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Melatonin

Keaton

Keaton

Bluelighter
Joined
May 14, 2010
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Sorry if this is the wrong place. To post but it's the most appropriate place I could think of.

I have sleep problems due to the medication I am prescribed for my ADHD (methylphenidate). It is a stimulant, I'm on 54mg a day. I have looked into supplementing with melatonin (3mg). Are there any serious side effects to using it? What is the possibility that I will become dependent on it?

Just a note, I have considered and tried to come off of the MPH but due to the severity of my ADHD I can't. Its bad. I just wanna go to sleep every night...
 
Have you tried any other methods for dealing with your ADHD symptoms? Natural things like EFT, diet changes, etc? There are a million things to try out there, so staying on a medication that is causing you such severe side effects (sleep is important!) doesn't sound like a very good plan...

As for melatonin, I believe it's a hormone that your brain naturally produces, and no, unlike a drug it's not something you will get addicted to. I suppose you can get "dependent" on anything that helps you sleep simply because you want to be able to sleep, but its not physically dependent.

The thing is, melatonin works with your body in balancing the natural cycle of sleep. It's not something that will drug you down... which makes me wonder if it would even help in your situation. It's worth a try, but if it were me, I'd look into getting off (or at least finding a replacement for) your medication.
 
I've tried many methods. Too many to list. I've also tried different meds. I Have tried coming off of them. I have not tried another diet...what would you suggest?
Thank you for your advice. It is much appreciated.
 
How many times per day to you dose? Why not reduce the last dose meaning you will feel sleepy at night. Before you start using Melatonin have a word with your Doctor and get some solid information/facts, its a lot safer.
 
I only take one pill per day and that is in the morning. I won't dose after 9am either..
 
Well, it's hard to say about diet. If something is wrong in your body (all my opinion of course) and you aren't following a perfect diet (for you) then there is your starting point. The perfect diet for you, I can't tell you. That would take a lot of learning and experimenting on your part.

I can tell you that food allergies and intolerances can cause a lot of extreme behavioral problems. I suffered for years with "add" like symptoms, along with anxiety, depression, blah blah. I was told I had a "chemical imbalance" and put on medication for years that really messed me up in a variety of ways. Later in life I learned I was intolerant to gluten and some other foods and upon getting the stuff my body didn't like out of my diet, a lot of my symptoms (especially the ADD ones) completely disappeared. I still struggle with depression off and on but it's nothing compared to the life shattering mental symptoms I got while eating those bad foods. In fact, I always know if I've accidentally eaten a trace amount of one of my allergy foods because the first symptom I get is a scattered mind and a sense of depression....

I of course cannot diagnose you with anything or say that something you are eating is the cause. But I wouldn't feel right reading a post like this and not at least bring it up as a possibility. If I had known the problems that food can cause earlier in life, I'd have saved myself a lot of suffering.
 
I suffer form chronic insomnia-
Here are various things I have tried that have all helped in various amounts:

Melatonin - 1mg to 3 mg. no noticeable difference using 3mg rather than 1mg
Valerian - Still taking this one, maybe just out of habit. 3x450mg
Kava Kava - can't remember the dosage
*Chamomile
*Lemon Balm
*Hops
*rose
*spearmint
*orange blossom
*the above have all been found in various sleepy/relaxing tea mixtures

OTC- Doxylamine Succinate (unisom like tabs)
- Diphenhydramine (benadryl)

I personally just have issues sleeping that haven't been helped much by any of the above but I still take melatonin occasionally and valerian pretty regularly.

IMO melatonin is great for when you need to readjust your sleep schedule (like when flying/traveling) but not for when I am just having everyday sleeping issues.
 
mgrady3 said:
IMO melatonin is great for when you need to readjust your sleep schedule (like when flying/traveling) but not for when I am just having everyday sleeping issues.
Click to expand...

Interesting, could you elaborate a bit more on why you feel it serves the one purpose well but not the other?
 
bronson; said:
Interesting, could you elaborate a bit more on why you feel it serves the one purpose well but not the other?
Click to expand...

