Have you ever taken a melatonin supplement?

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K101

Just curious about other's experiences with melatonin supplements because I'm going to try to take a 5mg melatonin supplement in a while to help me get some good sleep. I have trouble sleeping about every three months and this little phase will last about 5 days, never fails! So this time, I'm trying melatonin. However, I'm kind of worried about how it'll affect me, so I'd really like to know what it's done to other people.

Really I just worry it'll leave me groggy after I wake up the next day. I do not want that! I've been sickly this week along with the sleeplessness, so I feel exhausted all day long, but don't sleep well. So I'm hoping it'll just help me to sleep deeply & prevent me from waking up over & over, and then hopefully it'll have no lasting effects throughout the day when I wake up and need to work.

Have any of you had luck with sleeping on melatonin supplements? Anybody had problems feeling groggy or drowsy still the next day? My grandmother told me she'd took it for a short time when she had injured her arm and couldn't sleep due to the pain. She said it helped her & she didn't have a "hang over" from it the next day like what happens when you take meds like Tylenol PM, which always leaves me with that hangover feeling.

I definitely plan on taking it and giving myself 10 hours for sleeping it off, so that should definitely suffice. I've taken prescription sleeping meds in the past such as seraquil, klonopin, etc. and they had great effects for me! Course I don't want to take those for sleeping since I don't need something that strong. But I do hope the melatonin will give me a lot of great rest with no crappiness the next day.

Please share how it's gone for you, if you've taken it before.

Answers (public voting - your screen name will appear in the results):

I've taken melatonin supplements and had great sleep with no hangover the next day.

Gunsmoke , LoooveMonkey , petlove0311 , The Vixen , souviet , bayosgirl , Geogeo

7 (41%)

I've taken melatonin with okay sleep and no hangover the next day.

MissCandyland , Lildrummrgurl7 , GONE! , Trysexual

4 (24%)

I've taken it with no help in sleep, but no hangover the next day either.

indiglo , Beautiful-Disaster , inkky , Ansley

4 (24%)

I've taken it and had great sleep, but did have some hangover feeling the next day.

Rod Ronald , Sera26

2 (12%)

I've taken it and all I wanted to do was sleep all day!

I've taken it with no sleep luck, but did have a hangover the next day.

Total votes: 17

Poll is closed

01/24/2013

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Gunsmoke

With melatonin it's all about the dose. By 1 mg tablets and experiment. When we started 2.5 mg seemed to work (we split 5 mg tablets) - but then we weren't sleeping through the night. Then we started taking 5 mg and I did experience some morning drowsiness - but after a couple of weeks my body got use to it. Both my wife and I swear by it.

01/24/2013

Septimus

My friend (the Pharmacy tech) recommends that you start with 1 mg, take it on an evening when you don't really have to be up early the next day. And try to only take it as needed.
You might be groggy, but you won't know that until you try it.

01/24/2013

atryonix

Nope

01/24/2013

indiglo

I'll share with you what I've learned over the past couple of decades dealing with my own maddening struggle with insomnia. I've been on all kinds of sleep aids, from OTC to prescription... and I've finally found a combo that works for me (most of the time) with help from my doctor. Please know that you can get help from your doctor with your insomnia, even if it's only short term, and resolves on its own.

I was referred to a neurologist specializing in sleep disorders by my Primary Care Physician, due to my severe insomnia. He said current research indicates that of all OTC "sleep aid" supplements, melatonin has shown very little results. That is, it doesn't work that well. He said, if you're going to take it, the smaller the dose the more effective it is. You also have to take it at the right time, to mimic your natural hormonal fluctuations.

A supplement that I do take for sleep that actually works is Valerian Root. The doctor also said that research has shown that Valerian Root is a fairly effective sleep aid for most people. We don't know why, but it seems to work. I take that, and it helps, and causes no residual grogginess the next morning.

Something even simpler to do is to just take Benadryl. It makes a lot of people sleepy as a side-effect, and doesn't hurt you. I take it too (because of allergies, but also for the sleepiness) and my doctor said it was a great first place to start, even over the Valerian Root.

It is miserable not sleeping, and so bad for your body. I hope you get some quality shut eye soon!

01/24/2013

peachmarie

I have heard that it can be dangerous because many people take wayyy too strong of a dose, at that point it does more harm than good.

