 

Melatonin is devoid of prooxidant actions. In models of oxidative stress, melatonin has been shown to resist lipid peroxidation induced by paraquat, lipopolysaccharide, ischemia-reperfusion, L-cysteine, potassium cyanide, cadmium chloride, glutathione depletion, alloxan, and alcohol ingestion. Likewise, free radical damage to DNA induced by ionizing radiation, the chemical carcinogen safrole ,lipopolysaccharide, and kainic acid are inhibited by melatonin. These findings illustrate that melatonin, due to its high lipid solubility and modest aqueous solubility, is able to protect macromolecules in all parts of the cell from oxidative damage.
 

Melatonin also prevents the inhibitory action of ruthenium red at the level of the mitochondria, thereby promoting ATP production. In humans, the total anti oxidative capacity of serum is related to melatonin levels. Thus, the reduction in melatonin with age may be a factor in increased oxidative damage in the elderly." ⁽⁴³⁾
 

As well, melatonin detoxifies hydrogen peroxide, and in so doing, produces another potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger(N1-acetyl-N2-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine)which is at least as powerful as melatonin itself⁽⁴⁴⁾
 

Much work has been done to demonstrate melatonin's positive role in the immune system, as well as its role in temperature regulation.⁽⁴⁵⁾ It is also surmised that it plays a role in the immune system recovering after immune responses to a viral or other stressful event.⁽⁴⁶⁾

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Melatonin and Depression

In studies of melatonin, its link to depression is well established. Along with the research on circadian rhythm, the research on depression is the most developed. The majority of studies support the hypothesis that there is a decrease in melatonin production,^(47-53) with some studies showing related cortisol increase ^(47-49) in depression. Since melatonin inhibits cortisol release, via vasotocin, increased cortisol in the presence of decreased melatonin would be expected. Even with the number of studies showing decreased melatonin in depression, there is some indication of melatonin increase being related to depression as well.⁽⁵⁴⁾

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Melatonin and IBS

Studies describing the role of melatonin in gastric problems and Irritable Bowel Syndrome all suggest melatonin plays a positive role in protection against ulceration, acceleration of healing, reduction of lesions and diarrhea and an overall protective, anti-stress role in the gastrointestinal tract, and that pineal gland dysfunction was associated with peptic ulcers.^(55-62) Another study shows that functional abdominal pain is related to low amplitude of melatonin and associated temperature rhythms.⁽⁶³⁾

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Melatonin in FMS and CFS

With sleep disturbance being such a clear symptom in FM, CFS, a number of studies have been done to try and elucidate the role of melatonin in these diseases. Unfortunately, results are not clear cut. Some studies have found increased ^(64,65) melatonin levels in FM while others have found decreased levels ^(66,67), and still others have found no difference^(68,69) in comparison with control groups. Similarly, in CFS, there have been findings of no difference^(64,65) and increased melatonin levels.^(70,71)

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Melatonin and Pain Reduction

A number of studies have demonstrated the analgesic action of melatonin.^(72-75) Other studies have show that the pain threshold in rats increased significantly after melatonin injections, ⁽⁷⁶⁾ suggesting those with low melatonin would feel pain more acutely. Reduced levels of substance P concentrations after administration of melatonin hint that reduced melatonin might account for the higher level of substance P in those with FM.^(77,78)

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Melatonin and Temperature Regulation

Administered melatonin had been shown to induce both acute and transient hypothermia. In comparison with a placebo, 3 and 9 mg doses significantly suppressed core body temperature, and doses of 0.5 mg showed slight suppression, thus demonstrating both the effect and showing that it is dose dependent.⁽⁷⁹⁾ As well, there is usually a significant correlation between melatonin onset and temperature acrophase in healthy people. One study shows that in CFS patients, there was no such significant correlation.⁽⁸⁰⁾
 

Sleep disturbance, disorientation, hormonal dysregulation, brain fog, memory loss, hypoglycemia, toxicity, temperature dysregulation, depression, "thick blood", IBS, decreased pain thresholds, fatigue and phosphate accumulation - all of these can be related to decreased melatonin production, which appears to be the result of pineal calcification.

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The Female Factor

When a disease is predominantly experienced by women, scientists tend to look first for a chromosome link, and feminists look to social/medical establishment factors. We think that while both of these factors may come into play, neither provide the total explanation. Since, so far, studies have shown no significant differences in the calcification rate among men and women, we think it is the cascade of effects that happen after the pineal calcification that results in more women than men experiencing this symptom cluster. Comparatively, men have a much simpler hormone system than women. Puberty does not produce the hormonal cycling in men that it does in women. Procreation is hormonally a simple affair for men and life changing for women's hormonal balance. Men do not experiences the huge surges in melatonin that women can. While men may experience menopause, its effects are much milder and less wide spread than women's. With women's hormonal balance so complex and easily disrupted, it would stand to reason that they are much more vulnerable to the effects of pineal calcification and the cascade of events within the body chemistry that it produces.

