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SleepyHound · Post by **SleepyHound** » Sun May 08, 2011 8:03 pm

I've never tried Ambien, but Melatonin gives me crazy dreams every time I use it. I get minimal side effects with only a 1.25mg dose. Of course I don't have my equipment yet, but I was warned by my doc to resist the temptation of using sleeping aids in the interim due to the relaxing of the airway muscles. Benadryl used to work like a dream until I would pop up in bed out of a deep sleep after exactly 4 hours after I take the pill. Anymore, I'm just groggy after taking any meds. I can't wait till I get my equipment!!!!!!!!!

I actually sleep decently at my titration study, so doubt I'll need any meds when I do start on my machine.

archangle · Post by **archangle** » Sun May 08, 2011 8:42 pm

I recommend everyone get a prescription for a few ambien and take them with you to the sleep study in case you can't sleep. You don't want to shell out big bucks for a sleep study and not be able to sleep.

Melatonin's probably a fairly safe option, especially for occasional use when trying to get your sleep schedule back to normal. I get the weird dreams myself, but I hardly ever get real nightmares any more. My nightmares are usually something like "Oh, goodness, I have to turn in that report tomorrow and I haven't done any work on it." I also tend to wake up a few hours later.

lars4life · Post by **lars4life** » Sun May 08, 2011 8:54 pm

Sireneh · Post by **Sireneh** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:04 pm

Melatonin is fabulous! I don't use it all the time, either, but when I need it, it is very helpful. Haven't noticed any strange dreams. My six-year-old daughter takes melatonin every night. Long story short, she has some brain issues and doesn't fall asleep easily. Her neurologist recommended the melatonin for her and it has changed our lives, just finally getting that little girl to sleep, and in such an easy, natural way. So it's near and dear to my heart.

tonycog · Post by **tonycog** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:50 pm

It doesn't knock me out like Ambien does, but I take 3mg most nights. I wrote a couple of months ago about my use of Ambien and how I was able to discontinue it. I still keep it around for occasional bad nights, but don't need it very often. I started to take Melatonin most every night after reading that it can be good for you (although right now I can't remember the specific benefits beyond sleep help). I figure that it won't hurt and may help, so I take it most nights a few minutes before lights-out. I haven't noticed the weird dreams that others have had.

Tony

Sireneh · Post by **Sireneh** » Sun May 08, 2011 10:12 pm

tonycog wrote:It doesn't knock me out like Ambien does...

Yeah, that's kinda what I like about it. Watching my daughter, she just gets sleepy. She starts to yawn and after a while she wants to go to bed. It just seems very gentle and natural.

For myself, I find that melatonin kind of takes the edge off, as it were. If my mind is racing and I know I'm not going to have an easy time of falling asleep, I find that melatonin just kind of slows things down in my brain and allows me to relax so I can get sleepy.

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:03 am

When I first started cpap I tried Melatonin once. Smallest dose possible. Within 30 minutes had extreme vertigo (nausea and bouncing off the walls vertigo) that lasted well into the next day. Miserable. I don't do nausea and vertigo well, probably relates to 6 months of daily morning sickness that was 24/7 when I was pregnant. Anyway, this happens to be one of the listed known side effects. There are others. Probably would be a good idea to google for the side effects. It is not as benign as it might seem. Lots of reading available. While I know lots of people do very well with it, just be careful if things start seeming to be out of whack.

copied below in part from
http://www.herbal-supplements-guide.com ... fects.html

Reported melatonin side effects include headaches, nausea, depression, nightmares and vivid dreams, irritability, abdominal cramps and dizziness.

Melatonin facts also point to negative effects on the reproductive system as well as decreased sex drive in both men and women.

Lori Dawn · Post by **Lori Dawn** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:16 am

I take Melatonin and it works GREAT for me! My husband took it once, and while it helped him sleep, he realized the next day that he was in a VERY ANGRY MOOD, and said that if he would have had a gun, he probably would have killed some one! Maybe that's a BIT of an exaggeration, but when I Googled side effects, I read one that said "uncontrollable anger." So be careful and note those kind of symptoms. My husband refuses to take it again, even though it did help him sleep like a baby....

Lori "QF" Dawn

DocWeezy · Post by **DocWeezy** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:33 am

I'm one of those that doesn't get particularly sleepy with melatonin, and when I do take it, I get the weird dreams. Fortunately, I've never had any of the other side effects. I also can't take Ambien for more than a couple of nights because of REALLY REALLY bad dreams and it seems to stop working at all after the third night.

However, I have found that tryptophan works very well for me...if I am remembering correctly (and I may not be!), I think that tryptophan is a precursor to melatonin in your body. Tryptophan has really changed my sleep patterns--I took 1500 mg. (3 500 mg. pills) every night for about two weeks, then two pills, then one (each decrease for about a week or so), now I find that I maintain my best sleep by taking 3 pills every four nights. Don't ask me why. Hubby gave me an explanation that included a lot of chemical words which made my eyes glaze over...something about the rate of change....but it's only a hypothesis anyway and I haven't been able to find any studies on it (but haven't had much time to look either). All I know is that taking it intermittently means that just about every night I've got good REM and deep sleep stages, and while I still wake up too often, I'm not spending the bulk of the night awake. Most nights my wake time is under an hour--down from three hours. Nights with less than 30 minutes of wake time are becoming more common as time goes on, so I'm hoping that trend continues too.

