you can get homeopathic strength melatonin off the shelf at any good health food store (great earth health shops definately have it). homeopathic means the strength has been diluted, but supposedly gives the same effect as undiluted due to how the product is formulated. you can tell if a formula is homeopathic if the strength reads similar to this.... 2mg 10x. this means that there is 0.2mg but it should act as if there is 2mg. i don't understand how homeopathic medicine is supposed to work, you should do your own research on that, but i have used homeopathic strength before and found it to be pretty useless.
as far as i know, full strength melatonin (i.e. 1mg+) can only be purchased in australia with a prescription from your doctor.
the alternative is to get it over the net from somewhere - it is dirt cheap. last time i paid about U$3 for 100 x 2mg caps. the postage kills you though, so buddle it with some other vitamins you may want. you are permitted to import up to 3 months supply in any one go and no more than 15 months supply in any 12 month period. every time i have ordered it over the net the parcel has been opened and inspected by customs and passed through with no dramas.
i work shift work and find melatonin very useful. after 2 years on shift i have found the best use for melatonin is to reset my body clock, rather than use it to put me to sleep every day. by this i mean if i want to go onto nightshift routine, then on the day before the 1st nightshift, i take 6mg of melatonin 30 mins before i want to sleep (say at 2pm). it helps me get to sleep and seems to set my body clock to want to sleep at that time for the rest of the week. i only take it on the 1st and occasionally 2nd day that i want to set my body clock to the new shift. the sleep is very deep and dreams can sometimes be very intense.
an important note. one piece of information i read suggests that persons of asian decent need a higher dose of melatonin to achieve the same result as caucasians.
http://www.sleepnet.com/narco5/messages/856.html
i hope some of this helps
[This message has been edited by pink (edited 20 November 2001).]
