Thread: Question about Melatonin

why don't u try it to find out?? it wont kill u anyway

I know, but throwing up is my least favorite thing to happen to myself actually. I just had a stomach virus 2-3 weeks ago when I threw up a lot. So I'm not in the mood to throw up again. lol. I'll try it. I'm sure I'll be fine.

I never felt nauseous when I took it...

Alright. My next concern is that it says teenagers should not take it. I'm 14. Would that be alright? I don't know why teenagers wouldn't be allowed to take it.

Just because you don't KNOW why it isn't safe for teenagers to take doesn't mean you should try it and see if it is. Ask a doctor or look online for why it isn't for teenagers. I wouldn't know why if I were asked, but I felt the strong need to make sure you didn't do something to harm yourself out of a lack of education regarding something you wanted to take.

LDing is NOT worth hurting yourself over or putting yourself at risk to achieve. Never forget that.

Okay, I looked it up. A few sites say that its not good for teenagers, and then a few sites say that it is. On Yahoo answers, everyone said it was fine. I don't know why it would be bad for teenagers to be honest, its a natural. I'm going to take 2mg tonight. Is that enough?

Wait, I meant find factual evidence explaining why it might be dangerous for teenagers, not peoples' opinions online. Your post sums up the reason for that perfectly - you got perfectly conflicting responses from different places. Find a medical explanation of melatonin and why teenagers shouldn't be taking it. Better yet, find out why it's good as a lucid aid while you're at it so you know how it works.

Originally Posted by It can't be said enough.

LDing is NOT worth hurting yourself over or putting yourself at risk to achieve. Never forget that.

Okay, I'm not taking it then. Because I know my dad isn't going to make a doctors appointment just so I can ask that question.

Hey, bud, I'm not trying to discourage you from taking it, I'm just saying you need to be aware of things you're putting in your body - careful not to take it based on someone's opinion, let alone over the internet where they may not have any credibility.

See what I'm saying? I'm not trying to get you to NOT take them, you just need to go look up a little information on it. If I find something on Melatonin, I'll post it here for you, okay?

EDIT: Alrighty, got some news for you. Here's an excerpt from USA Today back in June of 2008:

Originally Posted by USA Today

"We have seen tremendous growth of the use of melatonin by parents," says Susan Zafarlotfi, clinical director of the Institute for Sleep-Wake Disorders at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. "Melatonin is very useful for some teens who cannot get to sleep."

Zafarlotfi says occasional use of melatonin for children is fine as long as the dosage does not exceed 3 milligrams. She does not recommend giving it to kids younger than 10.

Melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, helps regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle, and its production is determined by light and dark. When darkness falls, the gland produces more melatonin, which promotes sleep.

Safe — with a few caveats

Melatonin supplements have proved safe and effective in numerous studies for helping adults with jet lag. More than two dozen studies have shown that melatonin also helps children who have insomnia, and it has few or no side effects.

After reviewing numerous studies, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2005 concluded that melatonin supplements are safe if used for days or weeks.

The agency found evidence that melatonin is effective in treating people who have delayed sleep syndrome, who chronically tend to fall asleep well after midnight.

Nonetheless, medical groups have been cautious to endorse melatonin for children because nearly all the studies of melatonin on children were tested on those who had autism or other development disabilities or were blind. These children are given supplements because their bodies either don't produce melatonin or do so only erratically. The studies on children have been small, and there are no reports on the long-term effects of melatonin in children.

Doctors also worry that because melatonin is sold as a supplement, its manufacturing is not as stringently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration as if it were a prescription drug.

"This is not a treatment for the healthy child who just doesn't want to go to bed or the child with occasional trouble falling asleep," says Marcia Buck, clinical pharmacy specialist at the University of Virginia Children's Hospital in Charlottesville.

Full Article Here

In short, it says that it's safe even for some children to use. Since you're clearly not a child and are apparently a healthy person, I'd say that the article there supports your use of melatonin. Also to be noted, in that excerpt it says that 3mg is the limit on how much young people should be getting, so as a teenager you should be fine with 2mg. This is based on what I've found on the topic. Did that help you?

You'll probably be fine.

And, a little more information I found, from a direct source, "Laurie Scudder, MS, RN-C, PNP Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in a primary care pediatric practice, Columbia, Md."

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone released by the pineal gland. Melatonin levels respond to an individual's natural circadian rhythms by increasing late in the afternoon/early evening and decreasing dramatically during the day. Light exposure, either natural or artificial, causes extremely rapid destruction of the hormone.[1] It has long been assumed that melatonin is responsible for sleep regulation, though the exact mechanism of action remains unknown.

Traditionally, it was believed that normal melatonin production decreased during adolescence, but a recent study that measured urinary metabolites of this hormone found that production remained virtually constant throughout childhood and adolescence; the perceived decrease was the result of stable levels in a larger body mass.[2] In fact, production remains constant throughout much of life.

Melatonin is 1 of only 2 hormones whose sale is not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration. While not even available for purchase in some countries, such as Australia and the United Kingdom, it is sold over-the-counter in the United States.[3] While there is an enormous amount of anecdotal information available, there are few well-controlled studies that have examined safety, appropriate dosing including amounts and timing, use in special populations such as children or the elderly, side effects, or interactions with other products. However, the few published studies that have looked at use of melatonin in children have generally found the product to be safe, though most have focused on use in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

[...]

