Melatonin dose

MaryG123

Hi all,

I’m sorry if this has been discussed recently, but my search only turned up old posts.  (Is there a way to sort results by year?). I started taking melatonin myself this week, to counteract my 2 am wakefulness.  It seems to be working, as I only wake up now if I need to use the toilet, but go right back to sleep.  The pharmacy only had 5 mg. tabs, so that’s what I started with.  However, I had trouble waking up after my usual eight hours of sleep, so cut them in half.  Same thing, very drowsy in the morning, so cut them in half again.  So now I’m down to around one mg. and wondering if it’s actually effective or if it’s just a placebo effect.  Does anyone else have experience with low doses?  Melatonin is a hormone so it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s effective in very small amounts, but I’m guessing that when it’s take orally, much is destroyed in the stomach.  Thoughts?  I’d like to have my DH take it for nighttime insomnia, but don’t want to overdose him.  He already has daytime sleepiness.

Scooterr

Hello Mary, I to take Melatonin 3mg sometimes when I just lay in bed and feeling restless. When I first started Melatonin I to felt  drowsy or loopy for the first hour or so. This is when I first started the Melatonin, but within the first 2 weeks my body adjusted to it, and all side effects were gone. Now I have no problems with, but I use it approx. 3X a week. I've now been doing this for about 2 years now and I wake up feeling good.  I also you use it with my DW on a limited bases. She take Seroquel 12.5mg at night (along with other dementia meds) and there's nights she is unable to fall a sleep.  I will give her 3mg Melatonin and I have noticed her being sluggish for the first few hours by it soon wears off. I think it's a matter of trail and error and finding the right dose. Good luck.

Joydean

Mary I started taking melatonin 5 mg about a month ago. I have a hard time trying to relax to go to sleep so I decided to try it. My daughter (RN) suggested I try it. I don’t even take it until around midnight and I’m still up at 5am. I really don’t like taking anything but when all I’m doing is tossing around then I take it.Some times I don’t think it does anything, but if I can get 4-5 hours of sleep that’s amazing.  My dh takes 10 mg of menantine and 2.5 mg of olanzapine at bedtime. His doctor said to add 5mg melatonin. He added that so dh would sleep through the night and not be up wandering around. For me I can’t tell any difference in how I feel on getting up. Sometimes I do wish I could sleep longer but I also enjoy sitting outside early in the mornings and waiting for the sun to come up. The deer usually come in about 5:30 so I get to enjoy them.

MaryG123

Thank you both for your input.  I don’t like laying awake for hours in the middle of the night, so will keep taking it for now.  I’m hopeful that the morning drowsiness won’t return.  We see DH pcp in a couple of weeks and will ask her about it too.  I agree about the early mornings being best.  I like to get up and walk the dogs before the neighborhood comes to life.

toolbeltexpert

I am just the opposite, I started at five and never sleep a wink. Cut it in half same thing so I cut that in half nearly the same thing no sleep at all. So I quit taking it, at least I got some sleep. If I really need sleep I can take a benadryl. I sleep well, but I can't take it too many times, I'll start to have sinus problems when I stop. REBOUND, not good.

Pat6177

Hi Mary, I have recently been experimenting with melatonin and the dose. I have frequent insomnia but taking melatonin at 1 or 2 am was an issue. I find that it takes up to an hour to take effect for me and then I am sleepy in the morning. I was taking 3 mg but recently have been cutting them in half. I am also biting the bullet and taking it an hour or so before going to bed. I wasn’t as sleepy this am. My DH (early Stage 5) has been taking melatonin for quite awhile. For a long time, he was only sleeping 4 to 5 hours a night. PCP wouldn’t give him anything and told him to take melatonin. DH tried many of the various combinations out there on the market with differing amts of melatonin. At one appt with the PCP, he was taking 10 mg of melatonin. PCP said that for some people, lower doses work better. So we bought the 3 mg and it does seem to work better. And finally last year, the dementia specialist gave him a prescription for Mirtazapine 7.5 mg to help him stay asleep. The combination worked well till recently and now I notice that he is often awake earlier in the morning. His fatigue never went away but had gotten better. Now he seems more fatigued. I don’t know if that’s due to his dementia or his chronic kidney disease (stage 3b) or if it’s lack of good sleep - or all of the above. PCP and dementia specialist both felt taking melatonin every night was fine for DH and felt it was ok, on the rare occasions that he didn’t fall asleep, that he take another pill during the night. 

Does it matter if you’re getting a placebo effect if you’re getting some sleep?

MaryG123

Excellent point Pat6177.  If the placebo effect helps me sleep, I’ll take it!  Btw, I meant to say 2 am wakefulness, not 2 pm.

ImMaggieMae

The doctors at the hospital recommended 6 mg of Melatonin for my husband early in the year when they adjusted his medications. It seems to work fine but he also takes dementia meds at night so it’s hard to know which are helping. He generally sleeps all night, getting up oncetoward morning for me to change his Depends.. I take 3mg about half an hour or less before bed and it seems to help me fall asleep. It doesn’t keep me asleep all night but it helps for several hours.