Is Tapering Off Nightly Use of Melatonin a Good Idea?

[Lovecraft]

Been taking 5mg for about 4.5 months every night. Worked well for a while but stopped working completely. So I'm going to stop taking it. I've read about insomnia when stopping melatonin that can last for a couple weeks. Anybody have experience with actually tapering off of it and know whether this works? Is it better to go down slowly or does that not help with something like melatonin?

 

[G_Chem]

Tapering can help with most things. I wouldn’t expect 2wks but definitely at least a couple of restless nights.

To be honest I’m always shocked at how easy it is to stop. I get withdrawals from just about everything but melatonin has been easy on me. That said my dosages never exceed 1mg, usually .5mg or less. 5mg may be a different beast.

-GC

 

[Xorkoth]

I've never noticed any issues from stopping melatonin suddenly, and neither has my girlfriend

 

[Lovecraft]

I've never noticed any issues from stopping melatonin suddenly, and neither has my girlfriend

But for how long were you guys taking it consecutively and how much per night? From what I understand, a lot of people report rebound insomnia if they've been taking it nightly for awhile.

 

[SpiralusSancti]

I use melatonin on and off without tapering. For me it usually works great for a few days, helps with a rest of things I take for some time more and than becomes useless (possibly even causing negative effects like being a bit groggy morning after if I take a lot) and than I have to stop for weeks before it works fine again.

I take 1 to few mg at first and 5 – 7mg last days before stopping it. At point 5mg or so stops working, even 10mg or more doesn’t seem to help me at all.

As for rebound insomnia idk as I suffer from insomnia anyway and didn’t notice it’s worse after I stop melatonin, but it can’t get much worse anyway but I wouldn’t be surprised some experience rebound insomnia from it.

 

[Xorkoth]

Well I'll preface this by saying that I have never really noticed melatonin to help a whole lot for insomnia in the first place, for me. I have suffered from insomnia for much of my life. What works for me better than anything (other than benzos) is laying in bed reading... I read until my eyes are dropping and then immediately turn off the light, without getting up. I will then fall asleep and sleep through the night. Works better than anything else for me.


So I might be an outlier in terms of melatonin, but I've taken it every single night for months, in the hopes it would help, and never noticed much either way. I stopped when I ran out and didn't notice a difference compared to when I was taking it.

 

[MsDiz]

To be honest, melatonin is only suitable for a short period of time whilst sorting your sleep hygiene. Once you get into a better routine then you shouldn't need to use it anymore.

I have heard people do get rebound insomnia so if you want to drop a dose every other night for 4 nights then drop it again, it can be tapered quickly.

The most important thing though is that you maintain good sleep hygiene, this means, having a cool down period at night, not looking at phone/laptop (blue screens). Have a nice warm shower or bath, lavender is great for sleep and you can put some on your pillow. Read a book or do a meditation before you go to sleep and make a proper routine out of it.

 

[SpiralusSancti]

For me at first it worked so good that I’m really looking forward to m1 and m2 agonists as, tho short-term, almost nothing worked as good for me. I also suffer from a life-long insomnia and tried A LOT of sleep-aids before melatonin and not many worked better in normal dose. It gotta be something with my brain chemistry and benzo tolerance and I really feel like melatonin receptor agonists might be the real deal for people like me how don’t really get sleepy from benzos (with exception of nitrazepam which I don’t really want to take often), pregab or even z-drugs.

 

[Lovecraft]

Well I'll preface this by saying that I have never really noticed melatonin to help a whole lot for insomnia in the first place, for me. I have suffered from insomnia for much of my life. What works for me better than anything (other than benzos) is laying in bed reading... I read until my eyes are dropping and then immediately turn off the light, without getting up. I will then fall asleep and sleep through the night. Works better than anything else for me.


So I might be an outlier in terms of melatonin, but I've taken it every single night for months, in the hopes it would help, and never noticed much either way. I stopped when I ran out and didn't notice a difference compared to when I was taking it.

I used to take it and it didn't do anything either. Than switched brands and bingo, worked great. It's a supplement so it's not regulated. I believe my first trial was with a bunk product. For supplements, you really need a reputable brand.

Also relate to the reading -induced drowsiness. I gotta find a good book. My last couple didn't hold my attention. Hard to find good reading.

 

[SpiralusSancti]

O yeah, for me only sublingual formulations work.

 

[SpiralusSancti]

The most important thing though is that you maintain good sleep hygiene, this means, having a cool down period at night, not looking at phone/laptop (blue screens). Have a nice warm shower or bath, lavender is great for sleep and you can put some on your pillow. Read a book or do a meditation before you go to sleep and make a proper routine out of it.

While what you’re saying is totally on spot it just doesn’t work well enough for everyone (that’s not reason to not start from there or add it to whatever helps).

It’s same as I think that getting trough WD’s of most if not all drugs and managing (somewhat) responsible drug use is insanely easier with meditation, sport, social activities, doing art, reading good books etc. some people seem to not get nearly as much from all of it as I do in a same way that all of those don’t really help myself with insomnia and usual things considering sleep hygiene do so even less.