01/24/2013

LoooveMonkey

I have absolutely no hangover even when I don't sleep for very long after taking melatonin. Also, since these are sex toy forums, I will tell you that they also had no effect on my sex drive when I took them every night for two weeks. (Apparently they can lower libido for some)

01/24/2013

MissCandyland

It would get me asleep, but it wouldn't keep me asleep. I would wake up and not be able to go back to sleep. I didn't feel any hangover effect the next day.

01/25/2013

Bethy Cassatt

I've contemplated it before, but with a very dedicated schedule, I've been sleeping much better.

01/25/2013

Beautiful-Disaster

dodesnt help me

01/25/2013

Lildrummrgurl7

I have pretty severe insomnia at times so melatonin doesn't do it for me a lot of nights. But I have had a good experience with it. The thing with melatonin is that it's a natural hormone your body produces anyways. It's not a drug to knock you out. I have heard friends say it's given them nightmares but I've never had a bad experience with it.

01/25/2013

inkky

I've Taken It, Didn't Help With Sleep.

01/25/2013

souviet

Quote:

Originally posted by K101

I love melatonin!

01/25/2013

Bleu

Quote:

Originally posted by souviet

I love melatonin!

I'd hope so. Even if you didn't, you wouldn't sleep at all without it.

I've never taken one. I don't want my body getting used to something like that and it becoming dependent on it. My body naturally makes it and unless it stops, I hope I never have to take one of them.

01/25/2013

GONE!

I used to take it, but eventually I needed something stronger to sleep.

01/25/2013

K101

Quote:

Originally posted by peachmarie

I have heard that it can be dangerous because many people take wayyy too strong of a dose, at that point it does more harm than good.

You are right. I have read this too. I've also read it's bad to take melatonin for a long period of time because it can cause your body to stop making its natural melatonin, so I'm planning to take it only as needed, which like I said, is not often, but the week I have of insomnia every 3 months kicks my butt, so I'd be willing to take melatonin once-twice during that week of insomnia to kind of give me at least one good night, and that would probably be enough to settle me back into a good routine.

I have a very jacked up schedule as it is. My week days is when I am working the longest hours, and often times it's night shifts. Then Sundays are family days where we'll have a big party with all of my family and we have ALL the kids on Sundays, so I'm up at the dang crack of dawn (often on just a few hours of sleep) and this tends to make me a little off all Monday, sometimes even for a couple of days because I'll be so exhausted by the evening time.

01/25/2013

K101

Quote:

Originally posted by Gunsmoke

Thanks! I'm so glad to have gotten so many wonderfully helpful answers from you guys. I'm glad I decided to ask about this.

I dozed off a little after posting this earlier tonight and sure enough, woke right up. It's like I'll be on and off for a couple of hours all throughout the night and I'll feel like I never slept a lick! So I'm about to go ahead and take me one of those. They're sounding better and better as I read ya'll's comments. I worried about my body getting used to it too, but I think I'll do fine just taking one and I'll probably be back in order in no time.

The thing is, I have the 3mg, so I'm not sure it'll do best for me. Maybe I'll do what you said and just split it and take a half. Almost all medications (even little things like this) affect me a lot more intensely than they do the average person for some weird reason. I've taken cough syrup and actually woke up high and stayed that way for an entire day! I could take one Donnatall (aka Belladonna, I know, strange name for a pill! LOL) and be pretty out of my head. I was prescribed it for stomach issues and don't take it anymore, but my OB/GYN said I MUST take 4 a day and I could never even get past one a day because I would literally sleep all day long and be so out of my head that I wouldn't know if I'd had company that day or dreamed it! There were times where I'd call my sister and have to ask if she had been here telling me something or if I dreamed it. I'm glad I'm not in that zombie state anymore.

So I think that might be best -- to only take a half because I might just get a little too sleepy! LOl

Thank you for the advice.

Indiglo: Thank you for sharing! That was really helpful. I'm so sorry you've suffered with such severe insomnia. I couldn't imagine being in that state regularly. I used to have problems a lot more frequently than I do now, and I relied on Tylenol PM. It made me feel crappy though.

