Is melatonin considered a psychadelic in any way?

[rocker97x]

Does it work on the 5HT receptors?

Yesterday morning I accidentally swapped my gummy vitamins with a melatonin tablet (uggg xanax withdrawals) and spent my day nodding out and looking at pretty colors and patterns(probably due to the wd's).

Then, at night I took another melatonin to go to sleep. As i was lying in bed listening to music, a flash of tryptamine patterning flashed into my vision (CEV). It was incredibly intricate vivid at first but then slightly faded to just blotchy patterning (not the first time this has happened). It should also be noted that several hours before i smoked very very good pot for the first time in about a week, and had barely smoked in the weeks prior due to school.

I had a series of dreams all taking place in the bahamas. First dream was driving home from the airport. Second dream was being in the room. Third dream was being in a club getting a gun pulled on me (and my brother) and running. We hid in a pool hall and just tried to talk to the players and look casual. A cop came in and explained the severity of the situation and asked us not to cause a panic again. At some point in this dream we ran into the gunman a second time. The Final dream my father and his GF had bought us insta-grow san pedros that grew in about 30 seconds to the size of watermelons. We spoke about what was to come and began peeling and eating our san pedros.

Instantly I was back in my bed and the first thought that went through my head was "I love life" which is very different than i have been waking up due to the wd's.

So i ask the question, is it possible that melatonin does have some psychadelic effects? and they possibly just manifest better while in REM sleep?


Edit: on a side note, I have always remembered dreams as being like a movie, and containing no thoughts. For the past week or so I have had what seemed to be rational thoughts in my dreams, and feel like even tho I didnt know they were dreams, I was making the decisions. Is this considered lucid dreaming?

 

[Culpepers]

Curiously enough, the wikipedia article doesn't contain a pharmacological profile for the drug. I'd love to hear something about how exogenous melatonin does its thang in the brain, as I take it now and then and find that it's a good sleep aid...

 

[solistus]

I've heard of people combining melatonin with psychedelics on the theory that it potentiates the trip, but I'm not sure if it actually does anything or not.

My guess is the pot had a lot more to do with it than the melatonin. Melatonin might have helped you get some proper REM sleep, which you probably haven't been lately due to benzo withdrawals, which might also explain the vivid dreams and waking up feeling happy and refreshed.

 

[PepperSocks]

Psychedelic through the dreams it produces I suppose.

 

[solistus]

Wiki has some more helpful info:

"Some supplemental melatonin users report an increase in vivid dreaming. Extremely high doses of melatonin (50 mg) dramatically increased REM sleep time and dream activity in both people with and without narcolepsy.[47] Many psychoactive drugs, such as cannabis and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), increase melatonin synthesis.[47] It has been suggested that nonpolar (lipid-soluble) indolic hallucinogenic drugs emulate melatonin activity in the awakened state and that both act on the same areas of the brain.[47]"

 

[Teonanactylln']

It regulates circadian rhythms. It's not a drug, it's a hormone that your body naturally produces to regulate your (typically) 4 hour sleep cycles... It seems to potentiate herb, I'm guessing for the same reason why wake-n-baking lasts so long and is more effective... No. It's not hallucinogenic. Its also not a great idea to mess with it except for short periods (7-14 days) at the lowest possible dose. Its a hormone, and when you start throwing one hormone level out of whack, others are sure to follow shortly.

It's not a sedative like a sleeping pill, it should be used at the same time nightly just before the time of night when you'd like to fall asleep regularly... you use it to re-set your body's clock. If you just want something to put you to sleep at night, rather than scheduling a regular biological bed-time, use something like valerian or barbituates.

 

[solistus]

Teonan: "drug" just means any chemical that alters bodily function. All hormones are drugs.

Technically, you're right that it's not a sedative; it's a hypnotic. Hypnotics are often referred to casually as sedatives outside the medical literature, though. And it IS a sleeping pill - you can get it in pill form and it helps you fall asleep.

While overusing melatonin can throw off natural melatonin levels, I would still recommend using it WAY before I would tell someone to use a highly addictive scheduled class of drugs like barbiturates just to get to sleep. Melatonin imbalance is a much less severe condition than barbiturate addiction.

 

[anarchogen]

i been taking melatonin for a long time, it's not psychedelic.
about 20% of dreams are bizarre and lucid though.
had one where the lawn mowers union was after my ass for multiple offensives.

 

[Teonanactylln']

sorry - there was no tongue in cheek smiley for me to use - the barb comment was a joke. I wouldn't be suggesting trying to keep melatonin use as minimal as possible and suggesting mild herbal remedies like valerian then suggest barbituates in seriousness, but I'm a n00b, so I guess you guys will get to know me at some point.

I have a background in alternative medicine and have been working with people's diet and nutritional supplementation since 1998...

when I said it wasn't a "drug" I was relating it to this comment:

the wikipedia article doesn't contain a pharmacological profile for the drug

as it was the only place in the thread where it was referred to as such...