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Possible Contributing Factors in Pineal Gland Calcification

There may be a number of factors that weaken the pineal gland and thus contribute to its calcification. Some of these may set up a negative feedback loop, which then intensifies the calcification.
 

The first factor everyone reaches for these days is genetic predisposition, and there is an animal study that suggest this may be a factor.⁽⁸¹⁾ Genetic predisposition could well be acted upon by viral infection. There is one case presentation suggesting a cytomegalovirus may be implicated in human brain calcification⁽⁸²⁾ and another suggesting a connection between skin calcification and a cytomegalovirus, with the calcification decreasing as the virus subsided.⁽⁸³⁾ As we work with pineal gland remedies, we will be questioning whether Epstein Barr Virus, Herpes and Toxoplasma may also be implicated.
 

Once tissue is compromised, and natural balances are disrupted, candida, toxins, bacteria and other opportunistic infections can result. When they do, they further compromise the tissue, making it more vulnerable to further calcification, and thus a negative feedback loop is established.
 

There is also one bacteria that deserves special attention, due to its role in calcification. In 1998, Drs. O Kajander and N Ciftcioglu came across a very slow growing bacteria, which they called nanobacteria sanguineum, while they were researching something else.⁽⁸⁴⁾This bacteria, so small that it needs highly specialized instruments for it to be detected, protects itself by building a calcium shell around itself. It has been implicated in the plaque that forms on artery walls, and has been found in kidney stones and implicated in polycystic kidney disease. When we first found out about this bacteria, we thought it might account for all the calcium deposits in FM/CFS. However, while it does appear to play a role, and we are addressing it in pineal gland remedies where it appears appropriate, it appears to be only one possible factor, among many others.

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First Do No Harm

While pineal calcification appears to be basic to our problems, we should not all jump on the melatonin bandwagon, thinking that it is going to be the "magic bullet". If there is only one thing we all understand from the above information, it should be that melatonin is a potent hormone that has far reaching effects, that the research on it is very recent, and that the totality of its action is still poorly understood. This is not just another sleeping aid. This is a hormone that needs to be treated cautiously and with respect.
 

Studies have found supplementation with melatonin for sleep both ineffective⁽⁸⁵⁾ and effective in decreasing delayed sleep onset.⁽⁸⁶⁾ Others have found it most effective at the beginning of use⁽⁸⁷⁾ and that its effectiveness may be age dependent,⁽⁸⁸⁾ as well as being effective in recovering pituitary and thyroid function.⁽⁸⁹⁾
 

Some of the research does not discriminate between pineal calcification and melatonin reduction, using the two terms interchangeably. There is much more to the pineal gland than melatonin production. In one study the pineal glands were removed from rats, and the rats were then given melatonin. That study found the circadian rhythm could not be restored by administering melatonin.⁽⁹⁰⁾ This suggests that when you remove the pineal gland function, whether surgically or by calcification, there is a greater effect than only lowering melatonin levels, and/or that administered melatonin does not act the same in the body as melatonin produced by the pineal gland.
 

Very little work has been done to ascertain the impact of taking melatonin, beyond its effect in resetting the circadian rhythm. One study⁽⁴⁰⁾ cited earlier showed that for elderly women, taking 1mg of melatonin reduced glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity - something to be aware of for those of us already hypoglycemic, or on the edge of it.
 

Animal studies have shown administration of melatonin has led to atrophy of the sexual organs,⁽⁹¹⁾ and that administering melatonin has stimulated gluconeogenesis, increased glycogen stores and reduced fat mobilization in the kidneys.⁽⁹²⁾ Whether those conclusions transfer to humans is always an open question.
 

There is some thought that fluoxetine (Prozac) and melatonin may interact due to fluoxetine's effect on serotonin secretion, so it may be prudent to not experiment with taking melatonin if you are taking antidepressants that interact with seratonin.

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Melatonin Supplementation

Most importantly, melatonin is a hormone. The effect of taking any hormone is to reduce the gland's own output of it. Taking a hormone can become a downward spiral of the gland, which was unable to produce the hormone, and now becomes even less able to produce it. One animal study found that the effects of chronic(i.e everyday, ongoing, long term) melatonin treatment are similar to those of removing the pineal gland.⁽⁹³⁾
 

For all of the above reasons, we suggest that people use melatonin supplementation thoughtfully. When it is used, melatonin should be taken for 2 days followed by not taking it for 2 days. Repeat this "two day on/two days off pattern" to reduce the hormone's potential effect on the pineal gland's own production. While in the short term supplementation may be helpful for some, our focus will continue to be to look for ways to reverse the calcification and thus reduce the need for supplementation.

With this project, we have consistently focused on procedures to correct problems. This has allowed us to peel back the layers and get ever closer to the root of the problem. In this case, our interest is in dealing with the calcification of the pineal gland, so it can once again function well. We present the information on pineal calcification so that it is clear how the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. To prematurely jump to a solution, and over medicate with a very potent hormone, could give the exact opposite result of what we are all looking for.

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References

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