Melatonin.. Sleep support? Or Sleep preventer?

If you don't know what Melatonin is, It's a "Natural" Sleep support for people who have trouble falling asleep and or staying asleep. Melatonin, long story short, is excreted out of your brain, when you fall asleep to stay asleep, (This helps us eventually enter REM sleep). Some people lack this ability, or have less excreted at a time, or have anxiety/stress problems that keep them awake. These people are known as Insomniac's. I am slowly becoming an insomniac, due to my high stress level, and after going to the doctor's office several times, I was prescribed anxiety medication and Melatonin. I had bought the 10mg Melatonin(the highest amount they had to offer) and took it at around 11:45pm. Ironically, with having no distractions (No T.v, and or Computer for over 30 minutes) all that happened is I got extremely drowsy and could not fall asleep for the life of me. So if anyone else is out there that has also taken Melatonin, I would love to know how it worked for you because it didn't work at all for me. :tired:

melatonin doesnt work for me... i am prescribed ambien but i never take it more than once per week. i have insomnia too. try taking it earlier in the evening.

michael.

chipdouglas said:

melatonin doesnt work for me... i am prescribed ambien but i never take it more than once per week.

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I take Celexa, I just started it though, It's worked well for me so far, I'm pretty sure ambien is the one that's highly addictive, and can make you high if you stay awake when you take it. So be careful to not misuse it.

A funny thing about sleep assistants is that when you take them, some people get so anxious to see if they work, it has an opposite affect and will keep people awake for longer. While all of the mentioned above DO work (to a degree), each can fail as in medicinal fields, anything is possible. I've never used one but here's what I hear.

Using melatonin will work with most people. A lack of it could be caused in a defect in your parathyroid. In order for your parathyroid to be signaled to create more, it will take a while (30 mins-2 hours) as it is not instantaneous like adrenaline is.

Ambien is some times prescribed as an anti-depressent and sleep assistant. The "high" feeling you get is the right side of your brain taking over, or the artistic side. Studies show that depressed people will have extreme difficulties falling asleep while happy or content people will sleep like a boulder.

Celexia, I have not heard much of. But what I did hear is that it makes some people violently vomit in their sleep. But, just as with anything else, you're going to hear more "bad stories" than good ones, that's just human nature.

I´m very photosensitive while sleeping (when I´m awake I love light of course :eg: )

You should try a sleepmask, this is by far the best I know:

TEMPUR SleepMask Schlafmaske: Amazon.de: Küche & Haushalt

I've tried melatonin, ambien, sonata and lunesta. The only one that works for me is sonata, even though chemically it is very similar to ambien.

I also tried other approaches to deal with insomnia, but they basically don't work well - for me at least. Some things that do tend to help, turn off absolutely all lights, do not read or watch tv in bed - beds are for sleeping and sex, that's it - and use some kind of white noise. Personally I use a fan, but you can actually get a white noise machine.

As for addiction, any sleep aid can be habit forming, just as any activity can be habit forming.

As for getting a high from sleep medication, I did experience that when I was woken up after finally falling asleep. IMO not a pleasant experience, and one that has led me to start turning off the ringer on my phone when I do take sleep medications. I also couldn't fall back asleep for about 10 hours after that.

Maybe adress the cause instead of the effect? Reducing stress levels and avoiding distractions would help no? Obviously if there are underlying medical issues thats different.

Melatonin causes me hallucinate more than sleep. I find the only thing that works well is some chamomile tea and meditation.

heruursciences said:

Melatonin causes me hallucinate more than sleep.

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I know what you mean, but i think its that it makes "you" so drowsy that your vision is blurred. I never saw dragon's walk into my room, or any leprechaun's, so I wouldnt really call it Hallucinating:crackup:

i take 3mg of melatonin everynight, i read that if you take too much of a dose it may have the opposite reaction.
i personally enjoy the company of the dragons

Couldn't resist

joshshermannn1 said:

i take 3mg of melatonin everynight, i read that if you take too much of a dose it may have the opposite reaction.
i personally enjoy the company of the dragons

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HAH! I bought the 10mg thinking, the strongest one would make me fall the sleep the hardest, and stay asleep the longest. Unfortunately I was wrong. But tonight, I'll try taking it again. Hopefully it will be better the second time.

InfinitusEquitas said:

Couldn't resist

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The lyrics of this song was actually created when the singer's were completely HIGH. That's why they called him "Puff" the magic dragon. I mean I don't think a sober man or women could make this song, unless they were mentally unstable.:drunk:

when i first went to the doc for a prescription he told me no because ambien is addictive, then i said "i want to be addicted to sleeping everynight" on a follow up vistit he finally caved in and gave it to me. we had more serious talk about stress and stuff. i cant really eliminate my stresses right now and he sensed that so he gave it to me.

chipdouglas said:

when i first went to the doc for a prescription he told me no because ambien is addictive, then i said "i want to be addicted to sleeping everynight" on a follow up vistit he finally caved in and gave it to me. we had more serious talk about stress and stuff. i cant really eliminate my stresses right now and he sensed that so he gave it to me.

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Your doc was doing what he was trained to do. Using ambien or any sleep aid is treating the symptom and not the cause of the problem.

Unfortunately with many health issues that result in insomnia there is no way to treat the causes quickly. Ideally most people can use a session or two on the couch weekly to went... reality is life simply does not allow for it and medication is often the only solution, though it is definitely not the best.

At least they don't prescribe barbiturates anymore. They always knock you out, but are very addictive and sometimes fatal. Rarely they are still used to assist with anesthesia.