I've never taken supplements but my doc thinks this might help me sleep a little better. I can fall asleep but I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, so if I could stay asleep, I'd like to give it a try.

Anyone have any experience with this supplement? It is 3mg dose.

One key is finding the right dose. One plan is to start with half a mg, and if doesn't work go to 1, then 2, then 3.

Personally I suspect an empty stomach helps too.

I've had some luck with melatonin but you may need a larger dose. One of the problems with it is that you shouldn't be using it long term.

The thing that has helped the most is F.lux. It's an application you can download for free from their website-http://stereopsis.com/flux/. This software changes the color of your computer monitor to match the color temperature of your room light more or less so that it's not blue/cool computer light. It's been very helpful. I've know looking at the computer in the evenings is a real problem for good sleeping BUT it's been impossible to stay away from RFM!LOL

Consider white noise too if you sleep with someone who snores. A fan do that for you, or if you have an iphone there is an app for that or buy yourself a "sleep machine" for about $30 from Amazon, etc.

Good luck!

From what I understand Melatonin is for helping you fall asleep and does nothing for helping you stay asleep.

If that's the case, then I guess it's not what I'm looking for. I generally don't have trouble falling asleep. The computer screen thing sounds intriguing...I do look at RfM right before bed!

Have you been checked for sleep apnea or other possible biological factors? Also it could be anxiety.

What you need is serotonin to fall asleep and stay asleep. Tryptophan is the beginning of the synthesis pathway for serotonin. 1g should be enough, 1hr before bed. It may help you to also get a prescription for Rozerem, which enhances the synthesis (using the tryptophan) of melatonin and serotonin at bedtime.

If you don't want to take Rozerem, then tryptophan plus St. John's Wort should do the job too.

Make your room very dark also.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2011 08:55PM by hello.

I've tried it and don't like it at all. It makes me very groggy the next day.

The problem with melatonin is that the normal amount produced by your own body for sleeping is .3 mg. The supplement dose is 3.mg. The result for many people is that they're groggy all day because it's way too much in your system. Lower doses in pill form don't seem to induce sleep well, so I think that's why the supplement dose is so high.

Better ways to produce natural melatonin is to turn off the computers, tvs and lights at home about 2 hours before you intend to go to sleep. Darkness causes your glands to produce melatonin while light stops or inhibits the production.

I've been on RfM too long--I thought was going to be a thread about Lamanite skin.....................

5-HTP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-Hydroxytryptophan

Melatonin is a naturally secreted hormone from the pituitary gland, which is a tiny gland deep in the center of the brain. This gland developed to recognize daylight from night, via the optic nerves in the eyes. Makes sense. If the eyes are exposed to deteriorating light (nightime) a hormone (melatonin) is released, which causes sleepiness.

Humans survive with sleep during the night than any other time, and with other species, eg. we are not nocturnal like bats or chucacabras.

The reason melatonin was developed for the market is because there was a much needed natural sleep enhancer for pilots, military and other professionals who must remain awake whilst their pituitary glands are screaming "It's NIGHT, SLEEP you dumb chucacabra!" It gained popularity for people flying between time zones and having to maintain a regular sleep system.

Melatonin is not a drug. It is a hormone, synthetically developed for people who chang time zones during travel. It can work in small doses (1mg) up to what I think is maximum (3mg). Everybody is different. A high dose for one person may not work for another. It can cause difficulty in waking. Again, it's an individual thing.

Have tried it. It does get me to sleep, but it does NOT get me to stay asleep. I tried the "dissolve under your tongue" kind, in 5 mg dose, available at a certain "big box" store for a reduced price.

Just my tuppence. :-)

Oh. It didn't make me groggy the next morning. Go figure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2011 11:18PM by Sorcha.

wow...lots to think about...I will probably hold off till the weekend if I decide to try this out....can't be groggy for work!thanks all.

My husband has no problem falling asleep, but finds that it helps keep him asleep. He has sleep apnea and uses his CPAP diligently.
I give him 2.5mg sublingually.

I have a hard time falling asleep, so I take 5mg sublingually, and sometimes an additional 2.5mg.

Neither of us has ever been groggy the next day. Benadryl is worse for that. If I wake up around midnight I can take another to get back to sleep and still be just fine when my alarm goes off at 4:30am.

