Melatonoin and Depression

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Hello:

I was wondering if anybody has had any experience with Melatonoin? I had been taking it regularly for quite some time to help me drop off to sleep. For about the last 3 months I have been suffering from most of the symptoms of clinical depression.

The other day I ran out of Melatonin and did not get to the Pharmacy to replace it. After a couple of days without Melatonoin, I had quite a "good day", (relief from symptoms).

I'm going to stay off the Melatonin for a while and see if my mood remains elevated.

Has anybody out there had a similar experience?

Thanks,

Paul

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/melatonin-000315.htm

"Some studies show that melatonin supplements actually worsened symptoms of depression. For this reason, individuals with depression should consult their doctor before using melatonin supplements. "

I can imagine it has an effect on the body much like other drugs. Makes your seratonin go up, for a while... but by the time you wake up and it wears off, your seratonin could be lower than before. I think that's why dosage for melatonin is always recommended to be so low, because I think if you take too much, too long, it might interfere with your body's ability to make it's own seratonin.

I take Tylenol Simply Sleep and I've had no bad side effects yet, though I've heard low doses of benedryl over time may cause hives. I had hives long before I started though, and they stay away with my zyrtec.

Actually, I had exactly that same problem with melatonin, although I didn't take it as long as you did. After a few weeks I stopped taking it, because every night I took it, I would wake up in the morning feeling depressed. My symptoms stopped as soon as I stopped taking the melatonin.

I'm glad to know I'm not alone- I thought it was really weird that I reacted that way, because I thought melatonin was supposed to help depression.

i don't know. i have been experimenting with it. it was such a miracle to go to sleep at night and awake in the morning. but then it started to not work as well... i tried going off it, then going back on. and i have been having a hard time lately. i REALLY want to hang onto the order, the lovely schedule of day is for play, night is for sleep... I WANT IT BACK!! !

but yeah, i have been depressed. thought it was just one of my 'normal' swings though.

I didn't take melatonin long enough to notice any problems with depression.

I did have really strange and scary/repetative/semi-lucid dreams....where I would think I was awake in my house...but it was just a dream....that made me stop taking the stuff....

I've been taking it for a few months to help with my insomnia and trying to fit a work life around never going to bed before 3am. I stopped last week and didnt really notice any mood problems however I took some last night and today I have a really dark mood going on and have spent the day wondering if I'd be better off dead.

Going to stop taking melatonin for a bit and see if my brain returns to normal or if this is really the start of a depressive cycle.

I have taken 2 mg of melatonin for nearly a year now and have experienced no adverse side effects. Not only has it helped me get to sleep, the little bit of sleep I get when I am in melt down mode has a huge effect on keeping me functional. The worst effects of a melt down gets mitigated and I feel a lot better. It is interesting to hear that melatonin can worsen depression though.

My pattern with Melatonin would be that It would knock me out nicely, but then I'd wake up a couple of hours later and start obsessing about some "incident" in my life and as the result of getting "wound up" I would be awake for a couple of hours.

I also experienced bad dreams whilst taking it.

I also had bad dreams- not nightmares, but just unpleasant, disquieting dreams.

Fortunately, it was very easy to realize that the trouble started pretty much right when I started taking the melatonin, so the connection was easy to make.