Anyone taken Melatonin to help sleep pattern ........ good results..... side effects?

[hessy]

[LouiseRoberts]

Sorry you have had no replies - hopefully someone will pick this up from Latest Activity...

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[kosmickaz]

I take melatonin 3mgs at night when my sleep pattern is problematic (usually due to under dosing T3 or due to cortisol issues). It helps tremendously. I have found my sleep pattern much better in the summer months - when it gets dark at night not the afternoon and the body is in a much more sensible pattern and not confused by early hours of darkness, then I don't normally need it (maybe the occasional night).

I have not noticed any nasty side effects....

[humanbean]

I bought 3mg pills of melatonin and found they gave me a thundering headache. But when I cut the pills into 3 or 4 bits and just used one bit they worked very well. I do have to take it and then immediately settle down to sleep, so I usually read a bit, then take the bit of pill, then turn the light off. Within 10 minutes I'm usually asleep.

They do give me a bit of a hangover effect if I take it regularly, so I try to keep my use to an absolute minimum.

[Framboise]

I went to a Sleep Centre because I had such bad insomnia and out of phase sleep and I was prescribed 3mg of slow release melatonin. I don't know if the one the NHS dispenses is different from the ones you can buy, but within 20 minutes my head felt as if it was empty and being crushed, I was on a different planet and I hallucinated for several hours, my husband had to get up and sit with me until the early hours when I stopped gibbering and shaking and was well enough to go to bed, then I slept for about 2 hours and was wide awake again. Because it was slow release these effects continued the next day and it was 36 hours later that I finally felt normal again. No-one at the Sleep Centre answered the phone because they don't work at night of course (despite being told to phone if anything went wrong) and the doctor concerned phoned the next afternoon and asked me if I was sure it was the melatonin that had caused it, had I taken anything else that could have done this and would I try it again!! No never. However I haven't heard of anyone else who's had these side effects and I don't think the Melatonin you buy is slow release or as high a dose.

I'm now trying a cd of calming lullabies to get me to sleep and it works up to a point, but I tend to wake up when it comes to the end.

[Jow11]

I tried taking it on several separate occasions and it often gave me terrible migraines and rarely helped with sleep. I found it slightly more helpful when I took it with GABA but still not enough to continue taking it especially because of the migraines.

[pussycatwillow]

Can't see the other replies for some reason! I find Melatonin does help stop me waking up several times in the night. However I always feel a bit drowsy next day so only take when I really need to sleep.

[kiltis]

I've taken 1-2 mg for about a year now. I really helps me to fall asleep and I have not noticed any side effects. I get mine from Biovea.