I think I can explain this.
It's most likely because your body has a cycle called the circadian rhythm.
Basically what this does is it tells your body when it's time to have or make certain things happen. Things like sleeping, eating, waking up, releasing certain hormones. It creates a schedule for your body to follow. (it's been a while since I learned this so anyone, feel free to correct me)
When you travel, particularly to other timezones, your body is still in that rhythm, but unlike a clock for example, it can't be changed on a whim, it takes a while for your body to get into a certain rhythm, by taking a supplement such as melatonin, you can tell your body that the time to do certain things like, release hormones and such, has changed. It makes sense to me. Sorry if I'm a little obscure in my explanation.
 
id recommend searching or having a mod aggregate all the melatonin threads cuz i know ive responded to at least 3
 
I also have responded to at least 2 of them.

I can't give the exact science of why I think melatonin is best suited for the purpose I stated earlier but I'll do my best.

From my own personal experience, Melatonin is unlike other OTC or Rx sleep meds. It is NOT a hypnotic. Melatonin will NOT knock you out cold. Nor is Melatonin a relaxant (don't know the specific term for this, perhaps anxioytic). Melatonin, as nationofthizzlam mentioned, affects your body's circadian rhythm. The way I can explain it is melatonin helps your body know when it is time to sleep.

So taking melatonin once during the middle of the day, say noon, will have no effect. But if for a few days you take it at noon and then immediately try to relax and actually go to sleep at noon, the melatonin will help you body naturally adjust to having noon be the time when you should be sleeping.

Thus for people who travel long distances, or have to start working the night shift, etc. People who have an abrupt change in sleep schedule can benefit from using melatonin as a supplement. That is not to say that Melatonin is useless for all other situations however for instance, someone who is just having a bad day and wants to knock them selves out and get a solid 10-12 hours of sleep should not turn to Melatonin as their medication for sleep; it simply doesn't have that effect.
 
of course I can't say I was expecting to fall asleep soundly after that either..

Weed certainly helps me relax and thus indirectly helps me sleep but it has to be in the right quantity. Too much and it makes it impossible to fall asleep as my mind is just going nuts. But just a small amount certainly helps.
 
I was on similar stuff - dexamphetamine & methylphenidate.. I already had sleep issues and this massively compounded them.

I gave up on herbal remedies - I found if anything they actually made me more awake!

I'm now on seroquel - quietapine which makes me sleepy quite well. If i think im gonna have trouble sleeping on just that, i couple it with catapres - clonodine, and I cant stay awake.
 
@deadspeed:
Are you talking about melatonin?
I would suggest you not taking that much. I don't have the medical articles on hand to back things up but I remember reading that its possible for your body to stop its natural production of melatonin if you are taking it too much in supplemental form.

I believe it is active down into the micrograms. I think you can buy it in ~300-500 microgram pills.
I think 1mg tabs or at most 3mg tabs are the most you should be taking.

They sell/market some bottles as 'Extra Strength' 5 or 10 mg tabs of melatonin but... This drug is not a sedative...
Extra Strength doesn't really apply to how melatonin functions in your body.

Taking 1g of it might not harm you, but it also isn't going to help you sleep any better than if you took 1mg
 
I don't know if anyone has said this or not.... but, I have these melatonin drops that comes in a glass bottle with a pipette. They make you sleepy. I get them from this "Health food store". They work decently
 
^^
I know this isn't a drug discussion subforum per say but:

Melatonin is not a sedative. I think its misleading to say melatonin makes you sleepy.
Maybe its only semantics though.

There have been multiple posts here and in BDD about melatonin and other sleep substances.

Regardless, melatonin is not a sedative, is not a hypnotic, is not axiolytic (anti-anxiety). Melatonin is a natural hormone secreted by the pineal gland (possibly elsewhere in the body as well). It is thought to affect the body's circadian rhythm.

here is a quote, sorry that its only from wiki but I didn't have time to sift through the med articles,
"The melatonin signal forms part of the system that regulates the sleep-wake cycle by chemically causing drowsiness and lowering the body temperature, but it is the central nervous system (more specifically, the SCN) that controls the daily cycle in most components of the paracrine and endocrine systems[26][27] rather than the melatonin signal (as was once postulated)."

ie. melatonin plays a part in helping you fall asleep but its ultimately the CNS that matters, hence OTC sleep aids being CNS depressants (diphenhydramine, doxylammine, etc)
 
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