Melatonin?

[Friday]

I’m one of the people it completely f*cks up both my sleep and my waking hours. Insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking oh my ...once I finally do get to sleep... along with agitation, violence, and loss of self control. Pregnancy level mood swings into mania and despair whilst awake. Nasty stuff. Absolutely HATE it. Despise. Loathe.

But that’s me. Only way to find out what your brain thinks of it is to try it.

 

[barefoot]

Thanks everyone.

I’ve taken it for the last five nights and it does seem to help me fall asleep. Doesn’t seem to help with staying asleep. Too early to say anything on the parasomnias front....I haven’t had one since I’ve been using it, I don’t think. But I can often go weeks without having one anyway.

I would recommend being cautious the first time that you take it with anything else that increases sleep. The first time I took it with an antihistamine I slept for about fifteen hours and would not wake up.

Thanks for the heads up on this - something for me to be mindful of.

I had very ordinary but vivid dreams

This has been my experience so far. Feels like I, having lots of dreams and quite intense dreams. But no more bad dreams/nightmares than usual.

The sex dreams are continuing!

 

[Teasel]

Keen to hear about others’ experiences with melatonin.
In particular:
- does it help you get to sleep and stay asleep?
- have you noticed any decrease in parasomnias (night terrors, hallucinations, sleep walking, shouting out etc) while taking it?
- has it adversely affected your sleep in any way eg caused insomnia, increased nightmares etc. And, if so, how severe was the impact?

I love it!
Helps me get go sleep yes
Doesn't leave me drowsy the next day
Not sure if it helps me stay asleep
Dont know about impact on nightmares either as not been having many lately
No adverse effects for me.

Glad it's been helpful for you :)

 

[barefoot]

Thanks @berlinda - I’m glad to hear it’s been helpful for you. Because it came up for me as a possible treatment for parasomnias, I didn’t really consider that it would help with actually getting to sleep. So, the fact that it does seem to help me with that has been a rather nice bonus!

Can I ask, because I think you’re in the UK too - does your GP prescribe it for you or do you get it some ofher way?

The sleep clinic sorted out my first prescription and I have a meeting with their pharmacist next month to review it.

My GP had already flagged to me that it would likely be an issue if I wanted him to prescribe it.

 

[blackemerald1]

I had such vivid dreams... they bordered on something more than dreams... I didn't know I had such a wacky imagination. A few night terrors and sleep walked a couple of times... whilst using it. So I stopped taking it.

I was taking it every night a few hours before sleep. I think I lasted about 9 days before I stopped taking it.

I don't really think it helped me get to sleep or stay asleep..

But I was tired when I woke up.. probably because of all the dreaming etc., idk...

But... at that time I had very bad insomnia and was quite the space cadet too.. so maybe it was more me than the drug.
I went back to er.. nothing at all and the dreams stopped..

 

[barefoot]

Thanks for sharing your experience @blackemerald1
Yikes - it sounds like quite a few people here have had issues with it.

The dreams I’ve been having have been quite....cinematic! They have felt like watching/being in a movie - very vivid and intense and realistic. But not frightening.

I have dreamt of my mum every night. But I was dreaming of her often anyway, before I took the melatonin. Those dreams these past few days have felt very real, though they involve very mundane things like us both just being in a car journey together, chatting. It has then been quite a shock to my system to wake it and remember that she isn’t here anymore. But, as I said, I was having quite a lot of those dreams before the melatonin anyway. It just seems a bit more intense on the Melatonin.

And the sex dreams...crikey...”intense” doesn’t even begin to describe it! ? ?

I’m sort of assuming that because I’m five nights in and haven’t had bad side effects, I might be safe??

 

[Teasel]

Can I ask, because I think you’re in the UK too - does your GP prescribe it for you or do you get it some ofher way?

Sure, I buy it online :)

 

[barefoot]

Sure, I buy it online :)

Ah, ok. Yes, that would get around that dilemma then! ?

 

[Vox]

I take it because higher doses (9-12mg) are meant to stop you from thrashing in your sleep, at least that's what my doc told me and it does seem to be the case in my experience.

 

[barefoot]

Glad it’s helping you @Vaux
It’s helping me to get to sleep, so that’s a bonus!

 

[blackemerald1]

The dreams I’ve been having have been quite....cinematic! They have felt like watching/being in a movie - very vivid and intense and realistic.

Yes! I swear the colours were so vivid and everything seemed 360 degrees... like when you are wearing a virtual reality head set.. I've done it once and elected to put myself in a helicopter over some forests in Canada... I got vertigo! But off the point sorry! What I mean is THAT real!

The most important reason I could not stay on them longer was the sleep walking because I live with myself and therefore if I do anything silly, dangerous or hurt myself like fall over - well there isn't anyone to here the thump or ouch! So it was a safety issue really.

But I was dreaming of her often anyway, before I took the melatonin.

I think what was on my mind was dictating very much what I dreamt about too. So, highly likely that you would dream about your mum. Dreams are all about processing aren't they?

The sex dreams hmm I didn't get to those by the time I had to stop.. Dam it! lol

 

[Hilario]

Melatonin has helped me with sleep, but also brings vivid dreams/ nightmares. I find that using it for a week, and then taking a week off is good.