Benadryl is a good idea. I did not think of that. I bet just one of those might be enough to pull me right out of this weird funk. It seems like once I can get one day of normal, non-interrupted sleep, then I'll get back to normal, but usually I've had to let it play its course and it never fails that I'll finally exhaust myself out about one week after it started and be normal again... until the next 3 months. It's really weird that it happens on the dot like that. This has been going on for at least one year that I've been keeping track of. Very strange!

Thanks for suggesting Valerian! I don't have any at home, but love trying the natural route, so that will be what I try next. I did try some of my herbal teas and even the chamomile didn't cut it this time.

Thank you again for your help and concern. I am glad to hear you were able to find the right combo for you.

LooooveMonkey Yay! Yippeee! That is such good news! I too worried it'd lower my sex drive because I read that before I bought the supplement yesterday. I'm so glad to hear that it didn't leave you groggy or mess with your sex drive. Very relieving! Thank you for letting me know that.

SilverMinx Darn it! That's my biggest problem -- staying asleep. I keep waking after a couple of hours without being able to force myself back to sleep, no matter what. But then a few hours after being awake, I'm sleepy, but I cannot go through my day sleeping every few hours. LOL. I'm sorry to hear it didn't keep you asleep. I hope it does it for me. If not, I think I'll try Indiglo's suggestion and go for some Benadryl. Heck, if all else fails, I might even bring it up at my appointment in February (Pap smear day before the Birthday -- yay! Last year they gave me a damn pap smear ON my B-day! Happy fucking birthday, huh? LOL) and see if they'll request something or send me to the Physician down the road and give me a short-term bit of something to knock my exhausted butt out. Lol.

LilDrummerGurl Yes, I don't think it will make you sleep super hard like something like Seraquil might, but for someone like me, who any kind of supplement affects me stronger than the average person, I figure if it works slightly for some, it just might work slightly more for me. It very well could knock me out since I am already exhausted going on very little sleep since last Saturday. So a little push could send someone like me into a full night's sleep. You see?

And your friend probably did have nightmares. I'm a vivid dreamer and a lucid dreamer and I've read that melatonin supplements can cause vivid dreaming, so for someone who has nightmares (and especially vivid dreams) on a regular basis, I could definitely see that happening. I've had certain supplements give me strange dreams. That's very interesting how some people are affected by it and some not. Both in the dreaming department and sleeping department.

Well, thank you guys so much for the advice! I feel a lot more confident taking it now, knowing that it won't be likely to make me groggy all day.

01/25/2013

Ansley

I have taken it in the past and found no change in my sleep patterns. I use OTC sleep aids or Benadryl. Nyquil has a new suspension formula just for sleep called Zzzquil. I think with everything, it really depends on how badly you want it to work. I tend to be skeptical about a lot of things and melatonin therapy is one of them.

01/25/2013

Trysexual

I've taken it with no noticeable side effects, but its not like a sleeping pill. I think you are supposed to take it regularly and the results build up over time.

01/25/2013

Geogeo

Quote:

Originally posted by K101

I love melatonin; it's the only sleeping pills I take and I feel refreshed in the morning. Just ensure you hang out in the dark to make sure it gets activated and makes you sleepy

01/25/2013

P'Gell

I've given Melatonin to my youngest child (on recommendation by her pediatrician) because she suffers from insomnia.

I don't remember the dose, but we started with one tablet about a half hour before bedtime. After about 4 days of regular dosing, she was sleeping better. After the bottle was gone (90 tablets) she decided she wanted to stop taking it, as she was sleeping well. She had no problems after that. She had no residual sleepiness during the day and functioned well.

I, myself have not taken Melatonin, but I have taken Valerian and Kava Kava. Both cause intense stoned like feelings which lasted for days. I threw the Valerian away (after carefully wrapping it so animals wouldn't get it) after two trials, both of which left me wasted, groggy and dysfunctional. Same with the Kava Kava. I also can't take regular prescription sleep tablet, like Halcion ect, because they cause weird dreams, light sleep and "hangover."

I used to use Bentyl (a medicine for IBS) when I couldn't sleep. But, I have run out, and would probably try Melatonin, if it wasn't found in some cases to aggravate migraine.

01/25/2013

Rod Ronald

I have once and I did not like it at all.

01/25/2013

Total posts: 22 Unique posters: 20

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