Melatonin?

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When I was a kid, I had chronic insomnia. My bedtime was 9:00pm (even in third grade), but on most nights, I didn't fall asleep at least until 10:00 to 11:00pm. I knew there were medications for insomnia, but my parents refused to give them to me. They believed in using natural methods to fall asleep (read: just falling asleep on my own). Given my limited access to information at the time, I didn't even know melatonin existed. If I did, I would have sold my soul for one dose of it. I hated bedtime with an intense passion, because going to bed meant lying in bed bored out of my mind. If and when I have kids (currently, I have no plans or intentions to do so), I'm going to keep plenty of melatonin in stock at all times.

My son with classic autism who just turned three has been getting melatonin every night for about seven months. His doctor suggested it as he has had extreme sleep issues since he was about six months old.

The rest of us can finally get some sleep.

I don't know about aspergers kids but the doc suggested that for autistic kids to start at 1mg and slowly work up higher until you find a dose that helps but to definitely not exceed 5 mg.

I should add that I have tried it myself and found that I had less trouble falling asleep and did not have any dream issues.

Good luck

Thanks for all the replies, they've been very helpful.

I think I'll talk to my son about it, and see whether he thinks he would like to try melatonin. If he does, then I'll go and see the GP and ask for a prescription, and take it from there.

If my son doesn't want to try it, then I'll see how we get on with a weighted blanket, which I might try anyway.

I would also like to add that despite the odd dreams I'm still taking the melatonin. 3 mg. For awhile I was having extremely bad headaches from it but now I don't seem to get them and my sleeping is getting better and better... =]

You won't even need a prescription if you live in the US. In the US, melatonin is considered a nutritional supplement, with the same legal status as vitamin or herbal pills. So you'll be able to buy it over the counter in any drugstore. Melatonin comes in two versions: natural, which is made from cow brains, and synthetic, which is made from chemicals; both have the same molecular structure as the one produced by the human brain. The synthetic version is actually the better of the two, since it has no animal byproducts that can contain bacteria.

In Finland they milk the cows at night to get milk with a high natural melatonin concentration - less off putting than cow brains

This is a myth that has been debunked. It has been found that many red wines do contain melatonin.

Melatonin is not subscription only in the UK you can buy it is health stores (less likely pharmacies), off the shelf. This may change in the future. But it would be prudent to talk to a doctor fist, especially with a young one.

Here in Canada it isn't prescription either. Our son's pediatrician just suggested we go to the store. You'll find it in most drugstores, health food stores, and supermarkets in their supplement section. It'll come in various dosages and forms such as caplets, flavoured chewables, and even liquid form. A lot of the chewables come pre-scored so you can break them in half for easy half-doses and the liquid is very easy to adjust, which is good when you are trying to figure out the minimum requirement for your child. If your child has trouble with chewing or swallowing the pills the liquid mixes well with juices or other liquids and it doesn't have the extreme bitter taste that a lot of medicines have so it's much easier to "hide". Obviously it's even easier to select the dose with it. But the liquid is usually a fair amount more expensive per gram of active ingredient.

The amino acid tryptophan DOES turn into 5-HTP which turns into serotonin which turns into melatonin! Of course, some now say turkey is not that high in tryptophan.

As for using cow brains in the US for malatonin manufacture, that is actually ILLEGAL in the US, so I hope nobody is doing it. The use of bovine brain and nerve tissues for consumption, ESPECIALLY by humans, was made illegal because they FINALLY realized(DUH), AGAIN, that prions were similar enough to create trouble for humans. This little tidbit has been known since about 1732!! !! !! ! YEP folks, that is right! Over 200 years ago! The U.S. didn't even exist yet! Cows probably weren't even really used yet. If the disease, known as Scrapie(a TSE), was discovered, or even SUSPECTED, the ENTIRE HERD would be killed and BURNED! Apparently, humans can't catch it(who really knows? Wikipedia says "Scrapie has been known since the 18th century (1732) and does not appear to be transmittable to humans."), but lots of other animals, including cows, CAN catch it! And the COW form is called BSE(a TSE also called MAD COW DISEASE). THEN, a human CAN catch it vCJD(a TSE).

Why do people always just assume that the older cultures were IDIOTS, and have to subject others to their self imposed ignorance!?!?

