Melatonin recommendation for Senior

[luckydxx]

Hi Everyone, I am sorry this post is here as my mom with sleep apnea also suffer insomnia. She is taking sleep med now, and i want to change that and try melatonin. It may take a few months but i don't know will it work. Since i haven't found forum regarding this yet, I will just try here to see any feedback. 

She is 70 so what brand and type would your recommend? There are instance release and time release. Also do you get healthcare store brand or just walmart brand?

Here are some researches i found

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17875243
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23044640
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK68713/

Please share with me your suggestion and experience.


thank you so much

[Walla Walla]

This may help. http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...=Melatonin

Also for what brand I'd talk to your local drug store and see what they recommend.

[kiwii]

Has she had her vitamin D levels checked?

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...a-patients

Also, improvements to her sleep hygiene can be very helpful. I did this while waiting for my machine to arrive and it made a big difference.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ep_hygiene
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...pful-Hints

These are the ones I started with:
1. Consistent bedtime and get up time. Every. Day.
2. Darken the room - be thorough, no glowing displays.
3. For the 2 hours before bedtime, no stimulating conversations or problem solving; no heavy meals; no blue light devices (like cellphones) as they can interfere with melatonin production.
4. No caffeine in the later half of the day after lunch (including chocolate and meds like Excedrin)

Here are a couple of threads which include people's thoughts/experiences with melatonin:

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...in-dosages
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-Melatonin

[luckydxx]

Has she had her vitamin D levels checked?

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...a-patients

Also, improvements to her sleep hygiene can be very helpful. I did this while waiting for my machine to arrive and it made a big difference.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ep_hygiene
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...pful-Hints

These are the ones I started with:
1. Consistent bedtime and get up time. Every. Day.
2. Darken the room - be thorough, no glowing displays.
3. For the 2 hours before bedtime, no stimulating conversations or problem solving; no heavy meals; no blue light devices (like cellphones) as they can interfere with melatonin production.
4. No caffeine in the later half of the day after lunch (including chocolate and meds like Excedrin)

Here are a couple of threads which include people's thoughts/experiences with melatonin:

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...in-dosages
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-Melatonin

thank you kiwii, very helpful.

yes she did body check in Sep 2017, D seems in normal range.

Hers: Vit D, 25-Hydroxy 36.6 ng/mL                    normal: 30 - 100 ng/mL

[kiwii]

Interesting. So she was doing well when she stopped using the cpap in August, and in September she had low-ish normal vitamin D levels.

Did her doctor put her on supplements? If not, her levels now (at the end of winter) should be lower than they were in September.

[luckydxx]

Interesting. So she was doing well when she stopped using the cpap in August, and in September she had low-ish normal vitamin D levels.

Did her doctor put her on supplements? If not, her levels now (at the end of winter) should be lower than they were in September.

I did ask her to take Calcium + D (Citracal Maximum Calcium Citrate + D3, 280 Caplets ) two each time, but she may not follow. in fact her D is even better than me. 

She is taking alendornate 70mg for bone density once a week, though she is just osteopenia. 

The other med she is taking is Simvastatin for Cholesterol, 6 months already.

other than that, I didn't get her any supplement.  I try to use diet to get all nutrition necessary and avoid having her take med/supplements.