20 replies to this topic

[youandme]

Ive just trialled NOW 3mg Melatonin to help me sleep..however after taking it I feel slightly sedated but very much awake..in fact it takes just as long to go off to sleep..and I awake just as early.
Also feel a little edgey afte about an hour of ingesting.


Why is it so ?? Anyone help explain.
Is 3mg too much ...could 3mg make going to sleep worse ?
Or is it something else causing the Melatonin to have a differring effect on me.?

TIA

[hamishm00]

possibly.

Try halving the dose and balance it out with some L-Trytophan.

[rwac]

Try halving the dose and balance it out with some L-Trytophan.

For some reason melatonin just doesn't agree with me. I need to use either dual release or sustained release melatonin, otherwise I wake up in 3-4 hrs.

You could try one of those, but lately I just use 5-htp instead.

[pycnogenol]

Is 3 mg too much?

It's too much for me. I, too, have tried 3 mg and it didn't do jack for sleep.

A mere 300-600 mcg (micrograms) on the other hand almost always works.

Go figure.

[FunkOdyssey]

You have to adjust to a high pharmacological dose like 3mg. The first night you take it, its going to disrupt your sleep. The second night, a little, but not as much. The third night you'll be fully adapted to the dose and sleep soundly.

You can avoid this process by gradually ramping up to your desired dose. I can't help but wonder how many people have written off melatonin as "not for them" due to the first or second night effects.

[youandme]

Thanks for the replies guys !

Its true I only tried for 3 nights at 3mg.

I will try a much smaller dose less than 700mcg for a couple o nights and see how we go.
If after that it works OK..if not I will try raising...and then also got some Trypto to mix if still no good on its own.

Funk
Are you taking 3g's of Melatonin regularly no problems ?

[FunkOdyssey]

I'm actually taking 12mg with no problems.

[youandme]

I'm actually taking 12mg with no problems.

Thanks..the theory then I should be ok with 3. ..do you take that much for just sleep or for other benefits ?

[russianBEAR]

I wouldn't be trying to "force feed" yourself melatonin if it doesn't work initially from a more or less standard dose.

Just because it works for some people doesnt mean it will work for you. It never worked for me I had the worst sleep possible on it, even before I slaughtered my sleep patterns with nitrazepam abuse

[FunkOdyssey]

I'm actually taking 12mg with no problems.

Thanks..the theory then I should be ok with 3. ..do you take that much for just sleep or for other benefits ?

300mcg works for sleep for me, I'm taking that much for other benefits. Subjectively I notice no difference in my sleep between taking 300mcg or 12mg after the first couple of nights of a dose change.

[TheFountain]

What I do to optimize melatonin is first take 950 mgs of Valerian root extract, an hour or so later I take 6 mgs of Melatonin. This seems to work many nights. The only nights it doesn't are those crazy insomniac GOT-SOMETHING-ON-MY-SUBCONSCIOUS-MIND nights, which are rare these days.

[pycnogenol]

I'm actually taking 12 mg with no problems.

Why stop there, Funk? Paul Wakfer takes 30 milligrams (!) of melatonin nightly.

Edited by pycnogenol, 07 September 2009 - 02:04 PM.

[kurt9]

Usually Melatonin puts me into a deep dream sleep. However, I occasionally have this problem as well, of 3mg of Melatonin keeping me awake. When this happens, I stop taking it for about a week or so and everything is fine. I usually sleep fine without it during this period.

I believe that Melatonin puts you into deeper REM sleep and that the REM sleep itself is the actual benefit of Melatonin use. It is during REM sleep that the brain reconfigures its dendrites and that actual neuro-genesis (growth of new neurons) occurs. The times when Melatonin does not work for me is likely when I don't need it.

[Ben K]

I'm actually taking 12mg with no problems.

Is there any reason to worry that taking high doses increases the chance that your body's natural production of melatonin will slow down?

[amere]

I wonder how comfortable this board would be with pyridoxamine, resveratrol or whatever having the opposite effect to what they were supposed to? Doesn't seem prudent to persist with it.

[niner]

I wonder how comfortable this board would be with pyridoxamine, resveratrol or whatever having the opposite effect to what they were supposed to? Doesn't seem prudent to persist with it.

Maybe they do. How would you know? In the case of the OP's question about melatonin, I think that's been answered pretty effectively.

[Imagination]

I had that too, or going to sleep and waking up after an hour wide awake.

Found splitting the 3mg in half to be more effective, or even thirds.

[kenj]

I had that too, or going to sleep and waking up after an hour wide awake.

Found splitting the 3mg in half to be more effective, or even thirds.

Have you tried taking a time-released (6+ hours) form for 1-2 weeks? That really should prevent early awakenings.

[Lufega]

Exogenous Melatonin Elevates the Plasma Leptin and Thyroxine Concentrations of the Mink (Mustela vison)

Anne-Mari Mustonen*, Petteri Nieminen, Heikki Hyvärinen and Juha Asikainen
Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, P. O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland.
Fax: +358Ð13Ð2513590. E-mail: ammusto@cc.joensuu.fi

Eight male and eight female minks were given exogenous melatonin as subcutaneous implants. The plasma leptin and thyroxine concentrations were measured. The leptin concentrations
showed clear seasonal variations and differences between the experimental groups. In September most of the control females had undetectable plasma leptin concentrations, but
the melatonin-treated females had detectable concentrations significantly higher than the leptin levels of the controls. Most of the males had undetectable leptin concentrations, too.
In October the plasma leptin levels had increased significantly in all the groups except the control males. The melatonin-treated minks had significantly higher leptin levels than the
controls. There was a significant rise in the thyroxine levels from September to October and the melatonin-treated groups had significantly higher thyroxine levels than the controls. The
effects of exogenous melatonin are very pronounced in the mink. Melatonin elevates the plasma leptin and thyroxine levels possibly by direct and indirect mechanisms.

Stimulates your thyroid??

Edited by Lufega, 21 September 2009 - 03:38 AM.

[Pixel8tryx]

Ive just trialled NOW 3mg Melatonin to help me sleep..however after taking it I feel slightly sedated but very much awake..in fact it takes just as long to go off to sleep..and I awake just as early.
Also feel a little edgey afte about an hour of ingesting.


Why is it so ?? Anyone help explain.
Is 3mg too much ...could 3mg make going to sleep worse ?
Or is it something else causing the Melatonin to have a differring effect on me.?

TIA

I can't tell you why, but 1mg does it for me. Any more and it doesn't seem to work. I remember a friend telling me he read somewhere that the lower does of Melatonin were better. He's a notorious penny pincher so it didn't surpise me and I didn't think any more about it. However I have since discussed dosages with several other people who had the same experience. Even if I end up finding a big sale of 3mg pills I cut them in half.

-Pixel8tryx

[ShnikeJSB]

Anyone have any experience with Jarrow Sleep Optimizer?

I was thinking of grabbing a bottle and trying it out. I figured that with the recommendations to the OP, this could be what he was looking for (as well as myself).

Each dose would provide 300mcg of Melatonin and 300mg of L-Tryptophan. It also has the following:

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) -- 100 mg
Hops (Humulus lupulus I.)(flower) -- 100 mg
Valerian Root (Valeriana officinalis)(root)(0.8 % Valeric Acid) -- 400 mg
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)(leaves) -- 100 mg

Any thoughts?