Melatonin

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Has anyone tried it?

It is 3:30 am and I am wide awake. For some unknown reason I just woke up at 2:30 am after going to bed at 10:30 pm. This is the first time sleep disruption has happened in months since I started the calisthenics program. Throughout the day I could feel the onset of a meltdown as my thoughts shifted into recursive memories. Perhaps if I had taken some melatonin I would not be wide awake now writing this post to WP. Would love to hear if it has worked for anyone else before I buy some.

I know some people it's worked for, and some for whom it's been worthless. All you can do is try, really.

I used melatonin a long time ago.

Tim

yes,got some off another uk member on an ASD forum several years ago.
it worked for am,it doesn't work like a sleeping pill as such-and if the person is too over stimulated it's just not going to help much at all,but it can help with getting calmed enough to make the switch to sleep mode,gave some to sister to try and it had an even stronger effect on her.

the thing is,it cannot be judged by anothers experience because it reacts differently in different people,some people find it doesn't work and with others it does.
it's worth getting a bottle of it to try.
there are normal release and slow release versions,slow release doesn't have as quick a rush but it lasts longer,and normal release has a short lifespan so might not help if wake up later on.

Melatonin can be effective - but you have to be careful which tablets you buy. I have taken melatonin when working night shift and needed to sleep during the day. It helped me a lot. My son was prescribed melatonin - and the dose was way too strong. It really knocked him for six making him groggy well into the next day. I think we ended up taking quarter of the dose recommended by the doctor. It is a good medication, you just need to access a good source of melatonin.

Another thing worth trying and that I always found helpful - was to eat one or two banana's when I woke up - banana's seemed to help me get back to sleep. I think there is something in banana's that promotes sleep.

I use melatonin plus valerian root as a general sleep aid; those plus cup of hot Sleepy Time tea, sipped slowly while letting my mind wander and relax, form part of my pre-bed routine. (For the record, there’s nothing in Sleepy Time tea that actually makes you sleepy; it’s basically just mint/chamomile tea; but it is relaxing.)

I stick with 1mg of melatonin rather than 3mg (two common dosages); 3mg makes me a bit groggy the next day, as far as I can tell. For me it's not a particularly potent sleep aid, doesn't seem to help when I go particularly insomniac (little does in that case); but in general it does have some effect, and I prefer it to actual sleeping drugs.

Good fortune,

- Icarus is into herbs...

i use melatonin, too.. it's very helpful..

Thanks everyone. I think I will go buy a bottle.

I should try melatonin. My insomnia isn't usually severe (I've never gone a whole night without sleep), but on average it takes me at least an hour to fall sleep (when I'm very tired), and if I've slept in, 2 0r 3 hours, occasionally more. It sucks. I hate taking tylenol PM and benadryl and feeling dependent, but I have to think really hard and burn myself out to fall asleep - I absolutely cant make my mind go blank. I worry I'll be come addicted to sleeping medication. I really take sleep seriously, and I tend to obsess over getting as much as possible, which isn't easy as a college student. I wish I could calm down about it - stressing makes it worse. It keeps getting worse and worse the older I get. Barring an extremely high fever, I haven't taken a nap since I was 18 months old, so I can't catch up on sleep I've missed.

I just started taking it. It works well for backing up my sleep cycle when I've been in a pattern of staying up late. The only negative side effect is it seems to cause vivid dreams at first. Intense REM sleep leaves me feeling a little weird in the morning.

quirky:

I think the best way to use it is not everyday. It's a good thing to use on a Sunday night when I've been sleeping in too much and know I probably won't get to sleep until 3-4 AM naturally. I take 3 mg melatonin at midnight and I can get to sleep at 1-2 AM rather than 3-4 AM. I don't count on being able to get to sleep more than 2 hours earlier than the previous night. It doesn't work if I take it too early.

I learned about Melatonin as a law student. That is when my thoughts raced so much I couldn't fall asleep at all, and if I did, I woke up too early. I was able to take Melatonin without the hangover effect of regular sleeping medication.

However, there is a possible problem with it. I was giving it to my son, and we didn't know that if one takes too high a dosage, it can cause vivid nightmares.

When he started to become afraid to go to sleep because he didn't want to have "bad dreams", I started doing research on why he was having bad dreams. I came (accidentally) across something that said that one of the side effects of Melatonin was vivid nightmares.

I cut his dosage to 1/4 of a 1 mc tablet. He can now fall asleep and he doesn't have bad dreams.

I've been using for over 10 years and find it's brilliant for me.

Melatonin is available at like CVS, right? I heard prescriptions mentioned, but i thought it was more herbal and a prescription was not required.

In the US, it is an over the counter drug. The doctor can "prescribe" it just like he can with Sudafed i.e. he can tell you to use it, but there is not an official prescription to give to the pharmacist.

You just pick it up over near the vitamins and herbal supplements or near other sleep aids. Some places put it one place and some others. CVS used to keep it near the vitamins.

I have found that the liquid or the sublingual types work better and quicker than the traditional pill type, as it enters the body by being absorbed through the tissues in the mouth, rather than being digested.

I usually have to purchased liquid and sublingual types either over the internet or at a health food store.

I live in New Zealand - for melatonin - we need a prescription.

Melatonin has really weird side effects for me, and i don't really like it. It has caused me have these strange lucid dreams where I am wide awake in my house and um....I will think that i am awake and things will happen and I won't realise till later that it was just a dream....

Either that or I will be really buzzed and unable to sleep. The lucid dream stuff happend when I took a really really big dose out of frustration of not being able to fall asleep.
The lucid dream experience was really psychedellic and bizarre....but not very fun at all.

I have a whole bottle of the stuff...but am afraid to take it.