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+--- Thread: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other (/Thread-Melatonin-Yea-Nay-or-other)
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - Deborah K. - 02-12-2024
I take Trazodone. It helps a lot.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - MrIvanDrago - 02-14-2024
(02-11-2024, 07:08 AM)grubsztyl Wrote: I'm a GP based in Poland. In my experience melatonin only helps patients whose sleeping time is varied, for instance if they work both day and night shifts.
For nighttime awakenings I find that trazodone is excellent and safe. Preferably controlled-release in very low doses. If there's a 75 mg tablet available, use 1/3 before sleeping. This is, however, short-term solution and needs to be consulted with your physician.
I find trazodone makes me stuffy and congested. Is this a common side effect?
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - PaulaO2 - 02-14-2024
I've never had any luck with melatonin. I think it works best for those who are working shift work, have jet lag, or some other circadian rhythm issue. For sleep, I used to take Ambien but recently switched to Lunesta. My problem isn't waking up, it is getting to sleep to begin with. My brain won't shut up. Like, the other night, I caught myself seeing where Octomom is now (she's copyrighted that name, btw). There are other sleep aids that are time released, specially designed for people who wake up at 3am (a scarily common time) or so.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - grubsztyl - 02-15-2024
(02-14-2024, 05:15 PM)MrIvanDrago Wrote: I find trazodone makes me stuffy and congested. Is this a common side effect?
Common? No. Possible? Sure. Everyone reacts differently.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - SuperSleeper - 02-15-2024
I take two 3-mg Melatonin tablets (6mg total) about an hour before bedtime. Seems to help. I also have trouble sleeping through the entire night without it. I've also taken Benadryl for those times when I absolutely, positively need to get some sleep but my mind won't turn off, but I try not to do that often.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - PaulaO2 - 02-15-2024
Couldn't sleep (ironic, right?) and did some research. Most of what I found said melatonin, as a typical sleep aid, is only recommended for 2mos max. That it is unregulated here in US and a bottle of it can contain incorrect amounts of it. Typical dosage is to be 5mg but several samples had up to 435mg. It is best used for jet lag, shift workers changing shifts, or those with delayed sleep phase disorders. It can help older folks reset their internal clocks but, again, should only be used 2mos or less. It can also help those who are blind since they cannot see the sun.
I found articles from Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins, Boston University, PubMed, Sleep Foundation, and many others. Nearly all of the articles gave alternative methods to getting to sleep. One said no caffeine 6-8hrs prior to bed. No blue light (phone, tablet, etc) 2hr prior. Typical sleep hygiene. The use of melatonin has dramatically increased in the last ten or so years because of the hype of it.
Personally, I never recommend it. I have tried it and got nothing. I try to practice good sleep hygiene and that's (along with the occasional ambien or lunesta) what works for me. Taking a pill is easier than setting limits and establishing practice.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - Rcgop - 02-25-2024
Thanks for all the good advice. Now after several weeks of experimenting, I too have had little success with melatonin. The effects were short lived. It works best when I take 5 mg before bed and another 5 mg when I wake up to go to the bathroom (4-5 hours later).
Not going down that path, back to good sleep habits.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - TiredOne789 - 02-25-2024
Anyone try magnesium? Citrate, Glycinate, other? I have used CALM powder citrate with okay results. I tried Glycinate capsules at bedtime recently but didn't notice much improvement. Agree on good sleep hygiene and turning off screens well before bedtime.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - Expat31 - 02-25-2024
The only thing I take occasionally is 5 or 10ml of Oxomémazine. It is simply a medicine for irritating dry coughs. You sleep really well after.
I am based in France and have no idea if an equivalent cough medicine exists in other countries.
For me really works super well. My local GP saw no real negatives. No prescription needed here.
Certainly not a good idea to take during the day, and fall asleep at the wheel!
But nighttime great, and no grogginess in the morning.
RE: Melatonin: Yea, Nay, or other - mesenteria - 02-26-2024
The various forms of magnesium are merely different salts. There is only weak evidence that one of the several salts is better for helping with one or more bodily processes. However, the most readily taken up, or absorbed, is the citrate variety. It is also the one most likely to have you scurrying to the can if you ingest too much of it.
The dose is something you'll have to experiment with. I urge people to try 400mg PO (once a day) and to trial that dosage for a couple of weeks minimum to see if the condition you find objectionable or deficient is improved or until your bowels let you know they're not happy. Some people are excreters of magnesium and must supplement. We all excrete excesses if our kidneys are healthy, but some people dump magnesium quicker than they can absorb it sufficiently, so they must ingest large amounts, up to 1000mg daily.
As for melatonin, I treat it as a pill-in-pocket. If I need the help, I take it. I do not take it prophylactically, and have seen research that advises against taking it daily or often. Like many things, the body can become too dependent on it. As stated earlier by someone replying, our bodies make it naturally. Not so much when we age. By taking it every other day, or about every fourth or fifth day as I do, its potency is retained from dose-to-dose, and it has the intended effect...for me. It happens that melatonin doesn't really induce sleep for me, but it allows me to sleep longer, almost 45 minutes, which is a boon when you're a short sleeper as I am, usually between 5.5 and 6.1 hours.
Further, the articles I read stated that you don't want a large dose. They recommended at most 3mg.
Jamieson makes a 'Melatonin Stress and Sleep Support' formula in blue capsules that I like to take about once or twice a month at most. There are other ingredients, but they seem to be a slightly better hammer for me than simple melatonin.