Has anyone got experience of Melatonin and Mangesium for sleep?

[Kevin_1]

Hi

I've been reading a book on Alzheimer's.

Apparently sleep can become poor with that disorder too.

Some folk had a lot of success taking Melatonin and Magnesium.

Has anyone here got experience of this please?

Thanks

Kevin

[Yvonneandgeorge]

No sorry Kevin xxx

[Richanne]

Jon was prescribed melatonin when he was in hospital last year. He was on a geriatric ward and spent the nights wandering round with his Zimmer frame trying to find patients to treat (ex GP!) When he came out I didn't find the result very convincing and we phased them out. More recently he had been disturbing me very frequently at night, 3-4 times at least and often 6 or more so he started it again and is still on it. Still unconvinced by result.

Since recent hospital stay he is now sleeping much better and doesn't disturb me at all. But he was put on a low dose of clonazepam for myoclonic jerks and I think that's what's giving me a good night's sleep.

He was never prescribed magnesium.

Sorry I can't be more help.

Rosemary

[Kevin_1 in reply to Richanne]

Thanks Rosemary

No, that's a lot of help.

Liz is on a low dose of Clonazepam and it works very well. I don't like strong meds. when a more natural treatment is available. That's why I enquired here.

However the Clonazepam is working well I suspect it would be unwise to disturb that.

Thanks

Best

Kevin

[Christine47]

I have always felt that sleep, even naps, are important to help my husband function better. My husband (dx 2012) gets magnesium citrate daily,but for his nerve and muscle health and now for its laxative effect. He has used magnesium l-threonate also. He has not used it to help him sleep.

As for melatonin, yes, but he did not find it helpful. It was a time-release type. My understanding is that one should start with 1mg. Most people get to much. I personally found it causes really vivid dreams. You need to take it 90 minutes before you want to go to sleep.

Other thoughts. My understanding is that the blue light from computers, TV, light bulbs, cellphones, clocks, etc. trigger the brain to wakeup. One should not use those devices two hours before sleeping. "Making your room dark. Artificial light after dark can send wake-up messages to the brain, suppressing the production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. In fact, a recent study showed that even bright room light could have this chemical effect." Maybe there is something here that might help Liz. sleepfoundation.org

This talk will give the importance of sleep to our brain. ted.com/talks/jeff_iliff_on... To (hopefully) improve autophagy, I give my husband liposomal trehalose.

Hope this all helps,

Christine

[Kevin_1 in reply to Christine47]

Hi Christine

Some very good tips. Thanks

Thanks for the links too. I will follow them up.

Funnily enough I have been reading about autophagy. The texts I have read so far recommend twelve hour breaks from food overnight. For many years I have done this anyway. In the morning my body really does not want food until 10.00 at the earliest.

Thanks for coming back with such a helpful post.

Best

Kevin

[Masterlock in reply to Christine47]

Hi Christine47, I've been looking for a source of liposomal trehalose. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[honjen43]

Have had my own problems with ability to sleep. Put mine down to hormones or lack of them!

Used a tablet of magnesium with 5-HTP which was effective. Contained dry griffonia simplicifolia seed, ziziphus jujuba, and passionflower (passiflora incarnata. Other herb I have found helpful is Valerian with hops and passionflower extracts. Both are NZ made but something similar should be available.

When all else fails I take a sleeping tablet!! Generally it's zopiclone, 1/2 tab. They are considered addictive so try to dry out every so often.

If all fails to give you both a good night's sleep, maybe get a night nurse and take them yourself ? !

Hope you manage to get this problem sorted. Nothing worse than being sleep deprived. My sincere sympathies!

Love to you both!

Hugs

Jen xxx xxx

[Kevin_1 in reply to honjen43]

Hi Jen

Gosh what a full post. Sorry about your poor sleep. Valerian is one I would steer clear of personally, it is a mild narcotic. Quite a few things in your list I have not heard of. I will set to reading!

Its for Liz, she's on Clonazepam and when I saw that folk with Alzheimer's were often using Magnesium Melatonin mix I wondered whether it might be better than this strong drug. I am now tending toward leaving things be for her.

Having said that you and others are coming up with ideas which look like being helpful to me.

Thanks

Kevin

xxx

[easterncedar in reply to Kevin_1]

I have found valerian helpful for myself, and have had no side effects, but a more sensitive friend said it made her too mentally cloudy the next day. I also use 5-HTP on occasion. I like the vivid dreams, which only appear for me the first few nights I use it; so I tend to use it only episodically.

[Kevin_1 in reply to easterncedar]

I love vivid dreams too!

Gosh there are so many good ideas here.

Thanks for adding.

I used to grow Valerian... It used to zonk me out for a couple of days. Maybe I should revisit it.

[honjen43 in reply to Kevin_1]

Have not heard that about Valerian. Have had no trouble and been using it a long time. They do suggest holding off after taking some meds and also not suitable with PD meds.