I guess I should have clarified that I meant a pharmaceutical or something foreign to the body (which would more accurately contextualize my saying it "isn't a sleeping pill like a sedative",) therefor making a pharmacological profile more appropriate.

Jeez... jump on the new guy, wydoncha!! ()

 

[atara]

I know at least one guy who swore up and down that he could achieve a buzz off of very high doses (20 mg or more) of melatonin, while remaining awake. He compared it more to a benzo than a psychedelic. I've never really felt the impulse to try it, myself.

I assume it works by binding to the melatonin receptors.

 

[solistus]

Try to avoid jokingly giving bad advice - people who don't get the joke may follow it. The rest is silly semantics. Welcome to BL

 

[MagickalKat777]

I have had visuals and dysphoria from too much melatonin or 5-HTP... not really sure what causes it but its extremely panicky - very dirty high...

 

[rickolasnice]

o mess with it except for short periods (7-14 days) at the lowest possible dose. Its a hormone, and when you start throwing one hormone level out of whack, others are sure to follow shortly.

........

If you just want something to put you to sleep at night, rather than scheduling a regular biological bed-time, use something like valerian.

Valerian root is essentially messing around with GABA

 

[MagickalKat777]

Valerian root is essentially messing around with GABA

Essentially? That's an understatement. Valerenic acid and valepotriate bind to the benzo receptors. I actually keep 40% Valerenic acid around for rough nights because its as effective as a valium but doesn't cause much of a withdrawal the next day like increasing my benzo dose would.

 

[Teonanactylln']

Valerian root is essentially messing around with GABA

but it's not actually ingesting GABA... Different animal, IMHO

 

[MagickalKat777]

but it's not actually ingesting GABA... Different animal, IMHO

Yeah. One, the valerian, is effective at passing the BBB and working. The other one just causes an uncomfortable niacin-like flush and has no real effects outside of that.

 

[Culpepers]

Teonanactylln': If you don't like using the word drug, I'll rephrase that for you: I'd love to read about the pharmacological profile of this compound.

Oh, and saying that taking hormone supplements will throw your melatonin level "out of whack" and that "others are sure to follow shortly" is just too non-specific. It is very much like when people say that "when humans mess with nature, things are bound to go wrong". It's non-specific and essentially useless. If you can document your claim that taking the recommended daily dose of 1-5mg melatonin will "throw other hormones out of whack", I'd love to see it.
Melatonin is helping a lot of people maintain a normal sleeping pattern and it is showing promising results in other areas as well, while being physically non-addictive (as far as we know).

 

[Solipsis]

Yeah. One, the valerian, is effective at passing the BBB and working. The other one just causes an uncomfortable niacin-like flush and has no real effects outside of that.

Perhaps GABA does not cross the BBB although I have read somewhere that there might be people who have BBB that lets through a bit while most dont. But there are also GABA-receptors in the body outside the brain aren't there? From GABA I don't only get the flushing but I also get a short-lived sedative effect and a change in breathing (much deeper, it can be slightly disturbing if you don't expect it). GHB also produces this deeper breathing.

Interestingly enough Picamilon is a GABA molecule coupled to a niacin molecule, which does cross the BBB very well and breaks down into those two. Supposedly it works very very well and has a remarkably small rate of tolerance, if any. Well, supposedly anyway because everything I have ever heard that said about has turned out to induce tolerance in the end. I guess it just doesn't matter by which means you increase levels of neurotransmitters - you just get downregulation or what's that other effect called.

Anyway I don't think any sleeping aid is meant to be used for prolonged periods. Couldn't think of any that don't have the potential risk of making you get used to it. They thought that of the Z-drugs but they are likely not much worse than benzo's. Apart from the reduced risk of abuse that is, and not even that. (For me they are not recreational though, as opposed to many benzo's).

Sorry to go off-topic. Melatonin seems to have induced vivid dreams in me on more than one occasion, but I wouldn't call it psychedelic. I once thought it would help improve the body high of LSD for some reason and gave me and a friend about 5-10 mg
with some acid. I had a great experience but I don't remember any significant change.

 

[Twisted-Lyricist]

Hello, I came across this thread while of course doing some research (?not saying its a great idea) But I smoke heavily daily and took about 4 or 5 dabs before taking 65 mg of melatonin (5 mg pill) its been a good hour since I have dosed (Note that I took some ecstacy earlier in the day ~ ) but I would agree that it feelsuch more similar to a fairly heavy opiot dose (for example: Dilladed) closest I can think of to a high only because of its extremely relaxing effect. I have heard it said that if you can bypass its sedative sensation you'll "hallucinate" in a sort of dream fashion apparently.. But I habe yet to experience any sort of hallucination or visual similar to a psychedelic

 

[Hexagon Sun]

It?s not psychedelic at all. Taken in noral dosages (1-3mgs before sleep) doesn?t produce dependency, but tend to increase the quality of the sleep. I use to take it for loong times (sometimes up to 6 months) and never ever had the slightliest problem, quite the opposite. One week ago I finished one of that 6 months cycles and currently Im sleeping wonderfully.

Also, guys, joking about taking some compounds is a terrible idea here. Don?t