I don't need anything to help me get to sleep--I fall asleep easily. Staying asleep and getting REM or deep sleep has been the problem. Fortunately, tryptophan seems to be working for me.

BTW, I've been using a Zeo sleep monitor so that I know how much of each type of sleep I'm getting. I think it's pretty accurate for what it measures--they had good studies to test it and how I feel seems to follow how much REM and deep sleep I got the night before. It is NOT a replacement for a PSG and it does not pretend to be...it measures brain waves and interprets them into just four stages: awake, light sleep, deep sleep, and REM. However, it has been invaluable to me for understanding why I still wasn't feeling very good and was still tired even though my AHI was great and I was 100% compliant and adjusted to my apap. I'm speculating that my body had learned over the decades of apnea that I could not survive long periods of deep or REM sleep so I rarely went into those stages--usually under 10 minutes per night for each; some nights as little as one or two minutes. The Zeo helped me see that so I went searching for some answers and that's why I found studies about tryptophan and tried that. Now I routinely get well over an hour of REM and deep sleep each night--some nights I've been over two hours each. I'm feeling MUCH better on a daily basis, and my energy is gradually increasing.

Just my experiences in the quest for sleep.....

Weezy

Uncle_Bob · Post by **Uncle_Bob** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:35 am

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Sleep-Mind- ... =8-1-spell

tonycog · Post by **tonycog** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:46 pm

Interestingly, I tried an experiment the night I wrote this (and read this thread). I wanted to see if extra melatonin gave me "weird" dreams, so I took 6 mg instead of the 3mg that I generally take. I did not sleep much at all. I tossed-and-turned all night, sleeping no more than 60 minutes at a time. I don't know if this was coincidence or if melatonin caused this, but I won't take more than 3mg again.

Tony

tonycog wrote:It doesn't knock me out like Ambien does, but I take 3mg most nights. I wrote a couple of months ago about my use of Ambien and how I was able to discontinue it. I still keep it around for occasional bad nights, but don't need it very often. I started to take Melatonin most every night after reading that it can be good for you (although right now I can't remember the specific benefits beyond sleep help). I figure that it won't hurt and may help, so I take it most nights a few minutes before lights-out. I haven't noticed the weird dreams that others have had.

Tony

robysue · Post by **robysue** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:05 am

At the suggestion of my PA, I started taking 1mg of melatonin at night a couple of months back.

It "worked" in the sense of reducing the number of night time awakenings from the 3--5 range to the 2--3 range---and those wakes were usually shorter.

BUT---my TMJ pain started to significantly increase within a few weeks of starting the melatonin.

And when I went in for my initial consult with a CBT therapist for a variety of other CPAP-related issues, he suggested dropping the melatonin because for some people with TMJ, the melatonin CAN aggravate it. He also suggested trying an old folk remedy of eating 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of honey shortly before bed each night---readily admitting there's no scientific evidence for this old folk remedy, but it's such a benign thing to try that there'd be no harm in seeing if it helped me at all.

I've been off the melatoin and on the honey for four nights now. First night was rough insomnia-wise. But much, much less TMJ pain. And the last two nights have been very good both in terms of managing the insomnia (in terms of awakenings) and TMJ (in terms of lack of pain when waking).

MeghanRF · Post by **MeghanRF** » Mon May 16, 2011 3:23 am

Interesting thread.

Knowing melatonin is a substance that naturally occurs in our brain, I assumed there weren't really any side effects. So reading this has been very interesting! I've been taking melatonin fairly regularly for the past 6 months and it has been great. I do have TMJ though, and might do an experiment some week and see if it lessens when I take less melatonin.

As to the Melatonin versus Ambien question... I think that each person has to see what their side effects are and listen to that. That said, Ambien is a very intense drug that can cause blackouts. If melatonin creates a bad reaction for someone then by no means take it. Still, it seems to me that melatonin is much more benign as a general rule as compared to Ambien.

Last thought... I think melatonin is most helpful to people who have issues with sleep because of their circadian rhythms.

lktnky · Post by **lktnky** » Mon May 16, 2011 6:10 am

Be careful of the melatonin. The only time I took one put me in the ER with a galloping heart for several hours. I think I received several gallons of water thru IV that night to flush it out!
There was a topic some time ago about bananas helping one's sleep ~ I liked that one.
Triptophan is a good option, too. It's in turkey which (they say) is why we get so sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner.
Tried regular Ambien (not CR) and liked it a lot with no problems but it does only last four hours. I only took 1/4 of the smallest dosage and it was just enough to calm me down enough to fall asleep. I didn't have ANY problem weaning myself from it.
YOU know your body best. OSA is an adventure not for the faint-hearted. Prioritize your issues then work on finding your personal solutions.
This forum is THE best resource to succeed with your Xpap.
All the best,
LKTNKY

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Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

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Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?

Re: Melatonin works as good as Ambien... What say you?