Also interested in comments re melatonin and psychotic effects. Will be passing that on and researching myself as believe 2 of my teenage grandchildren are taking it!

Jen

[sasmock]

Hi Kevin,

The one problem my dad has never suffered with is lack of sleep. He sleeps like a baby and always has done. But I have used magnesium a lot with clients who have trouble sleeping. There is a product made by Better You here in UK - called Magnesium Oil Goodnight Spray. Magnesium applied to the skin can often be better used by the body than supplements (especially if gut health is compromised). A lot of people have reported relaxing effects of this when used before bed time. I also use a powdered calcium/magnesium/vit c powder, 45 mins before sleep, as this can have relaxing effects too. That product is called C/Cal/Mag and it's made by Biotics Research. Epsom salts baths or foot baths (or magnesium chloride flakes) might also be helpful, as the mag is taken in through the skin that way.

Getting sunlight on the face first thing in the morning is also really good for regulating the cortisol/melatonin balance. Not sure how practical this is, but if it's not at all, then what about one of those lamps (not sure what they're called) that claim to shed the light that helps people with seasonal mood disorders? That might work? I've no experience with melatonin, but have heard some positive reports. I suppose it works for some and not others, depending on their hormone balance. You can get cortisol and melatonin tested by saliva sample, to see if that's the root cause of the problem. I've also heard brilliant reports about Medical Resonance Music to help sleep, but haven't properly looked in to this yet. So much to do all the time...!

[Kevin_1 in reply to sasmock]

Hi Sasmock

Thanks - great post.

Looks like I've got quite a bit of reading to do!

Best

Kevin

[Gadgetgeek]

Hi Kevin_1

I have tried Melatonin myself to try and help me with sleep. Unbeknown to me my mother was also taking it for same reason.

All I can say is that it scared the living daylihts out of me. I can only describe the thoughts I had made me feel psychotic (not that I know what that feels like!) I really thought I would end up killing someone, so in the end went back to the GP to ask if I could stop taking it.

Mum then mentioned she was taking it, and she was having similar thoughts and feelings.

Whether being mixed with magnesium do s something different, I have no idea. For me, I never want to touch the stuff again, and would be very wary in giving it to G.

[Kevin_1 in reply to Gadgetgeek]

Thanks G-Geek

So far we have 'not much use" and "Sends you bonkers" on the thread.

I think I will be following up the other suggestions on the thread!

Thanks for coming back.

Good to see you here again.

Best

Kevin

[JantheNana]

Kevin,my late husband was taking clonazepam for several years and that helped his sleep.Eventually we took him off that as we were trying to see if that was causing more dizziness and falling in the daytime.Probably wasn't.But when we discontinued the clonazepam he started using melatonin instead 5mg per night.It worked well for him.At the last he was sleeping 12 hrs per night with just the melatonin.Never tried the magnesium for sleep.I have taken it myself,for other benefits but stopped because of the laxative effect.

[Kevin_1]

Hi J the N

I have have been reading the thread through and was beginning to form an idea and then along comes your post saying it works! Chuckles.

I suspect it is a case of different things for different people.

There are so many good suggestions on this thread. I think I'm going to read up on them and then try them on myself. Melatonin will be on the list now.

Thanks

Best to you.

Kevin

[kandk]

Gosh it is good to have so many experiences and ideas shared on this thread regarding sleep. We tried melatonin for sleep issues for my husband 2 or 3 years ago before any dx but it did not work for him. Now he is waking 2-3x ( sometimes more) to get up to pee, which wakes me too. We are both sleep deprived but I have been resistant to giving him anything at night because most of the time he has good bladder control still. As long as we are at home I don't push too hard about using pant guards because he is willing to use them if we are going out or traveling any distance that compromises control. We have access to the Magnesium Spray which our daughter-in-law brought from Germany and other magnesium bath salts but I haven't used them with Kurt yet. He also takes magnesium citrate and magnesium threonate in his supplement regime. Any clarification from anyone regarding how deep the sleep becomes with the alternative sleep aids? Maybe in the long run it is worth doing extra loads of laundry. ....

Thanks, Kathy

[PSomani]

Hi Kevin,

Have you tried homoeopathy ? It works for some people .

Anshuman

[Kevin_1 in reply to PSomani]

Hi Anshuman

I've tried homoeopathy a few times in my life and never found it effective for me.

I think we will try some of the herbal / natural solutions provided above. It isn't fpr me - It'd for Liz - This PSP sleep falling apart thing.

Thanks for coming back though.

Best

Kevin

[Abrecheisen53]

Hi Kevin,

John recently has been having trouble sleeping and/or going back to sleep. Neurologist just prescribed 3 mg. Melatonin. It didn't do anything so we upped it to 6 mg. That seems to be working for now!

Hugs, Alice

[Kevin_1]

Thanks Alice

I'll keep that one in my back pocket.

Hugs

Kevin

xx