What I find that helps (but isn’t something most people can afford in modern society) is just not making a big deal about insomnia and sleeping when you finally can and even more so, being in a good relationship with a loving partner. No drug or anything helps me as much as having sex with someone I love and falling a sleep beside that person.

 

[Keif' Richards]

If you already have trouble getting to sleep normally/regularly, then it's probably going to be a little bit difficult when you take the Melatonin out of the picture. However, Melatonin is not incredibly potent. It shouldn't produce anything remotely like a withdrawal syndrome. The worst you will experience is the decreased ability to fall asleep.

If Melatonin has worked for you before and now does not work, it's more than likely that by taking 1 week off from usage you will be able to return to using it with the same benefits. This is how a lot of substances work. Sometimes you have to cycle off of them for a moment for them to "work" again.

In the meantime, there are lots of other more mild solutions for getting to sleep that you cold try. Passionflower and Valerian are two pretty well-known herbs that are useful for falling asleep. There are also sedating antihistamines like Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and Doxylamine (Unisom) that are very popular for occasional insomnia. I've had good luck with both the herbs and the antihistamines,

 

[brokedownpalace10]

Anything you take to help you sleep will give rebound insomnia whan you stop, nature of the beast.
That said, I've only ever gotten a couple/few restless nights from quitting Melatonin. Nothing too horrible. That's at 3mg a night for about a year.

 

[MsDiz]

While what you’re saying is totally on spot it just doesn’t work well enough for everyone (that’s not reason to not start from there or add it to whatever helps).

You’re absolutely right, it might not work for everyone but without doing it you’re already on the back foot.

I’ve seen sooo many people claim insomnia, a crazy amount in fact, who have such poor sleep hygiene or none at all and wonder why they can’t sleep. I’d say 80% + of those people who actually implemented a proper sleep routine/sleep hygiene started getting some actual sleep.

It seems like such a small thing and it seems stupid even or childish but your body absolutely needs time to wind down. For some people it’s easy and for others they need to work at it.

In fact, you yourself found your wind down it seems.

No drug or anything helps me as much as having sex with someone I love and falling a sleep beside that person.

Not a drug helping you, a hormone. Melatonin is also a hormone.

 

[Nas47]

withdrawling from melatonine?never heard about that.personally used to take it till 3 to 6mg daily....months.never felt anything after stop it suddenly.the effect is present,but its weak healthy supplement.goood antioxidant also.its not habbbit forming nor addictive

 

[Lovecraft]

You’re absolutely right, it might not work for everyone but without doing it you’re already on the back foot.

I’ve seen sooo many people claim insomnia, a crazy amount in fact, who have such poor sleep hygiene or none at all and wonder why they can’t sleep. I’d say 80% + of those people who actually implemented a proper sleep routine/sleep hygiene started getting some actual sleep.

It seems like such a small thing and it seems stupid even or childish but your body absolutely needs time to wind down. For some people it’s easy and for others they need to work at it.

I agree. But good sleep hygiene doesn't really work much for me. My sleep issues are caused by stress and general life disatisfaction. I work out and eat right and try to do what I can. Without that I'd be much worse. But it's not a panacea for me. I just have too much that I'm wrestling with.

 

[brokedownpalace10]

Good sleep hygiene worked (well enough) for me when I had a hard time falling asleep years ago (DSPD - Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder).
Now that I can fall asleep easier, but have a hard time staying asleep (ASPD - Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder), sleep hygiene seems to help much less. The literature on the subject seems to state that this is commonly the case. Haven't found a fix yet, but exposure to full spectrum light or sunlight in the evening seems to help.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Good sleep hygiene worked (well enough) for me when I had a hard time falling asleep years ago (DSPD - Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder).
Now that I can fall asleep easier, but have a hard time staying asleep (ASPD - Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder), sleep hygiene seems to help much less. The literature on the subject seems to state that this is commonly the case. Haven't found a fix yet, but exposure to full spectrum light or sunlight in the evening seems to help.

This 100%

Sleeping difficulties are problems that must be dealt with from within. Insomnia has always been a feature of modern society. Today, I feel we have much more working against us in terms of sleep. I'm not the first genius to posit all of this, but the "screen use" is known to interfere greatly with sleep, not to mention it's been pretty well-demonstrated that our "screen time" is harmful to our health in general, encouraging insomnia, disconnecting people from true social experiences etc. Basically, the average American will stare at their screen all day and will typically walk away with literally nothing to show for it aside from the wasted time itself.

It's an addiction like anything else pleasurable in this world. I'm not sayin this is OP's problem specifically, but the issue of insomnia in the age of smart phones is obvious to all.

If I didn't use Cannabis, I would likely not be able to sleep and would have to do all of the things I'm telling you to do now. I'm not doing the "right thing", but this is what gets me to sleep and it's worked for over a decade.

There are a lot of great apps out there for meditation, mindfulness and sleep hygiene. They are actually really great tools in my experience.