Melatonin

Maria1

Maria1

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I took a 2mg Circadin (melatonin) tablet as a one off on Friday night and have felt pretty good since.

Of course it would be wonderful to have found a magic pill that works and, although I know I probably haven’t, I’m wondering whether anybody has noticed positive effects from melatonin, not simply improved sleep.

I actually sleep quite well as a rule. Although I’m up a lot to wee. Since becoming ill I generally never feel rested but over the last year I have woken feeling good a few times, as if I have energy to get up but this feeling disappeared again in the last few months.

So.., after the night on melatonin, I woke late with a bit of a fuzzy head, took a sumatriptan feeling a migraine coming on, but then I noticed that by the afternoon I was feeling almost normal, not fatigued and my head felt clearer than it has for a long time.

I may have to try the Circadin for a longer period but I’m interested in anybody else’s experience.
 
With me the effects of melatonin were very temporary. But then everything is, so I tend to rotate things. My main issue is with actually getting to sleep, some of the things I take can make that easier but have a side effect of, say, waking me every 2 hours, like clockwork.

I don't think I have taken any melatonin for at least 3 years so it's possible it may work again for me, for a week or so :(
 
It regulates the body clock and has some sleep inducing properties, beyond that it won't do much else. Side effects when starting it are not uncommon and usually settle down but it does not improve the sleep quality of ME/CFS, just the two things i mentioned.
 
I love that it gets me to sleep on those wired but tired nights. Having had a full night I do feel better (not quite as zombie like) but havent noticed any other benefits but not sure what thise would be. I take .3mg if I am using it every day. Or 1mg if I need to make sure I get off.
 
Hi @Maria1

I take melatonin 5mg (retard) for several years now. It helped me with my sleep.

My information was it's a very good anti-oxidant, too. The serotonin metabolism might be affected since melatonin is converted into serotonin and vice versa (under usage of other substances). At least, that is my information.

I had the feeling that it had some positive influence on my mood, too.

My doctor was surprised I do well with only 5mg, she commonly prescribes up to 25mg.
 
I’m in the UK. I could probably get hold of some but I’d prefer to get it prescribed. My GP practice isn’t too bad and I think one or two might prescribe it.

I take amitriptyline 5mg occasionally if I’m not sleeping well. It works but makes me groggy the next day and I’ve noticed I eat more and gain weight when on it.
 
If your deficient in melatonin (which we might be due to Acetyl CoA reduction) then it can help, but beyond that the claims are very likely exaggerated. Also its not like most drugs/supplements, beyond 1ish mg there is no additional effect because once the receptors are saturated extra is useless. Even though they sell higher, i've seen 3, 5, 10mg tablets beyond 1ish mg only do more by the placebo effect. There may also be side effects from taking far more then our bodies were designed for. I would personally recommend limiting does to 1.5mg to account for some metabolizing
 
Woolie said:
I have found 5mg to be effective for sleep, but not lower. Of course, I can't know whether that was just coincidence. But that's my experience.
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I don't know of any mechanism that can account for this, though there may be an unresearched mechanism of higher doses. But if you were given a 1mg and 5mg blinded i wonder if you would be able to tell them apart.
 
adreno said:
Any references for this claim?
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Not off the top of my head, years ago before my non 24 was diagnosed i was dealing with neurologists left, right and center and reading many papers on the subject but i didn't bookmark them for future reference. If you can spend some time on google scholar you may be able to find references and perhaps anyone who lives in my area can go to some of my specialists and pick their brains
 
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Maria1 said:
What I took is a 2mg prolonged release tablet- http://www.circadin.com/about-circadin/
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No harm, the prolonged release probably won't make much difference but the dose is no big deal. AFAIK even high doses are not known to produce harmful effects, you should be able to take 50mg a day or more without doing any harm, but i wouldn't take the possibly unknown risk of doing so for no reason.
 
adreno said:
You don't need a prescription to buy melatonin.
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For people who live in the UK you can buy legally buy melatonin without a prescription from abroad, although I have occasionally found it on Ebay being delivered from somewhere in the UK.

Doctors can prescribe melatonin, but the BNF (British National Formulary) only recommends it for people over 55. I really have no idea why there is an age restriction. The dose provided is 2mg per day for a maximum of 13 weeks.

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/melatonin.html
 
Years ago I tried melatonin supplements, I found they got me off to sleep quite well but I would often then wake up in the middle of the night, almost like a rebound effect.

More recently a sleep study showed I had very poor quality sleep, not uncommon in POTS patients, so was prescribed Circadin. The neurologist was quite insistent that it being pharmaceutical grade and slow release meant that it would work much better.

I don't think it has worked any miracles but I do notice generally more consistent sleep and the drowsiness on demand that it provides is quite handy.
 
Arnie Pye said:
For people who live in the UK you can buy legally buy melatonin without a prescription from abroad, although I have occasionally found it on Ebay being delivered from somewhere in the UK.

Doctors can prescribe melatonin, but the BNF (British National Formulary) only recommends it for people over 55. I really have no idea why there is an age restriction. The dose provided is 2mg per day for a maximum of 13 weeks.

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/melatonin.html
Click to expand...
I'm in the UK and 54 years old I recently asked my GP for melatonin as I have problems getting to sleep often awake at 3 or 4 am occasionally 6am. Once I get to sleep I can usually sleep for 6 hours. I found Amitryptyline gives a hangover effect even at 10mg and it stopped working and I didn't want to increase the dose and hangover. Anyway I was told that in my area Melatonin can only be prescribed by a specialist. There isn't a specialist who deals with ME to be referred to so that's a dead end. I asked about sleep referral and they only do that for suspected sleep apnea.......I ended up swapping to nortryptiline 10mg instead which was a bad hangover for a couple of months and not totally reliable either.

I'm not keen on buying melatonin online in the UK in one of the tick box private prescription sites as the prices are a bit steep. Ive asked a friend to get a supply of 1mg melatonin when she's in the USA on holiday. It is $8 for two bottles in Walgreens. Once I've given it a try if it works I will go back to my GP. I know Melatonin isn't a panacea but it seems crazy when it is so cheap over the counter in US where drugs are often more expensive that we can't have it as an option here through the NHS.
 
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