Melatonin

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I may not be offering any new info but I had an appointment with a paediatrician on Monday and discussed DS's anxiety and insomnia and she recommended Melatonin - a hormone, not a drug. I believe the dosage in Australia is different to other parts of the world and unfortunately it is only available by prescription here and is hellish expensive but it worked a treat. For the past three nights, he has been asleep by 9pm rather than 11pm without any issues and actually looking rested in the morning! What a victory

I'm from the US, where melatonin is classified in the same category as vitamins, and the standard dose is 3 mg. It really does work wonders, although it can be slightly addictive psychologically. It's a shame I didn't discover it until I was 22. When I was growing up, it took me on average 2 hours to fall sleep, until I was well into my teens. Now, as an adult, the average time for me to fall asleep without melatonin is half hour; still longer than for NT adults, but much better than before.

My son has been on it for almost 7 years. His psychiatrist who recommended it to start with had read some encouraging research that it can really help bi-polar at 6 mg/day, so that's what we did for years. He was 5 when we started and it has been a total game changer. There was not really much sleep going on in this house prior to melatonin. At night there was a lot of head banging and screaming. He started head banging and head pressing when he was only 8 months old, especially at night. Melatonin stopped all nighttime behaviors other than sleep. For 6 of the 7 years I gave him melatonin, he's asleep in 20 to 50 minutes and only wakes up at night maybe once every six months. Sleeps for 11 to 12 hours. Bliss. Recently I've been trying to do only 3 mg and that's not as reliable for stopping the nighttime waking.

I started homeschooling a few years ago so we have adjusted our schedule to be more of an 11 PM ish bedtime. Every once in a while it would get to be 2 AM or so and I'd wonder why in the world is my son not tired yet, and I'd remember I hadn't given melatonin yet. So yes, huge difference.

Personally I've always been the kind who can fall asleep any time, anywhere, for a whole night or for just a cat nap. But some new stuff going on medically for me over the last few years (inflammatory arthritis, fibromyalgia and a 3 year old severe injury to my Achilles tendon) have made sleep much much more difficult due to chronic pain. So about 2 years ago I started occasionally taking melatonin too on the nights I was worried I wouldn't sleep well. I also have diabetes that is sometimes not well controlled due to extreme insulin resistance and intolerances to various insulins. So I get up at night to go to the bathroom about 7 times on average (higher blood sugar causes frequent urination.) On melatonin I fall asleep much more quickly and I only get up once or twice. Very helpful, not at all like a sleeping pill, just feels like natural sleep. I have been taking it nightly, just 3 mg, for a couple months.

There is some thought that once you start taking it, your body's own mechanism for making it will decrease a lot and you might have to take it forever. That doesn't bother me particularly given the huge differences between on and off sleeping behavior. As for the first psychiatrist's idea that it will help bi=polar, I guess my son hasn't been off it long enough to compare, and his diagnosis now is autism anyway. I also read an article about how it can mess up various other hormones in your body - it was an article for parents urging caution. I got the sense it was for parents experiencing a lot less dysfunction that I have in my household, that's for sure. My son is on an anti-psychotic that causes dangerous side effects - being also on melatonin is a drop in the bucket. But for more NT but active and wakeful kids who have wishy washy parents that aren't firm about bedtime, I guess the idea is it might not be totally harmless to just had out melatonin each night. But that's not what we have in this house. We have self harming, aggression, non stop very disruptive stimming, and are already using a dangerous medication... In our case, melatonin is getting used!

Thrilled that melatonin is working for you!

Someone noted that it an be psychologically addictive and therein is my question. My 9 year old needed melatonin to get to sleep when he took stimulants for a few months. He's now been off those meds for quite a while but still thinks he needs melatonin to sleep. Any tips for helping him stop? Sometimes he skips a few nights but then he remembers. Would it be mean to put tic tacs in the melatonin bottle?

I think he'll notice the fruity or minty taste of a Tic Tac! I think it would also be mean - if he found out you gave him fake melatonin, he will have a VERY difficult time ever trusting you again, and it will cast doubt on whether any "melatonin" he takes in the future is real - effectively giving him the OPPOSITE of the "placebo" effect you're after.

If he's "forgetting" the melatonin some nights, point it out and however he actually slept without it. If he's sleeping fine without it and it's pointed out, he may then decide he doesn't need it!