Melatonin and lupus

[miccika1]

Did anyone experience a flare after taking Melatonin? There is conflicting info saying we can't have melatonin and some say it helps...

[whisperit]

Hello miccika1

from my reading, it looks as if the consensus is that melatonin is more likely to produces flares than to help. That's certainly the opinion of the Johns Hopkins Lupus centre web-pages, which is pretty well-regarded.

But it seems some physicians are willing to prescribe if you insist - I took low dose melatonin for 2 weeks recently because my medics had run out of ideas for helping with my chronic insomnia. It seemed to have no effect at all, either on my autoimmunity or my sleep, so I stopped. x

[miccika1 in reply to whisperit]

The reason bi was rven thinking about it is that Im taking a business trip and im scared of both having a flare from the additional stress and from not performing well due to fatigue and jetlag. I thought i could at least try getting the jetlag under control w Melatonin so to have a good sleep while in different time zone

[whisperit in reply to miccika1]

Makes sense. My sleep specialist (he's a consultant neurologist) says there are no medical treatments for insomnia that work in the long term; only CBT has a good evidence base. He does think zopiclone is reasonably reliable if it's just for a short period but it does produce dependence long term. I've tried it a couple of times, but again, with no result

[Treetop33]

I've started taking melatonin but at a very low dose (1.5mg) and only when I wake up at 3am. What helped more consistently was taking progesterone bioidentical hormones (but I have huge problems with hormones anyway). Insomnia is a really tricky problem, and I don't know why more effort isn't put into helping us with it, since it's a symptom of Lupus.

[miccika1 in reply to Treetop33]

I dont have big insomnia problem. I wanted to use melatonin as a jetlag remedy. Im supposed to work nine time zone and im aftraid i will flare up...

I have a feeling we have sleep issues because we dont move our bodies enough during the day, due to fatigue. Every time i was forced to do more fisical stuff like a hike or swimming i would have no problem sleeping. The problem is keeping regular excercise when you can hardly walk from fatigue...

[Treetop33 in reply to miccika1]

You are very fortunate to be able to sleep ok in normal circumstances. Perhaps a normal sleeping pill would help, as some have suggested?

[miccika1 in reply to Treetop33]

I guess i wasn't sure what a normal sleeping pill is. I used to take ambien for a few years when i had bad insomnia. Is it zoplicone? I will see what that is and tey it. Thanks a lot!🥰

[miccika1]

I got 10 sleeping pills to use when traveling. Hope this will help as any time i cross nine hour time zones i get a flare. Maybe if i sleep better i would minimize the risk of a flare...