124 replies to this topic

[machete234]

I've taken 25 mg of it at once and it hasn't done anything for me. Even at the smaller doses I don't think I noticed anything

Different brands?
When agitated no amount of melatonin will make you sleep but in your normal state it should work.

25mg should give you a noticably drowsiness

My hero Shulgin wrote something about melatonin because its a tryptamine
https://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/tihkal/tihkal35.shtml

The test subject was l also not very impressed but for me melatonin gets me into bed at least an hour or two earlier than without it and I fall asleep quickly, if you get this without melatonin consider yourself lucky.

My normal sleep cycle would be to go to bed at 1-2 and not at 11 or 12

Edited by machete234, 15 July 2013 - 05:36 PM.

[wanderviolet]

My personal experience - yes, absolutely it helped. It helped far too much for me. I have chronic insomnia, the getting to sleep kind, my doctor gave me Circadin. It made me feel tired in a way I don't normally experience (I tend to have awake awake awake - oh its morning - no real sense of 'tired'). The major issue I had was the next day - it makes me want to sleep forever. I get two good nights sleep out of it, but spend the day in between feeling ridiculously tired, it is very hard to get up. So it's not really any good for me in that respect.

I've noticed people discussing valdoxan (agomelatine) and saying it does the tired-thing working on the same receptors, but not the hangover effect. So I'm interested in looking into that further. The only thing that's ever let me have a better night's sleep without the hangover is Valium, actually - I tend to wake refreshed and sleep better overall for quite a while after one or two nightly doses. I've tried plenty but the hangover isn't worth the sleep to me!

[cat@]

I'm also a chronic insomniac and Melatonin has done nothing much for me except make me extremely groggy and waking up at 4am. I just started Zoloft five days ago. I've had five nights of decent sleep. The reviews I've read are all over the place. For me, it gives loads of energy when I take it in the morning. By 9-10 I start getting sleepy. By 10.30 11.00 I'm out cold until around 5-6am.

[stablemind]

For those of you who experience negative side effects from melatonin, have you tried cutting down the dose into the mcg dosage? I take 150 mcg extended release melatonin and have not experienced any side effects. At 300 mcg, I believe it interfered with my sleep quality a little.

[mrvontar]

I take 10 mg and I think it helps me fall asleep.

[wanderviolet]

I haven't - I have used the 'herbal' version OTC in health food shops with no results at all (the dosage is listed as '6x' if that means anything to anyone - not to me). The prescription tablets here are in 2mg form and not scored, so no idea what the dose would be from half to half for example - and how badly inconsistent that may be. i do think a lower dose would help but can't get a consistent value for that here.

[KimberCT]

This might sound crazy, but I take 50mg every night. At this dose it improves my sleep and seems to have an antidepressant effect. Yes, I've stopped taking it a few times. After 2-3 days of insomnia my sleep returns to normal.

Agomelatine spurred me to try such a high dose. I also tapered up 10mg weekly to 50mg. 50mg right away was actually insomnia provoking.

Another note... those mcg doses always made me extremely groggy in the morning, including the time released ones.

[ta5]

This might sound crazy, but I take 50mg every night.

Interesting. I think that's the highest dose I've heard of. Is the 50mg time-release?

Edited by ta5, 02 April 2014 - 12:20 PM.

[Bogomoletz II]

Yes, but it's far from a silver bullet. My problem is falling asleep, not staying asleep. The melatonin pills I took (along with valerian, if memory serves me right) for 3 or 2 weeks, were past their expiration date, so it might have been just placebo effect, but they seemed to have made it easier, less frustrating for me to lay there, waiting to fall asleep, and likely decreased my sleep onset latency, though not to an impressive degree.

Edited by Bogomoletz II, 02 April 2014 - 12:48 PM.

[ta5]

Thanks. May I ask what brand or specific product you take?

[Bogomoletz II]

Thanks. May I ask what brand or specific product you take?

It was Circadin 2 mg., probably an Israeli brand.

[KimberCT]

This might sound crazy, but I take 50mg every night.

Interesting. I think that's the highest dose I've heard of. Is the 50mg time-release?

No, regular immediate release caps.