GRANTED, they didn't know about prions, but they knew SOMETHING because the sheep would act a certain way and eventually die. They saw it spread to other animals that ALSO acted in a similar way and died. When they destroyed the affected herds, and isolated people, the problem disappeared. HECK, the BIBLE says they treated lepars in the same sort of way(even if they weren't destroyed). It didn't take a genius, or even a microscope.

Very interesting! Prions are freaky little buggers, aren't they?! They're just proteins wound the wrong way, not even really alive, and they can cause so much havoc...

But on turkey vs. tablets: just because you get the building stone, it is no certain thing you'll turn it into melatonin, and definately no certain thing you'll do it/release it at the right time i.e. bedtime.

My 10-year old son's psychiatrist recommended Melatonin, which I also started taking as I suffer from insomnia (could it be b/c I haven't slept a full night since he was born?). I found it in 1mg and 3mg tablets. I believe the adult dose is 3mg. I take 2-1mg tablets as 3 mg leaves me sleepy all day. I break a 1mg pill in 1/2 for him, but sometimes I also give him 25 mg benedryl if he's still having difficulty sleeping. He's also on Depakote, which is supposed to help him sleep. He weighs 50 lb. As for dreams, I have always have vivid dreams/nightmares so I can't say these have increased, but I do sleep more soundly. I noticed that Jake tends to dream more vividly if he hasn't had the Melatonin.
Jael

I started my son on meletonin 4 days ago. It was so bad prior to this, that he was getting about 7 hrs sleep a night and no naps during the day, if he did take a nap he would be up until 11pm. He's about to turn 4 and this has been going on for the last 18 months or so, his sleep has just been deteriorating at a fast pace. When we saw the Dev.Ped the Dr basically stated that I shouldn't be surprised if it didn't work, but I wanted to give it a try. We have normal nights now. I give him half a pill about 30 minutes before bedtime, between 8-8:30 and he's actually going to sleep, and he's not up half a million times and he's sleeping 12 hrs straight again! He wakes up happy and alert and we are so surprised at the change in him yet again, we saw the first change in him when we started to give him Omega 3-6-9. I no longer feel guilty about feeling like I'm drugging him, I would give him benedryl when he would have BAD nights. I bought our bottle at Trader Joes.

I had a quick look online and it seems that you can't get melatonin over the counter in the UK. In any case, especially as it is my son who'll be taking it, I'd rather go through the GP.

I phoned the surgery this afternoon and I've been offered a telephone consultation on Thursday morning. My GP will phone me to speak about it.

My son is concerned that he isn't sleeping until after midnight or later, and is agreeable to trying melatonin. We talked about it again last night, or rather the early hours of this morning. Today is his first day back at school after the holidays and he only had about 6 hours sleep, possibly less. He was very sleepy initially, but quite alert by the time he got to school. It's a question of how he can remain consistently alert throughout the school day which concerns me, as I don't think he can work as well as he could with so little sleep.

Sorry I meant to put it as a new topic.

My 10 yr old has been using the Melatonin dietary suppliment for bout a yr now.

He takes (2) 1mg pills an hour before bedtime, at the recommendation of his behavioral pediatrician.

We pick it up in the vitamin section in our local drug store.

She said that in some Aspies, their body does not naturally make enough melatonin which was the reason for his sleeplessness.

Since he has been using it, he gets between 7 and 9 straight hours of sleep, where before it was 4-6 and affecting his mood and school performance.

On the days where he doesnt have a bedtime (like vacation or weekends) he doesnt take it, and if he happens to sleep really late or nap, he takes 3 mg instead of 2 mg.

It doesnt leave him groggy or anything. Has been working well.

When it gets dark, your body is supposed to produce melatonin, which relaxes you and makes you sleepy.

Apparently, autistic ppl lack the function to sense it is dark, and don't produce enough melatonin, which explains why so many can't sleep properly at night.

I have not tried it as in the UK it is only available of prescription, and I don't fancy talking to my doctor about it. She, after all, said when I told her about my anxiety and panic attacks, "isn't anxiety part of Aspergers?" - SO I HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT, WHEN NON-AUTISTIC PPL GET GIVEN DRUGS ALL THE DAMN TIME?!? Phew, *breathe*. So yeah, that's why I haven't tried it. It would probably work for me, unfortunately.