=/ response please? Melatonin

I’ve posted a question in the correct place or so I presumed and I believe no one really has bothered to look at it. So forgive me if any moderator gets ticked for me repeating the comment:

Anyhow its going to be the third day I try melatonin so far I still have that drowsy feeling. Now if I didn’t have that drowsyness I’m pretty sure I would be having a long and vivid dream that I can recall. Somehow I feel as though the Melatonin puts your mind to ease when it starts kicking in because I seem to be able to continue a dream throughout the whole night, but with a lazyness so I really don’t have the greatest dream recall. Sorry for grammar errors, but I’m heading to bed.

Melatonin is indeed specific.Its most helpfull in the situations when you need to go to bed earlier than usuall because next day you wake up early and need to be rested.Minus to that is drowsyness.But having the choice of sleeping only few hours and be zombie alike for whole next day or fight morning drowsyness i choose first.
Additionally if i take melatonin for dreaming purposes i make sure i have at least 9 hrs of sleep ahead.Melatonin kicks hard and its effect last so i guess its just the question of planning when to take it.
take care

Here are a few things you should know about melatonin.

1.) If you are under 20ish it’s probably not a good idea to take it because it’s a hormone, and can effect your development, and interact with other hormones in your body.

2.) Taking more than 1-2 miligrams at a time, over an extended period, is a bad idea at any age. It can, once again, throw other hormones out of balance. 2 miligrams is a large safe does. 4 miligrams is a very large dose.

3.) If you are going to take it, you will get better results by crushing the tablet into a powder and putting the powder under your tongue and holding it there til it mostly dissolves. This is called taking it ‘sublingually.’

4.) If Seratonin is Yin, then Melatonin is Yang. The one effects the other’s production and release by the body. Seratonin is the ‘happy’ chemical that you get when you get your face all warm in the sun, for instance. People with certain forms of depression lack a healthy amount of seratonin. People with mania tend to have large bursts of it, and manic depressives have a wild seratonin cycle of swings way up and down. That is an oversimplification, but nevertheless true. So, messing with this cycle is probably not a good idea to do long-term for recreational purposes.

5.) Melatonin is found in large quantities in turkey, which will put you to sleep and cause you to have major body lag. I personally hate the feeling.

–Now to answer your question. As Jack said, you have a very specific body chemistry and melatonin/seratonin cycle. There is no way to know how your body will react to it, and how long it will take to develop a chemical tolerance to low doses.

If you MUST take this hormone, do so in very small doses and work up to the 2mg mark, and no more. That is what doctors have said. And remember, melatonin was marketed for the purpose of being a sleep aid.

FINALLY: I am not a doctor or healthcare professional, so don’t believe anything I’ve just said (or anyone else on LD4ALL has said) without verifying it with a healthcare professional… bla bla bla.

I’m 18 right now, and I’ve had experience with melatonin when I was 17, but have not needed it since. I only ever took it in 3mg doeses out of nessesity. For instance, after some all-night studying or a party, my sleep rhythm is messed beyond comfortable repair. Melatonin resets your sleep rhythm, making the transition more comfortable. I found that after taking it, you had better have more than 12 hours of sleep time, because you’ll feel really groggy if you get less. I’ve also found it kills dreams.

Would it be better to take tryptophan (take as in supplement, or possibly go on banana binges?) since this is a pre-cursor of both serotonin AND melatonin? Would this be safer in that sense?

tryptophan is found in turkeys and is a precursor to serotonin, not melatonin… serotonin is a sort of precursor to melatonin.

Take Vitamin B6 (min 200 mg) about 30 minutes for bed. It has no side affects and keeps your dreams vivid and with effort, you can go lucid!

phoenelai, 200 mg B6 is potentially dangerous as it can cause nerve damage. If you try his don’t take more then 50 mg or so (8 already seems to work very well for me).

It’s actually a daily of 300mg can cause rare nerve damage. GNC sells B6, each dose is 200mg. Although allot of nutritionist recommend 50mg daily which is a good idea to follow.

:content:

you should be alright taking it, but i wouldnt reccomend it

dealing with hormones like melatonin can have long term and drastic effects on your health (effects that last until you die)

Living itself can have long term and drastic effects on your health,so beware:)

Lol Jack. It’s like I always say to people who warn against doing something; “Living is leathal”… however that doesnt mean you sould just jump off buildings… find your own middle road :smile:

The reason the bottle advises you not to use it if you are below a certain age is because that when we are young we produce ample amounts of this hormone, and it may be possible to overdose if you take it as a supplement as well. Production of melatonin (from what I’ve read about it) drops off after you reach a certain age, which explains why as you get older you may find it harder to get to sleep or stay asleep for as long as you did when you were young.For this reason it may only be usefull as a supplement for us oldies unfortunately.(30+).

Also,new studies found that it shouldnt be used by ppl with breathing problems,like asthmatic cuz it deepens it.

Last night, curiousity overcome me and I took a 3 mg melatonin pill before going to bed. I slept extremely well, as if there was no midnight sun at all, and I remember the whole night as a long string of connected dream fragments. From 12 hours of sleep, I can remember probably 6-7 of those short dreams. And I had to drink coffee after 12 hours of sleep! I will save the rest of the pills until I really need to do something about the sleep schedule.

just thinking, but melatonin might/will cause depression too… and it has alot more side-effects than most believe… therefore i myself wouldnt take it unless i have no other choice…

Yes that is right, it is tryptophan that is found in turkeys and not melatonin. However, even though tryptophan is a serotonin precursor, the serotonin never passes the blood/brain barrier and is rapidly converted to melatonin.

I guess I shoulda typed all that in the first post.