[Jeoshua]

Time release is not a good option, and it doesn't ever make me feel the least bit sleepy. I personally take Sleep Essentials from Swanson Vitamins. Along with some calming herbs like Skullcap and Valerian Root, it has 3mg of Melatonin. I just took some, along with 5mg elemental Lithium Orotate and 600mg DHA. My mind is still pretty awake, but I'm starting to feel drowsy. I will be going to bed soon.

I don't take this every night, and always when taking it a whole hour before I need to be asleep. The melatonin actually seems to have an effect for a few days afterwards, according the Sleepbot program on my phone, which measures noise and motion as I sleep. I move around a lot less when I take instant release or "standard" Melatonin, except near to waking, where it seems to have the opposite effect (which I read as increasing both the deep sleep cycles, and the REM cycles during the daytime closer to waking.)

For Instant Release types, take no more than 300mcg.
For "Standard" types, take no more than 3 mg.
Don't bother with extended release, I personally have never noticed them to have the least bit of an effect, except for making me sleep longer and making it very hard to wake up in the morning.

Edited by Jeoshua, 03 April 2014 - 05:07 AM.

[Jeoshua]

And why the downvotes? Is it personal or do two people really disagree with my assessment?

[maximum411]

I have always taken a very long time to fall asleep, but melatonin about 30 minutes before bed really helps with that. I find that .5 mg-1mg is the best dose for effectiveness without any hangover effect the next day. Note that this dose is already high enough to elevate serum melatonin beyond what it would ever normally be.


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[Strelok]

I've experimented with melatonin for the past 2-3 years, at dosages of ~300mcg - 3mg.  I have found the best effects from taking ~500mcg - 1mg sublingually about 1-1.5 hours before bedtime.  This has also been very helpful in establishing a more normal circadian rhythm / bedtime.  If I take it right at bedtime, it's not as effective at helping me quickly fall asleep, and I am MUCH more likely to experience difficultly waking up when my alarm clock goes off, and the subsequent grogginess during the first hours after waking.  As others have said, too high of a dose can leave redidual levels elevated when it's time to wake up.  But, of course, YMMV. 

[KieranA001]

I started off taking melatonin to get better sleep, I mean it does put you to sleep but it just makes you feel like crap in the morning, even more tired than what you'd be like without the melatonin. So for me, I don't take it. :-)

[blood]

And why the downvotes? Is it personal or do two people really disagree with my assessment?

 

I wondered about that too. Didn't seem like you said anything particularly controversial... maybe when you said "time release is not an option" people do do use time release melatonin felt that you were attacking their preferences?

 

I use both instant release, & time release melatonin. The instant release to let my body know it's evening, and the time release to prevent rebound awakening& help me stay asleep all night.

 

This works for me:

 

1) take a 2.5 mg sublingual tab at dusk. (This is about 6 pm where I live at this time of year). I wedge the tab under my upper lip, and allow it to slowly dissolve over the course of an hour. I get the peppermint flavored ones from Source Natural.

2) later in the evening, at around 8-9 pm, after I've finished eating for the day, I'll take a 5 mg sustained release tablet.

3) I will be in bed, sleepy, by 9 pm. Without the melatonin, I can be awake til the wee hours feeling very mentally alert.

4) I open my blinds fully before I go to bed. That way, I'll get the 'signal' of morning light in the morning (exposure to small amounts of morning light was recently found to be associated with lower BMI and other good things).

Edited by blood, 14 April 2014 - 09:01 AM.

[pheanix997]

 

And why the downvotes? Is it personal or do two people really disagree with my assessment?

 

I wondered about that too. Didn't seem like you said anything particularly controversial... maybe when you said "time release is not an option" people do do use time release melatonin felt that you were attacking their preferences?

 

I use both instant release, & time release melatonin. The instant release to let my body know it's evening, and the time release to prevent rebound awakening& help me stay asleep all night.

 

This works for me:

 

1) take a 2.5 mg sublingual tab at dusk. (This is about 6 pm where I live at this time of year). I wedge the tab under my upper lip, and allow it to slowly dissolve over the course of an hour. I get the peppermint flavored ones from Source Natural.

