Melatonin

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I am definitely going to try this.

My friend tried some last night he said he felt weird on it but had a very refreshing nights sleep.

My daughter's neurologist recommended it and now we're all taking it. I recommend starting with one mg, not 3, though. I ran out of ones and took a 3 last night. (I had also been having trouble sleeping.) and this morning when my alarm clock went off I just heard music in my dream! I overslept. So, I'm going back to one tonight.


Good luck.

We started to give my seven-year old son melatonin at his doctor's suggestion... 1 mg before bed. Once I noticed him sitting up in bed talking excitedly, then a week later when I picked him up at school, he started talking about a dream he had the night before, how it was "breaking into the safe of his mind" all day at school and distracting him from his work. We reduced his intake to .5 mg and haven't had any more incidents. It is amazing how fast it knocks him out - we'd never had a kid who would just quietly go to sleep in 20 minutes after lights out.

I will say, though, I have tried to skip a night here and there, because some people think you should not use it everyday - and the first night we skip a pill, he is awake for over an hour after we turn out the lights. The pills just don't seem to have much residual effect. Maybe that's a good thing?

I give it to my son (9) every night and he's had a great experience with it. He takes 0.5mg at 7pm. At 8 pm it's time for bed and he's asleep in 10 mins. No side effects. It's just enough to help his body to relax without overmedicating and him feeling groggy or having weird dreams. He sleeps 10-11 hours a night.

Following the advice given on this thread, I purchased a bottle containing 120 tablets of 1 mg Melatonin tablets from GNC and took one pill last night before going to bed. Miracles of miracles! I slept a straight 9 hours and feel like the meltdowns that have been plaguing me all this week might have been licked.

10 minutes after taking the Melatonin, I could feel my head becoming a little heavier. By 20 minutes, I was feeling that good drowsy feeling which signaled that it was time to go to sleep. When I climbed into bed, it just felt right and comfortable to be lying down; there was none of the frustrating anguish that I was forcing my body to do something that my mind did not want to do. Within a little while of hitting the sack, I was asleep. 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep! For 5 nights in a row I have suffered from various forms of sleep disruption. Either I could not fall asleep or I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. It is a relief to finally get the sleep I need. You would think that having slept so well I would be full of energy but I would actually describe my state of mind as peaceful exhaustion. It feels like some parts of my brain came to a stop and rested only last night after days of furious and futile activity.

Now I have to decide if I should take Melatonin every night or reserve it only for the nights when I feel I might need it. I do not believe in popping pills and do not take anything else beyond the plant rich diet that I consume. But the effects of getting the sleep I need has made me such a happy man, I might just have to make an exception for Melatonin.

For all you people living in countries where Big Brother won't let you buy melatonin: Hops have something that hits the melatonin receptors:

For three days now I have been taking Melatonin. After the first time, which came on the heels of many nights of sleep disruption, the effects are more muted. I do fall asleep more easily but waking up in the wee hours of the morning still happens. Although with Melatonin, I do not wake up fully. For the last two nights, at about 4-6 am, I seem to be in the unfathomable space between sleep and time consciousness - my eyes are closed and I am sleeping, but in a dreamlike way I am aware that it is early morning. No complaints from me though, this is a significant improvement from waking up at 3 am in the morning and finding that my brain is fully activated.

There is another effect that Melatonin has on me: throughout the day I felt very mellow, rested and lazy. It felt like I could sit in a chair, stare out in the space, and watch as the butterflies dance from flower to flower and tree to tree amidst the many changing hues of tropical green. It is a calm, peaceful, almost sedate feeling that lasts throughout the day. This I like very much as it is a vast improvement from feeling that irascible, unscratchable itch which has torments me when sleep disruption occurs.

Most auties don't produce much melatonin, and those that produce the least have more symptoms, especially with regards to verbal communication and play:

The first day I tried melatonin, it worked great. Second day it didn't work. Kept trying and it didn't work. I also grew tolerant of ambien within a week.

Icarus, I think I'll try your method. Is Valerian root easy to obtain?