Melatonin-My Hero

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:50 am

Ozij,

You are such an angel to stay on this like you did. First off, thank you.

Now here is my question (didn't think you'd get off that easy, did you?) When you talk about a tablet containing .3, my doctor said 3 mgs. I thought the rule of thumb would be to take a pill that was half that strength and IF NECESSARY move upward if it doesn't work. Wouldn't .3 be way too little a dose?

By the way, last night I had the worst head cold since starting CPAP and I ended up trying Afrin, which I am very careful with as my overly-cautious in everything he does father got addicted to it many years back where his sinuses would become swollen if he didn't use it. Had to be weaned off it to get his normal sinuses back. But I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to use my cpap machine, but could.

I took 1/2 a 3 mg. pill last night and had a horrible night. I know it's not fair to judge it when I'm sick, although my nose stayed pretty clear through the night but I didn't feel well at all. But I was up probably at least five times. Don't know which to attribute it to, so now I'm really minus one day. I am hoping that with all the Vitamin C and Airborne, it will be better tonight. I'm just thankful I was able to use the machine the whole night, and with only two hypops and no apnea (probably because I didn't sleep very well).

Thank you to everyone for trying to put me on the right track and your positive and informative input on the subject. As always, I appreciate it very much.

ProfessorSleep · Post by **ProfessorSleep** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:35 am

Beth, didn't an extra zero creep in there ? Did you really mean .05mg? or was that 0.5mg? The study I quoted mentions 300 micorgrams which is 0.3 milligram - one tenth as much as Lori is taking not 1/100th...

O.

You're so right. I was working on something else at the time using decimals. Good thing I wasn't writing an RX - that should have been .5. Thanks for your close reading. Are you for hire as an editor???

As for Lori, I'm so sorry to hear about your bad night. Remember, though, that your body might have been looking for 3 mg last night, so it may be a little confused right now. Our bodies do weird things like that to us all the time. "Hey, you gave me 3 mg. last night? What's this, you cheapo!" (yes, I do talk to my body, but you don't want to hear what I say back to it.) At any rate, I think that is a good case for finding a nightly dose to stick with long term unless you think this is just a temporary problem. Otherwise, 3 mg as an occasional "I wanna sleep NOW" dose is very common, and it is very common in elderly who have low amounts by virtue of their own production. Don't take last night's problems as a sign that 1.5mg won't work. What your doc told you is standard practice, but talking with her tomorrow about what she recommends if you intend to take this nightly is a good idea. There are differences in how much people take, how much they need, and what they take it for, and you just need to find your balance point. It takes a little time, but is worth the experimenting in the long run.

Meanwhile, focus on getting rid of that cold. You make a good point about what good is a FF mask with a runny nose (ick!). I have a near-morbid fear of not being able to use my cpap because of someone's communicable respiratory virus. Good luck to us all this cold and flu season!

Hang in there, GET OFF THAT LEDGE!!! and feel better soon! This will all balance out in time. I promise. I've seen it plenty of times. It will work out.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:19 pm

Lori,
I think ProfessorSleep has said it much better than I ever could.

O.

Miss Sandman · Post by **Miss Sandman** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 2:05 pm

I have to jump in here for melatonin.

I had started using this before diagnosis, try to get better rest. Fool that I was. I wanted an alternative to any drug.

First 3 MG was too much for me. 1/2 a 3gr tablet was OK, but worked too slow.

I found 1MG tablets at "whole foods" market that were "quick release". And there is the secret. taken as you get into bed they are fine. Just enough for me, but if you dilly dally in going to sleep., you miss the window and bingo...restless night. No idea why...but I have learned to take it with warm water, works even better with a nice cup of chamomile or other nighty- night type tea. Reading about the health benifits also made me want to take this stuff daily.

stunned1 · Post by **stunned1** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 4:01 pm

Hi Lori

I am going through the same trouble with awakenings in the night. I have been on CPAP (auto) since Jan. 05 and use is regularly.

I am not sure why I am waking so many times. I went to a Doctor/Nutritionist last week and he wants me to try 3mg. melatonin with 3 tablets of tryptophan before bed. I am to do this for 6 weeks and then see him again. So far with one week of use I have had 2 fairly rested nights. I think you have to give it some time for the body to get used it.

Good luck with the melatonin. I'll keep in touch with how I do.

Lisa

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 4:22 pm

Lisa,

I was doing really great until this cold kicked in last night and I also cut the dose in half. I was told to use 3 mgs. I read up on it and it said to take it 30 mins. before bed. My wake-up times were every night at 1:30, 3:30 and 5:30. The first night cut out the middle 3:30 wake-up and moved the first up to 1:08. So that was better. Night 2, Friday night, still on 3 mgs., I slept from 11:30 to 5:15 or so, almost six hours, with no wake-up at all. To say I was happy is an understatement.

Then I read how your body can become immune to it if you take too much, as per some posts on this topic, and how it can disrupt your sleep cycle, and cut it down to 1 1/2 mgs last night. That plus the fact that I had a cold last night, I had the worst night in a while. I don't know if it was one or the other or both. I am just afraid now to take 3 mgs. a night for fear it will be too much and I will end up causing more harm than good.