2) later in the evening, at around 8-9 pm, after I've finished eating for the day, I'll take a 5 mg sustained release tablet.

3) I will be in bed, sleepy, by 9 pm. Without the melatonin, I can be awake til the wee hours feeling very mentally alert.

4) I open my blinds fully before I go to bed. That way, I'll get the 'signal' of morning light in the morning (exposure to small amounts of morning light was recently found to be associated with lower BMI and other good things).

 

Blood, do you take the melatonin every night? Is it okay to do so? I ask because it's improved my sleep quality quite a bit, but I'm not sure if it becomes less effective through prolonged use (hopefully not...). 

[blood]

 

 

And why the downvotes? Is it personal or do two people really disagree with my assessment?

 

I wondered about that too. Didn't seem like you said anything particularly controversial... maybe when you said "time release is not an option" people do do use time release melatonin felt that you were attacking their preferences?

 

I use both instant release, & time release melatonin. The instant release to let my body know it's evening, and the time release to prevent rebound awakening& help me stay asleep all night.

 

This works for me:

 

1) take a 2.5 mg sublingual tab at dusk. (This is about 6 pm where I live at this time of year). I wedge the tab under my upper lip, and allow it to slowly dissolve over the course of an hour. I get the peppermint flavored ones from Source Natural.

2) later in the evening, at around 8-9 pm, after I've finished eating for the day, I'll take a 5 mg sustained release tablet.

3) I will be in bed, sleepy, by 9 pm. Without the melatonin, I can be awake til the wee hours feeling very mentally alert.

4) I open my blinds fully before I go to bed. That way, I'll get the 'signal' of morning light in the morning (exposure to small amounts of morning light was recently found to be associated with lower BMI and other good things).

 

Blood, do you take the melatonin every night? Is it okay to do so? I ask because it's improved my sleep quality quite a bit, but I'm not sure if it becomes less effective through prolonged use (hopefully not...). 

 

 

Hi Pheanix,

 

Yes, I do take it every night. I'm not aware of any studies showing tolerance or dependence with melatonin, so I feel comfortable taking it nightly.

[Duchykins]

It's been a while since I've posted, got caught up in spring semester.

I've recently stopped taking melatonin and I'll tell you why.

But some quick background info first:

+ 32 yrs old, migraineur since 21
+ have a great need for regular sleep schedule as part of permanent migraine prophylaxis plan
+ sleep onset insomnia, chronic, and on ambien 10mg (not CR) indefinitely after a variety of failures with other sleep aids and methods and beaucoup migraines
+ did not suffer the semi-common ambien side effect of waking up around 2-3am until nearly two years of nightly use
+ things like gabapentin with ambien enabled successful full night's sleep but were undesirable due to side effects
+ began taking 1/2 to 1/4 of a 3mg sublingual tablet of melatonin (Natrol brand) nightly partway through this last semester



First couple of weeks in: it works to regulate sleep as it should, to keep you asleep instead of waking up too early. At appropriate doses (should not be more than 1 mg really, 1.5 mg is pushing it, that's way more than a healthy body makes for itself and doses over 3 mg are absurdly unwise) inital side effects were minor and tolerable; greater resistance to getting up in the morning at 6am, some slight mental sluggishness for up to two hours after waking, proportional to amount of melatonin consumed the night before. I also noticed a slight reduction in agitation/irritation/anxiety during the day, slight increase in sensory tolerance (I'm on the autism spectrum and have some of the usual sensory overstimulation problems)

After two weeks: depression worsening? I'm not sure, it could have just been a response to the high stress of course work in a bioscience major. Also noticed an acne breakout on my face, which is weird for a 30-something with no significant acne issues ever including high school.

After a month: notable increase in periods of carb cravings, along with increasing intensity of cravings. I usually snack on fav foods like fresh spinach, fresh yellow/red bell peppers (I eat them like you would an apple, literally) baby carrots, thai corn, broccoli, jasmine rice with chia seed, you get the picture. I cannot have the typical students' junkfood diet due to migraine concerns, and have natural autistic desires for specific foods like those--yet my eating habits were changing so subtly that it was quite a while before I realized I had eaten a whole bag of Ruffles each day for 4 straight days. 4 big bags of chips in 4 days, which is just disgusting. I don't own a scale but noticed my pants were getting tight, a trip to the nurse's office revealed a 12 lb weight gain since my last visit there 2 months prior.

