Long term use of melatonin

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I've been using it for a fairly long time. Probably 2-3 years.

I've heard that if you use it too much, your brain will stop producing as much as it would have normally. So you get a tolerance built up to it, basically. That was my experience with it anyway, I took it almost every night when I was trying to quit drinking alcohol. It was very helpful to get me to sleep at first, but it eventually had little or no effect after awhile with that sort of heavy use.

However, I have kicked my alcohol habit. Melatonin was a lifesaver for that, since I was using booze to sleep. I don't use melatonin heavily anymore, either. I probably use it about once a week or so. It works for me, as long as I don't take it too regularly.

I searched once to if it could have any longterm side effects, but couldn't find any.

Either them, or ebay.

Seemingly it is possible to get it on prescription which (outside England) may be cheaper.

As long as that doesn't mean using some untrustworthy foreign "pill factory" which could be selling capsules of brick dust - or worse.

It is probably safe to use sellers based in countries where melatonin is available OTC (such as the US) as they don't have to make it themselves. The last lot I got was made by one of the US sister companies to Holland and Barrett.

As for agestop, they are probably a bit dodgy as well, selling prescription only medicine to the public and are based out of a rented mailbox ( http://www.mbe.co.uk/londonbelgravia )

How much valerian? Like how many mg? Valerian does not calm me. It does make me dream though.

Mgs can vary between manufacturers, but the dosage I currently use is 2 capsules in the 470 mg strength. I can't use it all the time, though because it sometimes has an odd stimulant affect meaning that I can't sleep. But this is rare. My daughter use to swear by Calms Forte, a homeopathic preparation made for sleep. It did nothing for me, though.

Meh...
The stuff they sell is made by Biovea so it could be purchased directly from them:
http://www.biovea.com/uk/product_detail ... 562&OS=202
...but I see they're out of stock also.
I thought Agestop were cheaper when I bought mine but this isn't the case now.

Interestingly, both biovea.com and agestop.net are using IP addresses in the same IP block and the web-presence for both of them is hosted at the same data centre - so it seems likely they're one and the same company.


Googling "melatonin UK law" turns up all sorts of information saying how it isn't available over the counter, but apparently nothing stating why it's prescription only.
Legally, it's something of a grey area anyway - if the substance isn't actually banned, why shouldn't someone buy it privately?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... legal.html

Biovea (UK) are based at a different London branch of Mail Boxes etc. so I suspect that their UK operations are linked. Agestop used to offer free postage on all orders which made them a bit cheaper.

The legal status is a bit vague, if it was fully legal for sale in the UK then large retailers such as Boots would sell it (outwith the pharmacy).

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The fact that there is concern over the overuse of (traditional) sleeping pills (BBC News Article) would suggest that easy availability of melatonin (even if restricted to pharmacies) would be beneficial.

I have been giving it to my daughter for 2 years. 1mg sublingual. It still works and I see no side effects. I do buy a good brand and stay away from drugstore generics.

I have suffered with insomnia my whole life and have tried everything. I usually take benadryl at night because it is the least harmful of pharmaceuticals and melatonin doesn't work on me. My mind races at night (usually negative thoughts) and I haven't been able to find something to shut it off so I suffer through.

i've googled "melatonin" and "tolerance" and my heart sunk with the amount of people that seem to have experienced tolerance...

Tried 3 mg and it seems to have a good effect but now i'm worried about long-term use.

Is there any sleep aid that can be used long-term without the risks of tolerance?

I have seen a few studies rating it as a somewhat effective treatment of autism. But maybe that could just be because sleep deprivation worsens autistic symptoms.

I've heard of people becoming tolerent but that seems to happen less anecdotelly with people withsensory processing problems

I tried 3mg of melatonin and felt hung over for 2 days. It wasn't pleasant. I'm thinking about trying 1 mg. I'm kind of desperate at this point because I have difficulty falling asleep and can't stay asleep for more than 1-2 hours. I haven't had anything resembling a decent night sleep in a month now and it's really affecting my thinking and moods.

A "hangover" might be worth it if you can get a full night of sleep. It's normal to wake up a few times in a night but if you can't get back to sleep then that's a problem. If this keeps up, probably something you might want to ask a doctor about.

I asked a doctor about it years ago and was told to drink warm milk. I told him I'm allergic to milk and he told me to eat turkey. I told him to go f**k himself at that point. I don't understand why doctors won't take people seriously if it's something outside of their experience. Stuckup as*holes think if they don't immediately know the answer to something it can't be real. I've been like this my whole life, it's just that I'm in a particularly bad cycle right now. Sleep for 1 hour wake up for 3 hours. Go back to sleep for 2 hours. Wake up for 2 hours. Sleep 90 minutes. wake up for 1 hour. My pattern of sleepy and awake just fluctuates randomly. Been like this for weeks. Usually I get 1 or 2 nights a week of 4-5 hours uninterrupted sleep. Cannabis has been really good for me to fall asleep but staying asleep is still a major problem. but yeah I'm going to give 1mg of melatonin a go and hope for the best, it can't get much worse.