The National Sleep Foundation[3] suggests that the product may be useful for teenagers who experience delayed-sleep-phase syndrome, an inability to fall asleep during the early nighttime hours that causes problems in awakening the next morning. However, appropriate dosing and duration of use in teenagers is not known.

Most studies have not reported significant side effects with use of the product. However, a newer study from the National Jewish Medical Center found that, in a small group of 23 adult asthma patients, melatonin could worsen asthma symptoms.[6] Anecdotally, melatonin has also been reported to worsen depression. Some patients report a "hangover" feeling after using this product.[7]

Full Article Here.

Simply put, I don't see a reason not to take this if you'd like to use it.

Asthma? I have asthma. Its pretty bad too. Oh well I really don't care. I'm going to take 2mg tonight. The pills I have are 5mg. O_o. Should I cut it in half or fourths or something?

Really? I had a feeling I should add that into the excerpt in case you didn't see it in the full article. And that right there is what I was sent here by fate to do: so, if something goes wrong, you'll know where it came from.

I'll withhold my opinion on the situation, since I've already expressed it enough, and will hope for the best possible situation for you.

Depending how small they are, you're only going to be able to cut it into a half. If you break it down by any other means, either by crushing it or trying to halve a half of it (quartering it), you may end up with more powder/dust breaking off than intended, losing potency. I don't know what the pill looks like or what it feels like (is it solid and resistant to breaking, or is it one of those white kind of powdery-when-broken pills?), but I'd guess you'd only be able to cut it in half. If you can cut it into thirds, do so: you want a smaller dosage if you have to choose between estimating a larger-than-expected or smaller-than-expected amount.


And most of all, Tristan, good luck.

What helpful replies Clyde. Tristan is it extended release? Most 5mg melatonin I find are extended release. If that is the case, you might be ok with 5mg. If not, then just cut it in half. Melatonin has never made me nauseous and I take it about every night now. Only a few times have I encountered that hangover feeling and that was after taking 10-15mg.

I've taken somewhat of an interest in these 'sleep supplements as lucid aids' topics I've seen around, so every bit of scientific evidence regarding them that I can find helps me just as much as I hope it helps whoever I find it for.

I just like helping out wherever I can.

I am much the same... ...therefore I appreciate your posts very much!

Woo! I've accomplished something with research!

It doesn't say anything about extended release. It says "Maximum Strength Melatonin 5mg". I'll probably just cut it in half. That's probably the best I can do.

I see you're online! How did things go last night?

Forgot to take it. lol

I'll take it tonight.

Thankfully, one person's reaction to a drug is not representative of that of the entire human race.

I have taken melatonin on and off for years and have had no definite side effects, let alone vomiting. I know at least two people who could tell you the same.

Despite being one who tends to freely experiment without speaking to medical professionals, I still would suggest you see a GP first to discuss using it. That way you get your own prescription, too. That's more fun than "borrowing" housemates' meds.

Originally Posted by w4nd3r3r

Thankfully, one person's reaction to a drug is not representative of that of the entire human race.

Good call.

Despite being one who tends to freely experiment without speaking to medical professionals, I still would suggest you see a GP first to discuss using it. That way you get your own prescription, too. That's more fun than "borrowing" housemates' meds.

Another good point.

Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

I've taken somewhat of an interest in these 'sleep supplements as lucid aids' topics I've seen around, so every bit of scientific evidence regarding them that I can find helps me just as much as I hope it helps whoever I find it for.

I just like helping out wherever I can.

I too like to help out when I can. I thought I'd post some stuff you may already know, but will hopefully be helpful.

As I'm sure most of you already know, melatonin is what is produced by the brain and helps relax and put you to sleep. Now, there is something your brain produces called cortisol, which helps to wake you up. As many of you are aware, waking up early, staying awake for around thrity minutes, and going back to sleep is a very effective way to induce lucid dreams. There is some speculation that this is because there is an optimal amount of both cortisol and melatonin in your brain at that time: you've been asleep for awhile, so there's lots of relaxing melatonin, but, you're also starting to wake up, so there is also lots of cortisol to help make you conscious. This combination of relaxing melatonin and awareness-stimulating cortisol, some lucid dreamers speculate, is what creates the optimal window for lucid dreams; the melatonin saturation puts you to sleep fast and the cortisol helps you achieve lucidity while sleeping, as cortisol is an awareness-awakening stimulant the brain produces to help us wake up in the morning. However, I want to stress that this is only speculation at this time. As far as I know, there has not been any research done to confirm this.

Never take anyone's word for anything and always research your own answers from credible sources. But you all already know that, right?

I took two 3mg capsules of Melatonin last night. I've been staying up too late the past two months and I want to change that. I usually take a Gravol if I need a sleep aid but I was out of them. So my mother gave me a bottle of the Melatonin and told me to take two. About 15-20 minutes after I downed them, I started feeling more relaxed so I turned my light off and closed my eyes. I felt drowsy, but for some reason, I'd drift in and out of sleep and I felt I had to constantly switch body positions-- I couldn't get comfortable. It was this sort of tingly muscle sensation in my arms and legs.. I'm gonna take a few day break from it, and just take one cap next time. My dream was vivid (not a lucid), and I was out for a good 8 hours as soon as that weird feeling stopped. I think it was just that my dose was too high because it was my first time.