[BeyondtheRainbow]

I realize that it is somewhat ridiculous to be afraid of a natural substance considering that every day I happily swallow pills that are much, much more dangerous. But I'm scared of the stuff.

I was supposed to start it tonight but my mom had minor surgery today and may need me to clean up her dressings during the night so I'm not doing anything that might make me more sleepy. (I can't fall asleep despite a HUGE amount of sedation but I then sleep a ton.)

Anyone with positive experiences with the stuff? I'm supposed to start at 3 mg and go to 6 if 3 doesn't work.

Does if feel like a sleeping pill (I think what I'm afraid of; I Hate z-drugs) or more like falling asleep?

[bipolar angel]

I have used melatonin with good success. It was prescribed for me by pdoc-instead of taking sleeping pills or benadryl. I was started at 3mg,but 5 works best for me. I do not take it all the time-only when on 3rd night of no sleep. I do feel like just fall asleep-i wake up feeling ok. I do not feel like sleeping pill hangover. It does mot give me any side effects. Good luck.

[jacky8807]

I agree. It feels like a natural falling asleep. my 16 year old even takes it for pretty bad insomnia (which of course makes me nervous because I was a teenage insomniac as well)
5 works best for me

[Nammu]

It's not a chemical drugging feeling, I don't get any feeling from it at all, I use 10mgs my 89 yr old mum uses 3 with no problems, no drugged feeling or hang over.

[RomanJames2014]

I used melatonin when I was 18 and diagnosed with Anxiety, Depression, and OCD (mis diagnosed because I left out the naughty parts of mania) and I hated it. I couldn't stay asleep. I had night sweats and my night was the most uncomfortable night of sleep. I never took it again.
I always say you know your body best.

[lilypup]

I take it and it does help me fall asleep. I have trouble staying asleep but that is not from the melatonin.

I'd much rather take melatonin that a Rx sleep med. I took Ambien once and was sui within three days.

If you need a sleep aid, I would try it. You can always stop if you don't like it.

[Wild Coyote]

It's reasonable to have a healthy respect for melatonin. It is a hormone.
I have heard recommendations of starting as low as 1.5mg at bedtime.

I hope your mom is doing well after surgery. You're an angel to take care of her.


WC

[wildflowerchild25]

I take 9 mg melatonin and some valerian root to sleep. The combo help me fall asleep. I get drowsy from it but it's more a relaxed drowsy, not drugged. I wake up fine. And I am super sensitive to sedating drugs.

The only problem is you're not supposed to take melatonin for more than three months as it can mess up your natural circadian rhythms. This is what has happened to me. I cannot sleep without the combo. If I don't take it I am up until 2am. So I'm now dependent on it for sleep, which I don't like. When summer starts and I'm off from work, I plan on detoxing off of it. Because a week or so of messed up sleep won't hurt me if I don't have to get up for work.

Valerian root doesn't seem to have the same long term problems so I can keep taking that. It helps with anxiety as well.

[still_crazy]

hi. i have a couple big bottle of 5mgs tablets that i haven't gotten into yet. there have been a very few small studies using high dose melatonin (10mgs) in the treatment of TD. In some of the studies, over time, the melatonin reduced the severity of TD considerably. I don't have TD, but I'm thinking about adding it into my anti-TD antioxidant+vitamin line up.

[*Laurie*]

Some years ago I used melatonin. It was very subtle and helped me sleep. After three days, however, I felt quite depressed. I stopped taking the melatonin because I realised it was causing depression for me.

[MsAmbrosia]

Melatonin will definitely help you fall asleep. When I am not sleeping at night I usually take melatonin and it knocks me right out.

On a negative side, too much of it makes me groggy. Too little of it induces a waking-sleep for me and causes me to hallucinate (outside of my normal night-time hallucinations). A half a 5mg pill usually does the trick to make me fall asleep and stay asleep.

My SO, who has PTSD, takes it to help him sleep at night (he doesn't like medications) and it works like a charm for him. No negative side effects.

I have zopiclone to help me sleep, but I prefer to take melatonin. It feels nothing like a sleeping pill to me. It gets me to sleep easily and I sleep well. I take 10mg.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I take 10mg nightly for chronic insomnia and it
Helps me!!

[pirilin]

I took it one time and couldn't open my eyes. I'm scared too.

[Rjaye]

I've had good results with melatonin. I just use it when I haven't slept for a few days to get me back into a sleeping pattern again. Maybe two or three nights in a row. I don't use it on a regular basis.

I wake up fine with it. I am just able to fall asleep and stay asleep. I take 6 mg. I don't have any sort of hangover effect or anything else for that matter. I don't feel drugged when I take it-just more relaxed. That's what I need it for-to calm me down to fall asleep.

[Unrigged64072835]

I was given melatonin during my last IP and it helped. I stopped taking it when I left. I may start taking it again for a little bit, now that the days are getting longer.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I started melatonin in ip because injust don't sleep well and it helps me more than sleeping pills ever did. No hangover effect

[jacky8807]

I mean yes respect all drugs but c'mon guys......the things the pdoc gives us and we swallow up are
way way more dangerous.

[bioChE]

No need to fear the melatonin. It's mild and a natural hormone your body produces anyway. Like others have said, it's much more innocuous than the other stuff they give us.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I think I'm scared because I've seen myself wind up in serious trouble because of something as minor as the itty bitty dose of hormone from a Mirena IUD. My body doesn't always take well to things that should be harmless.

But I'll try it, as my pdoc is thinking I may need a sleep study done if things don't improve since I'm on so much sedation at night and still don't fall asleep (my clozaril alone should knock me out nicely). And I don't want to have a sleep study. I had one before and it was expensive and frustrating.

But first I"m going to wait until my mom is healed up a little more. She's fine but has a huge incision that needs bandage changes, sometimes as a surprise. I don't want to have a new thing in my blood and have a 2 AM call for help (I live next door to her).

I just have to get over it. Honestly I was less afraid of Clozaril, a drug that can kill you, than this stuff. No clue why. I'm hoping it's irrational and not intuition. We'll see, probably tomorrow.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Melatonin really isn't a huge deal and there's different dosages too. I take 10mh but it goes as low as 3mg: