hi

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Recently diagnosed with aspergers.. my psychiatrist has been given advice from the aspergers team here in the UK to prescribe me melatonin as all my life ive had issues sleeping... getting to sleep... staying a sleep.

I do currently use alcohol for that will melatonin help me?

Melatonin is useful to reset your sleep cycle particularly for jet lag but i disagree that it should be used regularly. Melatonin is a hormone and hormones are regulated with a negative feedback cycle, meaning if you try and take hormones, regardless the hormone it will cause the body to downregulate its own production of the hormone, producing less of it as a result.

It isn't that strong anyway. There are many other better options if u plan on using it everynight. Alcohol initially is sedating then it becomes stimulating a few hours after you take it. So alcohol may help you fall asleep but won't help you stay asleep.

Chamomile, valerian, passion flower extract are all decent sleep aid options that dont come with most of the side effects associated with other meds used for sleep.

I never tried it but I think like all meds & supplements, you have to try it yourself to know exactly how it will affect you. Try it for a while & let us know if it doesn't help so we can give you some other suggestions.

Melatonin has been the best sleep aid I've ever tried. And I had regular bouts of insomnia for 10 years before finding it. I'm pretty sure the insomnia in my case is genetic as it's a condition that several relatives experience on my mothers side. My grandmother had a slow miserable end after being awake for about a month straight.

It's over the counter here usually in 3mg doses, it sounds like you can't get it without a script going by what you wrote. For some people it has no effect. But might as well give it a try.

I love melatonin, I take it sometimes even if I don't need help falling asleep, just for the intense dreams that it produces. It may or may not help you, especially if you are needing alcohol to fall asleep, it will not be anything close to that sedating, you basically get a short window of time to fall asleep and if you let that time pass it will be like you didn't even take it. It is good for getting to sleep but it is not always good for those that have difficulties staying asleep.

I have a chronic sleep disorder and they prescribed me this in the form of circadin. I think it does have an effect, sure, but it's a mild one. I take it in conjunction with benzos for any real effect.
I think it may depend on the cause of the sleeping issue, what exactly it is, and the severity of the problem. Nothing really works on me and sleep, but it may be helpful for others!
Also to the above - all those "natural" remedies only usually work on those with very mild sleep issues, or problems that are the results of psychosomatic causes. They will have no effect on chronic entrenched sleeping disorders.
I have been awake for days at a time and started to hallucinate before, and people will tell me to just drink chamomile tea and it will cure it. Nope.