Two months in: by now I knew the melatonin was seriously fucking with my hormones even at the low doses; acne was still going strong, 5 more lbs gained despite terrific resistance of carb cravings (which all by itself put me in a rotten mood regularly). I kept up the routine because it was a critical time near finals and any change would send me into migraine hell and threaten my GPA. Mind you, I had recently been prescribed ritalin (after a rough trial with adderall-do not recommend) and have been taking bupropion almost as long as the ambien, both of which are known to suppress appetite and cause weight loss in some people.

I immediately quit the melatonin after finals, a couple of weeks ago; already my face is clearing up, still not quite there yet though, but the cravings stopped and I've lost 6 lbs without any effort, just by going back to my normal diet, no extra exercise or anything to deliberately lose the weight. The only weird thing is that I've gone back to sleeping properly all night on just the usual 10 mg ambien, but maybe that side effect will pop up again after my hormones fully return to baseline.

So that's my anecdote. I won't tell people to stop taking it because hormone therapy affects everyone differently but just wanted to put my experience out there.

TLDR; melatonin does what it's supposed to but may have unacceptable adverse effects

Edited by Duchykins, 13 June 2015 - 06:02 AM.

[Duchykins]

Side note: melatonin is not supposed to help you go to sleep. Drowsiness only occurs when too much is ingested, like over 2 mg. If you're getting sleepy eyed from your melatonin dose, you need to cut back because it will hang around during daylight hours and cause all kinds of subtle havoc on you. If you're looking to melatonin for something to help you initiate sleep as opposed to maintaining sleep, you need to learn more about melatonin.

[Mind]

I started taking it to help with my sleep quality. I started with 1 mg and now I take 2 mg every night. Been taking it for 5 years or more. Subjectively, I am not sure it really helps with my sleep. I keep taking it because of other evidence of some benefits. http://www.lifeexten...latonin/Page-01

[Junk Master]

I'm taking it right now in combination with a small dose of Ibutamoren in hopes of increasing GH release and as long as I stay under 6mg I have no grogginess.  

 

Now, I have no idea if it's potentiating the Ibutamoren yet and in the past when I have mega-dosed Melatonin I did have quite a bit of morning sleepiness.

 

As for it's effectiveness, I really feel it works best for travelers reseting their circadian rhythms.  Other than that, I believe most people take too much.  Pretty harmless though IMO.  It's just that in my experience I could never achieve the sort of effect as a sleeping pill, especially Ambien.  Of course, it doesn't have the sides of Ambien, and doesn't seem to mess with sleep architecture as much.

 

Aaaah, I miss the days of popping an Ambien and falling dead asleep rather than tossing and turning for half the night...CPAP mask hissing...then getting up to go to the bathroom...

 

But my memory is definitely better and I don't wake to find I polished off half a gallon of ice cream at 3 in the morning without remembering it.

[Kalliste]

Been taking 2-5mg per night. The effect on my sleep is astounding, this is one of the most impressive supplements I have ever tried aside from C60 and MitoQ in terms of effect.

[xxxxxxxx]

Please keep in mind most of the OTC supplements have INSANE dosages. A physiological dose is something like 0.3-0.5mg, not the 10mg I've seen around.

In high doses it was investigated as a form of birth control! The body shutting down reproduction is a sign it does not like its environment. That makes sense considering melatonin is a marker of sleep/wake cycles based on high energy light (blue, daylight) entering your eyes. Daylight goes down in winter (bad time to get pregnant). I wonder if overdoing melatonin can bring on seasonal depression in some people? Bright light therapy is used to TREAT seasonal depression, after all 

Edited by MiaouMixe, 02 November 2015 - 05:58 AM.

[Perek]

I took Melatonin first time in 95-96. It had a fantastic effect on both sleep issues and depression. Back then I used bovine extracted melatonin.

