151 replies to this topic

[meowhun]

I have a question. I used to take melatonin I believe 2.5 MG a night when I was in my teens because I had trouble sleeping. It worked VERY well. I stopped taking it when I became pregnant with my first child. I now have three children and I'm 25. A few things have changed lately that may have effected my sleeping habits. Hormones are kicking back into gear because I have stopped breastfeeding. I recently had an IV Iron infusion for extreme anemia. And I've joined a gym and now workout (cardio and weights) on a regular basis. Anyway to my point... I can not sleep! I have been staying up until 3 Am almost every night. I tried taking melatonin again (the nice lady at wild oats recommended starting with half a tablet. Each tab is 1mg) it didnt work so the next night I took 1 full tab. Still didnt work. Then last night I took 2 Tabs (2MG) and I felt kind of strange but not tired. Am I not taking enough and is this ok to take every night??? -Lisa

[lucid]

Well,
Sleep is pretty complicated. Some common causes from lack of sleep are:
*Stress
*Room Temperature (I need a cold room)
*Chronic Pain
*Other Meds
*Previous Bad Sleeping Habits (A sleep debt)
The melatonin should help. Melatonin is not meant to really knock you out, so make sure that 30 minutes - an hour after taking it you are in your bed in a completely dark room (Light will disrupt melatonin production and I am not sure but may increase the rate at which it is broken down.) So if you don't have any of the above problems, and melatonin doesn't help then I would recommend going to the doctor. 3mg should be plenty (too much can be counter productive). I have had a great experience with 2mg tabs where 1mg is instant released and 1mg is time released. Sometimes I only take half of that tab and it works great.