That is my dilemma. No conclusive evidence one way or the other. Most sites on the Internet don't mention the risks of causing disruption to your sleep cycle if you take 3 mgs. a night, and actually recommend it for insomnia and sleep maintenance. But then I read what Ozij posted and it is making me worry. I am so lost...

jdacal · Post by **jdacal** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:35 pm

Ozij's quote from the article, which I also read convinced me to lower my dose. It wasn't doing anything for me at the high dose.

I did notice a bit more drowsiness when I went with the smaller dose after a few days.

Either way, glad its helping you to get some sleep!

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:16 pm

J,

What were you taking and how often? I need to get as much feedback on this as possible. I am so confused right now. I listen to everything people post and then try to figure out what is right for me. But on this particular subject, I am lost.

I think my best bet is to wait until this head cold subsides because no results are going to be accurate if I'm suffering with an illness that is keeping my sleep from being as good as it can be, with or without melatonin.

Thanks for your input, too.

stunned1 · Post by **stunned1** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:16 pm

Hey Lori

Just my opinion, but I think if you are going to be anxious about the 3mg of melatonin that maybe you should take half the dose for a week and see how you feel. I think as with perscription medication you have to give it a little time to get your system used to it.

As I mentioned earlier, I have many awakeningss throughout the night and am going to give the melatonin a good try. I really need to start sleeping through the night. From what I understand the melatonin treatment is meant to be a short term treatment and my doctor wants me to try it for 6 weeks.

If you like, I'll be the guinea pig and let you know how I make out with it.
My GP wanted me on clonazapam to sleep, but I think I will try this first.

Lisa

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:09 am

I have taken Clonazepam (Klonopin) for limb movements and my husband is on it daily (he's disabled now) as one of his many meds. for CRPS. It is very strong and literally knocks you out. The worst is, you feel it the next day and it's something I really don't want to take. It's a benzodiazapine which is mostly prescribed as an anti-seizure drug, but is used for anxiety, movement disorders and panic disorder, amongst a few other uses. Any day I've taken it, the next morning I'm groggy. I think it defeats the purpose if it has that effect on someone who is taking it with OSA who is trying to get their energy level back by sleeping better. I would try the lesser of the two evils first and see how that goes. Good luck.

stunned1 · Post by **stunned1** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:42 am

Lori

Are you always up so early in the morning?

Well, I didn't take my clonazapam last night, and decided to take 1.5mg of melatonin with my tryptophan. I am sure my body was looking for the clonazapam because I felt like I was awake every half hour all night long. I want to see how I feel without it for a week because I did wake up this morning very tired but without the heavy foggy feeling in my body. I am sure from what you mentioned this is a morning after effect from the clonazapam. It is a very strong medication because half hour after I take it I am right out to sleep (until about 4:00 and then I do my frequent awakenings from there on). My dosage is .5mg and I started taking half of that for the past few weeks anyway trying to slowly get off of it.

Tonight I am going to stick with the melatonin and tryptophan combination and see how I feel tomorrow morning.

Lisa

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:00 am

Lisa,

On the weekdays, I get up at 6:30 so I have time for a cup of tea and check my email before waking up my daughter at 7:00. I don't get up this early on the weekends normally. But most weekdays, my email is read by 7 AM, unless there is a box load of it, which happens between personal emails and this site.

Clonazepam does knock you right out and leaves you with that groggy feeling the next day. That's why I don't like it. I think you do have to give your body a chance to get rid of whatever is in your system from it and then see how it reacts to the new infusion of melatonin and tryptophan. Please keep me up to date. I'm very interested to hear how you're doing.

dkeat · Post by **dkeat** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:19 pm

Sleepless on LI wrote:Well, when I was at my doctor's office Thursday evening, she suggested melatonin, a natural hormone that is produced by the pineal gland, that, as we age, sometimes the body can produce less of and can create sleeping problems, such as insomnia and inability to stay asleep.

Hi Lori

I have been taking melatonin for about 10 years. I got into it as an anit-aging strategy, but it has certainly made falling asleep a breeze (or an AURA). Melatonin is quite harmless. In fact when they were testing it on mice to find out the lethal dose for humans they were unable to do so as the amount they would have need to inject would have killed the mice, not because of the melatonin, but because of the sheer quantity it would have required. In other words, next to water there ain't too many things that are safer.

I used to have constant sinus infections requireing antibiotics. I would no sooner have one infection treated and a week later I'd have the next. Melatonin boosts the whole immune system and in the 10 years I have been taking it I have not had one more sinus infection. They just were gone like that! And I rarely get colds or other stuff.

I swear by it.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:30 pm

David,

Thanks for the input. How much do you take and do you take it daily? I'd be curious.

dkeat · Post by **dkeat** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 5:12 am

Sleepless on LI wrote:
Thanks for the input. How much do you take and do you take it daily? I'd be curious.

Hi Lori

I usually take 10 daily. When I travel I go as high as 50mg to handle the jet lag. I have never noticed any ill effects from it. Only benefits.

David

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