Melatonin at dusk

I love my machine, but still would lay for hours with it on and not go to sleep.
I tried Melatonin but took it like the bottle said, I hr. before bedtime, 5mg.
I did that for one week, and nothng..I'd still just lay there awake.
Then I read that your body starts making Melatonin at dusk.
Now for one week I've been taking it at dusk instead of one hr. before bed.
Now, at least for the past week, it has worked for me.
About 10:30 I'm tired and I'm asleep by 11.

When you go to bed with all this crap on you, you really just want to go to sleep.
I forgot what it was like to go to bed and fall asleep quickly.
It's very nice I must say. And, it feels drug free because your body makes it too.
Hope it lasts.

Everyone is different. When (if) I take it, I cut a 300 mcg tab in half. Put it under my tongue. In 30 min. I am done.

Maybe try putting it under your tongue?

It's strange that some people require 10-20 times what others find helpful. Gumby takes 150 mcg ...jazzer requires 5mg. I use 3mg (20 times Gumby's dose ?). My doctor says that most people require 1-3mg. My bottle says to take 'at bedtime'.

LSAT wrote:It's strange that some people require 10-20 times what others find helpful. Gumby takes 150 mcg ...jazzer requires 5mg. I use 3mg (20 times Gumby's dose ?). My doctor says that most people require 1-3mg. My bottle says to take 'at bedtime'.

I am just a very sensitive guy

I have feelings too.

When i take it , it seems work but i feel tired the next day all day it seems.

I was feeling a bit depressed and without patience and not wanting to go to bed as when I started cpap treatment. Then I read it could be because a lack of Melatonin, but I didn't want to try the pills. Instead I found that the following is good to help the body to produce it's Melatonin.

- to eat one apple a day and to drink some milk with it
- to take vitamin B complex (only in the morning or you will not sleep)
- to take Folic Acid supplement
- to eat a small amount of multigrain cereal with milk before going to bed. A pharmacist from the drug store told me this once I wanted to buy something to help with my sleep.

You can try and see if that works for you, all I can say is I have been feeling good again after one week taking the folic acid, vitamin B and the apple when I remember it LOL. In any case apples are full of good nutrients.

pdean44 wrote:When i take it , it seems work but i feel tired the next day all day it seems.

I had this problem the first time I took Melatonin. but with a twist. I had been having sleep issues. Lack of sleep along with undiagnosed sleep apena. I would be very sleepy during the day. The one thing though is that if I would start to fall asleep during the day, I would always feel it falling over me and was able to fight it.

When I took a full dose of Melatonin, I got a good night sleep, but all during the next day I would start to fall asleep but not feel it coming over me. If I wasn't engaged in some activity I would start to go under. This counted one time in the car which was a close call at a stoplight. Even at my worse sleep deprivations, I never dozed off in the car before.

If I really need it, I'll take a quarter tablet and it really knocks me out. But there is a window associated with it. If you miss that window it doesn't seem to do anygood.

jazzer4 wrote:I love my machine, but still would lay for hours with it on and not go to sleep.
I tried Melatonin but took it like the bottle said, I hr. before bedtime, 5mg.
I did that for one week, and nothng..I'd still just lay there awake.
Then I read that your body starts making Melatonin at dusk.
Now for one week I've been taking it at dusk instead of one hr. before bed.
Now, at least for the past week, it has worked for me.
About 10:30 I'm tired and I'm asleep by 11.

When you go to bed with all this crap on you, you really just want to go to sleep.
I forgot what it was like to go to bed and fall asleep quickly.
It's very nice I must say. And, it feels drug free because your body makes it too.
Hope it lasts.

I was sort of lucky and sort of not.

I normally am a really picky sleeper. No stray lights, no sound, just the right temperature.

But my apnea had created such immense sleep debt, I could fall asleep in the middle of a Tornado if I wanted. I carried that sleep debt in the beginning of CPAP just long enough that wearing the CPAP is part of my sleep ritual and sort of causes me to get sleepy now. Sort of a mixed blessing considering I was really really bad.

Anyway, I think you've developed a negative sleep ritual which now includes you struggling hopelessly every night. I would suggest setting a later bedtime where you will be much more sure of going sleep right away. And suffer with any sleep deprivation for a while until falling asleep quickly becomes more natural too you. Then restore you normal sleep time.

The other approach is something you can do if you don't have any daily commitments for 2 weeks. Go to sleep a few hours later each night. Sleep at 10 pm, the next day at 12 midnight, the next day 2 am, the next day 4 am, the next day 6 am, ... until you wrap around to the time you want to go to sleep at and then stop the delay.

I think you are right in taking the Melatonin earlier. I had been taking it at bedtime, then found it
left me anxious and jittery. Some of us are more sensitive to it, and dusk seems a physiologically
normal time. Thank you.

john_dozer wrote:Anyway, I think you've developed a negative sleep ritual which now includes you struggling hopelessly every night. I would suggest setting a later bedtime where you will be much more sure of going sleep right away. And suffer with any sleep deprivation for a while until falling asleep quickly becomes more natural too you. Then restore you normal sleep time.

The other approach is something you can do if you don't have any daily commitments for 2 weeks. Go to sleep a few hours later each night. Sleep at 10 pm, the next day at 12 midnight, the next day 2 am, the next day 4 am, the next day 6 am, ... until you wrap around to the time you want to go to sleep at and then stop the delay.

John your right, I have been working on this for awhile now.
This is why I was so happy to have the Melatonin work. I think maybe if I can get myself on a schdule using it then maybe I can stop taking it once I'm going to sleep about the same time each night.
I may be wrong about this though, as last night it didn't work at all.

John, I like both of your above suggestions. I've been reading Sound Sleep Sound Mind by Barry Krakow, M.D. I really like the book and there are suggestions like yours in the book.
Reading them is one thing, doing them is another.
The Melatonin seems easy to get me on a regular schdule. Maybe I'm just looking for the easy way.

I've been taking 9mg but it doesn't seem to help. I read a study I think where people took 18mg a day so I'm going to try 12mg and see if that works.

pain32 wrote:I've been taking 9mg but it doesn't seem to help. I read a study I think where people took 18mg a day so I'm going to try 12mg and see if that works.

You are overdosing yourself.....just because you can purchase this OTC doesn't mean there is no potential danger in overdoses.

This is what it says on one web site....

Melatonin dosage of 1 mg to 5 mg is considered to be safe and sufficient. It is recommended to start taking melatonin supplements at low dosage from 0.3 mg then gradually increase your dosage up to 5mg until you find the effective dose. Melatonin is available as Melatonin Tablets, Melatonin Sublingual Tablets and Liquid Melatonin.