So what's this about not for long term use? I think it is only because there are no long term studies done yet?
I would rather use this every night than a sleeping pill or even Benadryl.
It always used to take me over an hour to get to sleep, even as a child. This stuff is amazing for me. I will be drowsy within 10 minutes of putting it under my tongue, and I almost always sleep through the night provided my sleep hygeine is good and there aren't any unusual stressors in my life.

I have been taking melatonin on a fairly regular basis for a few months. After my mom passed away, the stress of that and work really wreaked havoc with a good night's sleep. I find it works better for me than either a Benadryl or Unisom.

I;ve taken 5 mg tabs of just melatonin and now I have Schiff Melatonin Ultra from Costco which is a 3 mg tab plus some calming herb stuff.

Melatonin gives me a full night's uninterrupted sleep. I found I would wake up during the night with Benadryl and Unisom made me groggy in the morning. You might also want to try a cup of chamomile tea in the evening- Sleepytime by Celestial Seasonings is a nice one.

I work with an MD who adheres to the blood-type diet. It's about how humans evolved, some having ancient blood types and some having more recent (80,000 yrs) types. I forget which ones came over on the wooden submarines.(joke) Anyway, everyone is genetically different.
It is absolutely ridiculous to compare one dose of melatonin/insulin/inulin/glucagon/estrogen/DHEA from one person to another. I don't care if it's your first cousin, twin sister, in-law, second cousin once removed whose dose works for you. They aren't you. You are you.YOU will have to work out your sleep cycle, your specific diet and your excersize pattern that is yours and yours only.
Your brain will decide it's sleep patterns. You will feel if melatonin or benadryl work for you. Turns out, exercise helps sleep. I remember swimming late in lake Powell, barbecue and the most immediate and deep wonderful sleep that I couldn't fight.

I take 10 mg, under the tongue and it puts me to sleep. I have a tendancy to stay awake and ruminated or be anxious and this helps.

A routine helps me the most. Also, I rarely nap and I watch my caffiene intake like a cat watches a mousehole. I have a very sad sensitivity to caffiene. It makes me cry because I miss my coffee a lot. :(

I have had good results from melatonin, off and on. Anywhere from 2-4 mg, but not every night. After long term use I can stop using it for months at a time without any withdrawal then go back to it if I need to. It does not make me groggy at all the next day, unlike awful crap like diphenhydramine (standard otc sleeping pills). I also get interesting REM periods and dream states under melatonin sometimes, often mimicking NDE experiences I've read about.

I tried 5-HTP with melatonin recently but did not like the result. After about an hour of good deep sleep, I woke up in the middle of the night strangely agitated and hyperactive ... I actually had to get up, turn the lights on and do some computer work to calm myself down and eventually got back to sleep.

They make time-released melatonin capsules. I haven't tried them, but I've tried regular melatonin and it works for me, but not for everyone. You can get a pill splitter and use it on the melatonin pills if you want a smaller dose than you can find.

Personally, Valerian root and 3mg melatonin really help me get to (and stay) asleep. Be warned: Valerian root might make you VERY sleepy, so try it on a weekend.

If you get to a point where you're considering prescription medication, I was prescribed Amitriptyline 25 mg for a condition not related to sleep, and it made me sleep all through the night (sometimes I slept TOO long, but I was never groggy after getting out of bed). If I were to take it again for sleep, I'd ask to get the lowest dose they make (10mg I think) and I'd probably cut it in half.

I also second the white noise idea. I use a fan :) When I'm feeling particularly restless, I talk on the phone with my boyfriend until I'm pretty drowsy.

Melatonin gives me overactive dreams. Valerian root is good for soothing anxiety, which is a common cause of early morning insomnia. It only seems to work for 3-4 hours, but that's enough to get you from 3 am to 6 am when you want to actually be awake.

Exercise does not make me sleep better. It actually makes my restless legs worse--but I still do it. So I take 1/4 dose of Benadryl.

Benadryl is my "wonder drug"--it also helps with migraines. I take half a dose with 800 mg of ibuprofen to get rid of migraines and it usually works.

If I take a full dose of benadryl, I have worse restless legs.

Everyone is different and it takes time to figure it out.

but I found after I had taken it for a while, I started having "wild" dreams, but it sure helped me STAY asleep.

I second Trazodone recommendation - had insomnia for a while this is the only thing that helped. Cheap too.

Wouldn't organic marinol be pot?

I take 3mg. most nights about 45 min. before I head to bed...works very well for us....