Does anyone have experience with taking melatonin?

I LOVE MELATONIN…..

It knocks me the fuck out in about 30 minutes. Always wake up pretty crisp after taking it. Keep in mind I take it maybe a few times a month since my job is more of a whenever gig. I wake up great.

And yes. Vivid dreams.. So many lovely vivid lucid dreams.

I have terrible nightmares where I wake up to my mom screaming for help and banging on my door. That is sober.

But on melatonin it is usually new pair of shoes and PS4 dreams. Vivid in the sense that I look for my new shoes but they aren’t there when I wake up.

I have taken it for around 15 years and have gone years without taking it. I don’t find it addictive. I normally just take it if I have something like a 8am doctors appointment. My current bottle of 60 pills was bought a few years ago.

It is really cheap and OTC. I would give it a shot. If it freaks you out you only lost a bad dream and 8 bucks.

I’ve taken it, too. It does work, but it can be very mild depending on the dose. So it’s not going to make you pass out immediately if you start low to see how you tolerate it. What really did the trick for me was a melatonin/passionflower combination in a chewable gummy. But I actually have to be careful with those and take ½ a gummy because of how well they work. (I have a bad rib injury and it can give me breathing problems, so I dislike heavy sedatives when my rib is giving me issues.)

Something else I would suggest, which works really well for me but is even more mild, is passionflower tea. It has a very soothing and calming effect, and definitely makes me somewhat sleepy.

Passionflower has been clinically tested and is shown to reduce anxiety in many people, so although I do have more vivid dreams while using the gummy or drinking the tea (wouldn’t recommend doing both), they aren’t ever bad dreams. As a matter of fact, most of the dreams are better. Or just really bizarre.

I’ve taken it for jet lag. It seemed to work ok. It was in a spray form for under the tongue.

From what I understand it is a ‘sometimes’ drug and can lose its effect or you may have to take more to get the same results if you take it too regularly, and that can offset other hormones and you may not feel as well taking it. Melatonin is a strong hormone and it bothers me that it is unregulated in the US so the control and dosage is going to be somewhat unreliable in the products on the shelf. Be sure to research the products you take.

I can’t tell you about the dream affects as I have crazy vivid dreams all the time normally.

Never worked for me that I was aware.

I saw a show about it warning a lot of suggested amounts are way way too high and can be counterproductive. Really read up on it and try to find research that is against the popular thoughts on melatonin and then make your decision. I guess you can certainly try it and see if it helps you. I would start at a low dose and see how it goes.

I like that it amps up my dreams, so far never a nightmare from melatonin.
I almost never felt unusually groggy when I woke up after taking melatonin unless I had been in the middle of a dream when the alarm went off.

I take it occasionally. 3 mg., about eight hour before I need to get up. It’s not something to take as you go to bed, take it before you head to bed. And it will leave you a bit groggy if you cut your sleep short because of an early alarm, that’s why I take it 8 hours before you are planning to get up.

I want to clarify that I meant the passionflower tea that I drink sometimes is milder than the specific gummies that I linked to – not milder than just melatonin pills alone. The combination of passionflower and melatonin is a great sleep aid, but it’s much stronger than melatonin on its own.

However, like I mentioned above, any passionflower (not passion fruit – people get them mixed up) tea is going to be relaxing if you drink it, in a very mild way, and it’s good for prepping for sleep. I would highly recommend the tea, regardless of whatever choice you end up making. Some info abut it for you.

If you do go with passionflower, it’s important that you don’t use any other prescription sedatives at the same time. It’s also important that you stop using it at least a month before any operation since there’s a possibility that the effects of anesthesia could be stronger in combination with it.

My doctor gave me some melatonin tablets to try, I do not have trouble getting to sleep but rather, staying asleep long enough. I only tried one tablet, was not expecting anything in particular because I had heard no comments from anyone else about it. About 20 minutes after taking it I felt most peculiar, it was extremely unpleasant and I returned the remaining tablets to the pharmacy they were issued from. History

Chamomile tea works wonders, but then you have to get up and pee, sort of self defeating.

Thanks everybody. I shall read more about it and ask my doctor and pharmacist. I’m a little concerned about melatonin being a hormone. I am one of those people that you read about on the warning on the package for birth control pills. I can’t take them because of the hormones. I ended up in the hospital with what the doctors originally thought was a stroke (when I was 18) but then they determined that it was a very severe migraine brought on by the hormones in the birth control pills. It was so bad that I couldn’t speak and had vision problems. They suggested that I never take any hormone replacements when I got to that “age” (which I’m at right now) nor should I ever take birth control pills again. I realize that the hormones in those pills are different, but I guess I’ll have to ask my doctor a few questions about that. I’d rather have insomnia, than to go through that again.

@zenvelo For some reason chamomile tea made me very anxious, not sleepy or relaxed.

@Kardamom: Do you not sleep at all or do you just sleep less than you used to?

I find that as I am growing older (maturing is a euphemism), I need less sleep. I can do ok on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Not every night in a row, but a few nights and then as long as I get 7 or 8 on the 4th or 5th night, I’m ok. When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I’d need at least 7 every night.

Our son with ADHD is given Melatonin in two doses of 3mg spaced about 1 hour apart near bedtime. This helps him sleep.

I have racing thoughts (hard to quiet my mind at the end of the day) so I take 5mg Melatonin and one 3mg Klonopin (Clonazepam) and am able to fall asleep in 30 minutes or so. (I am permitted to have Klonopin because I have no addiction issues. Never have. I don’t like pain killers or benzos nor do I drink at all.)

- My dreams are no more vivid than they always have been.
– I wake up feeling normal (no grogginess) – and my son is the same. Not groggy at all.
– Neither of us have had any effects related to hormones.

My hormone levels have been monitored by blood work (in my case due to other health conditions) and there have been no changes at all since my nightly doses of melatonin at 5mg began about 2.5 years ago.

My trusted medical professional (with a Ph.Ds in pharmacology and chemistry) tells me that Melatonin has no impact with relation to hormones. Hence, it is very safe for me to take.

@jca I definitely have problems falling asleep and staying asleep. Sometimes I’m up until 3 or 4 in the morning, whereas before I usually went to bed at 11 or even 10. Before this all started, I had no problem falling asleep, although I have had a problem with waking up multiple times for about the last 4 or 5 years. When I was younger, I never had any problems with insomnia, or waking up after going to sleep.

I found this negative article about it. I have no idea how competent the author is.

I’m not sure what age bracket you are in Kardamom, but my doctor attributes my change in sleep pattern (not sleeping as long as I need to) to menopause, I’m thinking this could be the case with you if you are going through the menopause. Just a suggestion.

@Kardamom: Did you try cutting your caffeine in the afternoons?

I work with a girl who takes Melatonin and I asked her yesterday if it helps, and she said yes. I also noticed she had a large coffee in the afternoon. I cut my caffeine out in the afternoon (I asked a question about it on here a few months ago). If I had a large coffee in the early afternoon like she did, I’d be ok to sleep but if I were her, before I got into the habit of taking medication, I’d try cutting the caffeine in the afternoon and see if that helps, first.

I found that having coffee or other caffeinated beverages in the late afternoon or at night would still allow me to fall asleep at the regular time, but I’d sleep lightly and wake up in the middle of the night, and stay awake for hours. I cut that out and now the situation is a lot better. I usually sleep through the night, unless I wake up for something else, like the pets or the child.

Have you adopted any of the above suggestions? Has your sleeping improved?