PROPOFOLOGY.COM
  • Home
  • About
    • Donate
    • About >
      • Contributors
      • Why #FOAMed?
      • Privacy
    • DISCLAIMER
  • FRCA COURSE
    • Buy FRCA Course
    • Tutorial List
    • International Course
  • ICU Course
  • BASICS OF CRITICAL CARE
  • Resources
    • COVID19 >
      • Webinars COVID19
    • Infographs >
      • Full List Index
      • Infograph Blog
      • Contribute
      • PDFs
    • Conferences >
      • ESICM Physiology 2020
      • ICSSOA 2019
      • ESICM LIVES 2019
      • ESICM LIVES 2018 >
        • LIVES 2018 CONTENT
      • IAEM 2018 >
        • Top 5 Studies IAEM
      • IFAD >
        • Case Report
        • The Hub
      • RAUK 2019
      • IFAD2018
      • IFAD2017 Blog
    • Trial Summaries
    • Index
    • Students
    • Absolute Beginner's Guide to Anaesthetics
    • Articles >
      • Articles
      • Tutorials
    • YouTube Channel
    • Anaesthetic Equipment
    • Contributions
    • Espanol
  • Podcasts
  • Anniversary Showcase

Melatonin

7/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Melatonin - considered by some to be a 'herbal myth' and others as a useful adjunct to help sleep in ICU patient and adults >55 years old. There is biological plausibility that melatonin could be a useful adjunct to aid restful and efficient sleep in those who could be deplete in melatonin. 

Overall - a meta-analysis here in 2013 showed that there was some evidence to say that it could work in some cohorts. Given its relatively safe profile, it could be useful to trial in patients with a sleep disorder. Particularly it could be of use in ICU, but, the evidence is currently out - awaiting a larger RCT. It's a cheap drug and even cheaper in the USA where it is available OTC. In patients who are restless or unable to sleep in a busy ICU, perhaps it has a role in being a first drug of choice before considering more 'heavy' sedative alternatives given it is a non-narcotic. 

The studies mentioned below are indeed rather small and a few are single-centre analyses, so we cannot say for certain whether there is true efficacy, but many practitioners would agree, it's certainly worth a go providing there are no obvious contraindications in your local formulary (primarily, not to use in patients with autoimmune conditions) and the person does not require heavy sedation for other reasons.

Outside ICU, the drug is quite popular with GP's and could even be used more frequently as a first line alternative to Z-drugs or benzodiazepines in a hospital cohort. Sleep deprivation, it will come as no surprise, is rife in hospitals - I think we can all agree, that any adjunct to promote restful sleep without being profoundly 'sedating' could be a useful drug. I look forward to seeing more definitive studies in the future.
FULLSCREEN
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    USE OF THIS WEBSITE IS SUBJECT TO AGREEING TO THIS DISCLAIMER
    ​
    ​
    THIS WEBSITE IS FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS & STUDENTS ONLY

    There is a full, simple,
    ​list of all the infographs
    here.
    Let the page load..
    Due to the HD nature of the infograms, it can take a while for this page to load fully.

    Author

    Dr. David Lyness

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    Anaesthetics
    Analgesia
    Anatomy
    Antibiotics
    Blood
    Conditions
    Emergency Medicine
    Equipment
    ICU
    Immunology
    Intubation
    Obstetrics
    Pain
    Pharmacology
    Physics
    Physiology
    Radiology
    Regional Anaesthesia
    Renal
    Sedation
    Sepsis
    #smaccDUB
    Techniques
    Ultrasound
    Vaccine
    #WDSD16

    RSS Feed

Creative Commons License
Free to access Propofology Infograms, eBooks and selected YouTube videos by Dr. David Lyness are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Please attribute all works: 'Based on a work by Dr. David Lyness' at www.propofology.com/resources.
Home
About
Contact
ALL SITE USERS SHOULD READ AND AGREE TO THE DISCLAIMER HERE.
Contact via Twitter
  • Home
  • About
    • Donate
    • About >
      • Contributors
      • Why #FOAMed?
      • Privacy
    • DISCLAIMER
  • FRCA COURSE
    • Buy FRCA Course
    • Tutorial List
    • International Course
  • ICU Course
  • BASICS OF CRITICAL CARE
  • Resources
    • COVID19 >
      • Webinars COVID19
    • Infographs >
      • Full List Index
      • Infograph Blog
      • Contribute
      • PDFs
    • Conferences >
      • ESICM Physiology 2020
      • ICSSOA 2019
      • ESICM LIVES 2019
      • ESICM LIVES 2018 >
        • LIVES 2018 CONTENT
      • IAEM 2018 >
        • Top 5 Studies IAEM
      • IFAD >
        • Case Report
        • The Hub
      • RAUK 2019
      • IFAD2018
      • IFAD2017 Blog
    • Trial Summaries
    • Index
    • Students
    • Absolute Beginner's Guide to Anaesthetics
    • Articles >
      • Articles
      • Tutorials
    • YouTube Channel
    • Anaesthetic Equipment
    • Contributions
    • Espanol
  • Podcasts
  • Anniversary Showcase