The problem is that it's just not extremely effective (unlike the benzos, which definitely work extremely well, but taking them just 10 days in a row can cause chemical dependence, which is an unholy nightmare to get out of. WAAAAY more dangerous withdrawals than any opioid dependence.)
I am 83 and live in a retirement community. Doctors here tell me that medications often act differently in the elderly. For example, I took Tylenol PM for insomnia and found that the antihistamine in it made me exteremely fatigued. So I started taking small doses of melatonin--1.25 mg--every night. Soon I noticed that I was brain-fogged the next morning, and day by day the fog kept lasting longer. One evening, as I was on the way to a restaurant dinner and was thinking about the day's events, I realized some of the events were actually from my dreams the night before and hadn't really happened. When I got to the restaurant table, I looked at the menu and wondered, "What is this for?" I must have stared at it for 15 seconds before I remembered what it was and that I was supposed to select my meal items from it.
I do not have Alzheimers or any kind of dementia, so this frightened me. I was completely back to normal the next day. I’ll never take melatonin again.
That is an incredible story - very ambien-like! It says a lot about the gap between “how things are supposed to affect you” and “how things sometimes actually affect you!”
Since it's the unregulated "wild west" supplement industry, I have to wonder if the makers might have been putting some other drug/chemical in there, maybe? It sounds like they might be lacing it with flunitrazepam or something? 0_o You never know. The FDA finds all kinds of hard core drugs in "supplements" all the time.
It could just be a rare reaction, too tho. But I dunno. Being a hormone we naturally secrete, it seems like it "shouldn't" be able to do that at such a low dosage.
I have taken some sleep aides as I've gotten older, and have settled on Melatonin, since I don't need a prescription, and it's definitely effective. If I don't take anything, I might lay there for an hour waiting to fall asleep; there have been times that I've read for several hours before getting sleepy.
However, about two years ago I think, I started using melatonin (usually something like 20-30mg), it works within about ten minutes, and I'm out like a light and as a 50-something adult, I tend to get between 6-8 hours of sleep per night. I wake up to use the restroom, and then, unless it's after 6 hours of sleep, I get right back to sleep. I rarely have any tiredness the next day, unless I end up on the lower end of the sleep scale (5-6 hours instead of 8).
I used to take melatonin every night, and assumed, since it was a natural hormone and present in breast milk, that the suggested doses were just that, a suggestion. Instead of 2 a night, I took 3, sometimes 4. 15-20mg.
I one day realized I was in a waking dream. I couldn't think straight, or even remember which details were real and which were imagined.
I stopped taking melatonin. I saw that the label says to stop taking after 9 months of regular use.
I started taking melatonin when menopause symptoms started to disrupt my sleep so much that I rarely had a decent night sleep. I have always had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep but I had learned to work with it. Menopause threw me a loop. Melatonin helps me fall asleep so when I wake up every 2 hours, I seem to fall back asleep faster. I believe this effect is purely a placebo affect but it works for me. I take the smallest dose available - usually 3mg.
Hard to say — I do think anything that gives a soul confidence that sleep will return rather than anxiety/brain-spin that it might not, can make a big difference. But maybe a touch of melatonin in your system keeps dropping your brain back into “defer to sleep center” mode. Who knows? Sleep is fascinating business.
I've found self-hypnosis to be the most effective non-dangerous-drug solution for me, along with the CBT practices, like giving up after 30 minutes or so of lying in bed and trying again later.
I think the problem with melatonin is that it is effective and is a competitor for prescription medicine.
The problem is that it's just not extremely effective (unlike the benzos, which definitely work extremely well, but taking them just 10 days in a row can cause chemical dependence, which is an unholy nightmare to get out of. WAAAAY more dangerous withdrawals than any opioid dependence.)
You think that with zero evidence. Maybe read this article to see how rational thinking works.
I am 83 and live in a retirement community. Doctors here tell me that medications often act differently in the elderly. For example, I took Tylenol PM for insomnia and found that the antihistamine in it made me exteremely fatigued. So I started taking small doses of melatonin--1.25 mg--every night. Soon I noticed that I was brain-fogged the next morning, and day by day the fog kept lasting longer. One evening, as I was on the way to a restaurant dinner and was thinking about the day's events, I realized some of the events were actually from my dreams the night before and hadn't really happened. When I got to the restaurant table, I looked at the menu and wondered, "What is this for?" I must have stared at it for 15 seconds before I remembered what it was and that I was supposed to select my meal items from it.
I do not have Alzheimers or any kind of dementia, so this frightened me. I was completely back to normal the next day. I’ll never take melatonin again.
That is an incredible story - very ambien-like! It says a lot about the gap between “how things are supposed to affect you” and “how things sometimes actually affect you!”
Since it's the unregulated "wild west" supplement industry, I have to wonder if the makers might have been putting some other drug/chemical in there, maybe? It sounds like they might be lacing it with flunitrazepam or something? 0_o You never know. The FDA finds all kinds of hard core drugs in "supplements" all the time.
It could just be a rare reaction, too tho. But I dunno. Being a hormone we naturally secrete, it seems like it "shouldn't" be able to do that at such a low dosage.
I have taken some sleep aides as I've gotten older, and have settled on Melatonin, since I don't need a prescription, and it's definitely effective. If I don't take anything, I might lay there for an hour waiting to fall asleep; there have been times that I've read for several hours before getting sleepy.
However, about two years ago I think, I started using melatonin (usually something like 20-30mg), it works within about ten minutes, and I'm out like a light and as a 50-something adult, I tend to get between 6-8 hours of sleep per night. I wake up to use the restroom, and then, unless it's after 6 hours of sleep, I get right back to sleep. I rarely have any tiredness the next day, unless I end up on the lower end of the sleep scale (5-6 hours instead of 8).
I used to take melatonin every night, and assumed, since it was a natural hormone and present in breast milk, that the suggested doses were just that, a suggestion. Instead of 2 a night, I took 3, sometimes 4. 15-20mg.
I one day realized I was in a waking dream. I couldn't think straight, or even remember which details were real and which were imagined.
I stopped taking melatonin. I saw that the label says to stop taking after 9 months of regular use.
I started taking melatonin when menopause symptoms started to disrupt my sleep so much that I rarely had a decent night sleep. I have always had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep but I had learned to work with it. Menopause threw me a loop. Melatonin helps me fall asleep so when I wake up every 2 hours, I seem to fall back asleep faster. I believe this effect is purely a placebo affect but it works for me. I take the smallest dose available - usually 3mg.
Hard to say — I do think anything that gives a soul confidence that sleep will return rather than anxiety/brain-spin that it might not, can make a big difference. But maybe a touch of melatonin in your system keeps dropping your brain back into “defer to sleep center” mode. Who knows? Sleep is fascinating business.
I've found self-hypnosis to be the most effective non-dangerous-drug solution for me, along with the CBT practices, like giving up after 30 minutes or so of lying in bed and trying again later.