I have never been able to replicate that dramatic effect of syntetic melatonin tough it helps me to fall asleep.

Edited by Perek, 24 November 2015 - 12:26 PM.

[mrvontar]

300 mcg is the best dose.

[aonyx]

Yes, in the sense that it made me actually want to go to sleep and I fell asleep much much faster. Other than that, eight hours later I still had trouble getting out of bed, and I still woke up several times in the last hours of sleep.

[gamesguru]

The effects of day-time exogenous melatonin administration on cardiac autonomic activity.
Harris AS1, Burgess HJ, Dawson D.  2001.
Melatonin has a functional role in the nocturnal regulation of sleep and thermoregulation. In addition to its action on peripheral receptors, melatonin may act by altering autonomic activity. To determine the effect of melatonin on cardiac autonomic activity, 5 mg of melatonin or placebo was orally administered to 12 young subjects at 14:00 hr, in a repeated measures design. Melatonin decreased sleep onset latency to Stage 2 sleep by 4.92+/-1.81 min (measured by Multiple Sleep Latency Tests), rectal temperature by 0.19+/-0.05 degrees C, and increased foot temperature by 0.74+/-0.45 degrees C (all P<0.05). Melatonin decreased heart rate by 3.66+/-1.68 beats/min (P<0.05) and pre-ejection period (measure of cardiac sympathetic activity) by 16.48+/-4.28 ms (P<0.05), but had no effect on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (measure of cardiac parasympathetic activity) (P>0.05). As the decrease in pre-ejection period is likely to have resulted from a decrease in blood pressure, these results do not confirm an effect of melatonin on cardiac sympathetic activity. However, the results do clearly indicate that melatonin is unlikely to drive the previously observed presleep increase in cardiac parasympathetic activity.

Melatonin possesses time-dependent hypnotic effects.
Tzischinsky O1, Lavie P.  1994.
The present study investigated the hypnotic effects of 5 mg melatonin in comparison with placebo when administered at 1200, 1700, 1900 and 2100 hours. Eighteen young adults were studied with the 7/13 ultrashort sleep-wake paradigm after an overnight sleep deprivation. Melatonin was administered according to a double-blind Latin square design. After each administration, melatonin significantly increased sleep propensity, the spectral power in the theta, delta and spindles bands, and subjective sleepiness. It significantly decreased the power in the alpha and beta bands and oral temperature. The latency to maximum effect varied linearly from 3 hours 40 minutes at 1200 hours to 1 hour at 2100 hours. These findings indicate that melatonin possesses a time-dependent hypnotic effect and suggest that endogenous melatonin may participate in sleep-wake regulation.

Dietary factors and fluctuating levels of melatonin
Katri Peuhkuri,* Nora Sihvola, and Riitta Korpela.  2012.
Melatonin is secreted principally by the pineal gland and mainly at nighttime. The primary physiological function is to convey information of the daily cycle of light and darkness to the body. In addition, it may have other health-related functions. Melatonin is synthesized from tryptophan, an essential dietary amino acid. It has been demonstrated that some nutritional factors, such as intake of vegetables, caffeine, and some vitamins and minerals, could modify melatonin production but with less intensity than light, the most dominant synchronizer of melatonin production. This review will focus on the nutritional factors apart from the intake of tryptophan that affect melatonin levels in humans. Overall, foods containing melatonin or promoting the synthesis of it by impacting the availability of tryptophan, as well those containing vitamins and minerals which are needed as co-factors and activators in the synthesis of melatonin, may modulate the levels of melatonin. Even so, the influence of daytime diet on the synthesis of nocturnal melatonin is limited, however, the influence of the diet seems to be more obvious on the daytime levels.

 

Melatonin in Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Related Disorders
Melatonin and mitochondrial function.
Melatonin-mitochondria interplay in health and disease.
Melatonin, mitochondria, and cellular bioenergetics.

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Food Sources

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https://books.google...AAQBAJ&pg=PA595
http://www.immunehea...-melatonin.html
http://nutritionfact...ural-melatonin/
http://www.onegreenp...nanas-and-more/
http://naturalsociet...elatonin-sleep/
http://hubpages.com/...ural-Sleep-Aids