Can you get addicted to Melatonin

For a while I haven't been able to sleep at night. I have been so desperate to take melatonin so I have taken at least 4 or 5 pills 3mg. each. The bottle does not say how many to take. I know that this is a natural hormone that our body puts out. I am still concerned though because now I feel like I need it to help me sleep. I take Zoloft so that could be the a side effect. However, before taking it, I was not sleeping at night or getting very little sleep. Please give any thoughts..

It's possible to become "addicted" to anything. I don't know if you can get addicted to melatonin in the same way one becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol, but psychological addiction is still entirely possible, certainly. I'm not a professional though.

I'm not sure what the "proper" dosage on melatonin is, though 4 or 5 pills a night sounds like a bit much, as the highest dosage I've seen sold in stores is 10 mg/pill. I would recommend maybe scaling that down to about 2 or 3, and also taking about a week off from taking it every month or so. I've read that taking too much melatonin for too long can mess with your body's ability to produce its own, so it's recommended that you take breaks from it from time to time.

I've known people who have taken half a 3g tablet and felt so sleepy afterward that they just dropped off. The most I've ever taken at one time was two 3g tablets.

It is a natural hormone, but as bluedolphin92 said your body can wind up producing less than required on it's own if it is constantly receiving it from a supplement. You would wind up becoming more dependent upon sleep aids at that point, making it even more difficult to get proper rest.

It could be that your difficulty falling asleep isn't totally a melatonin issue, and so while taking it helps to make you more tired when you should be tired, it would just be masking the real issue. How long have you been taking the Zoloft? I don't really know anything about Zoloft, but it does list insomnia as a side effect so chances are good you're right on that.

Hi,

I have tried mass quantities of melatonin to help me sleep but the natural cures... even chamomile tea doesn't work only Seroquel works to keep me asleep about 8 hours. Sometimes the holistic approaches doen't work on our brain chemistry... might be something to talk to your p-doc about!

TC,

~ dmhobbit ~

Here's a good article on Melatonin and sleep issues. It's at the National Sleep Foundation site:

Melatonin Dosage & Sleep - National Sleep Foundation

you can't get physically addicted to it but i know people that take it every night need more and more of it. i don't take it anymore cause if i take it then still can't sleep i get even more depressed

Thanks for the advice

I have been taking it for about a month now. I just feel the same not sleeping as before I started taking it....

Thanks..

Thanks so much.. I will take a look..

Yeah.. You know what? That is exactly how I feel alot of times. Like this morning I just couldn't function and I felt depression coming on very bad. I think you are right.

Thanks for this.. THis really helped. I will look into other ways to help me in a healthy way and talk to DR.

I am starting to think the very same thing, I started using Melatonin about 3 months ago and while most nights I get a good nights sleep (8-10 Hours of sleep), there are some nights were I can't sleep at all or sleep fairly little, last night was a good example, I ended up taking 2 Melatonin tablets last night (I usually only take 1) and I ended up being up until at least 6 did end up getting about 4 hours of sleep but I think it was very light, hopefully tonight my sleeping will be better.

Took it again last night and was able to get about 8-9 hours of sleep last night, still feeling a little out of it right now but I should feel better as the day progresses.

At least you got some sleep. THat is a good thing

Maybe but it was so light that it really didn't help much, I only felt slightly "better" than nights where I get no sleep at all.

Last night I got about 10 hours I fairly deep sleep and I am functioning very well today.