Received Melatonin Tabs......Optimum time to take ?

[Chivas]

With reference for sleep.......??

They are 3mg purchased after followed some advice here as worth giving a go

On the package its says 15 minutes before sleep but I recall reading here 3 hours before normal attempted sleep time.......??

[muskoka]

I take mine about 1 hour before going to bed.

Be prepared for some vivid and strange dreams the first couple nights, normal. After a few days dreams seem less strange but more vivid than normal.

Doug

[bkkbudddy]

Hello,

I've been taking 2.5 - 3.0 mg of melatonin for the past 15 years without any side effect! Based on experience, it's better to take one hour before sleep. Also, melatonin does promote vivid dreams and once in a while nightmares!

[Chivas]

I can confirm it was utterly useless !! Nothing happened and 3 hours after taking in dark room I was wide awake as normal. Turned on tv around 1am with timer on and as normal woke up at 6am

[Chivas]

Obviously is does work for many perhaps I was expecting too much after a lifetime of no sleep to suddenly expect an OTC med to work when proper sleepers from Pattaya Inter dont !!

[jimmym40]

Melatonin has NO effect on me either. Been having problems getting to sleep most of the past 30 years. Tried most OTC and ended up taking prescription drugs. And now, Ambien and etc, even has minimal effect. I hate it when the day ends and the night begins. It's absolutely frustrating just laying in bed at night "trying" to get to sleep.

[Chivas]

Melatonin has NO effect on me either. Been having problems getting to sleep most of the past 30 years. Tried most OTC and ended up taking prescription drugs. And now, Ambien and etc, even has minimal effect. I hate it when the day ends and the night begins. It's absolutely frustrating just laying in bed at night "trying" to get to sleep.

Obviously I'm going to continue to take as maybe takes time to settle into a pattern who knows but you sound similar to me. I had supposed strongest available Sleepers from Pattaya Inter didnt do a sodding thing !! No surprise as have had same experience with others anyway prescribed.

Case of just living with it

[lopburi3]

Not sure what you are using but according to MIMS the only legally available brand in Thailand is 2mg to be taken 1-2 hours before bed and only for up to 13 weeks.

Circadin PR tab 2 mg

[muskoka]

I should add that I also take 1/2mg of Ativan (break 1mg in half) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorazepam an hour or two before bed time. Also a couple or three scotch.

The combo works well for me as long as I get off the computer and try and relax for a period of time. Next thing I know I am yawning, then shortly after off to bed.

Ativan/Lorazepam can be abused and addictive so they say but I never increase the dosage unless I am experiencing a high stress day, then I take a normal 1mg dosage.

Doug

[Chivas]

Well certainly had the vivid dreams last night and think I went off after about hour and a half. It started with being in the Control Room of a Nuclear Powered sub (I used to work) and the sub was hit by a killing Russian missile. Last memory was water over my head before the screaming made my cat jump. Back to sleep

Various dreams ensued with the final one me becoming a rent boy for a tenner.

I can hardly wait for tonights episodes

[Chivas]

Give up with this stuff. No dreams and certainly no sleep either back to the drawing board

[Sheryl]

Not sure what you are using but according to MIMS the only legally available brand in Thailand is 2mg to be taken 1-2 hours before bed and only for up to 13 weeks.

Circadin PR tab 2 mg

It is apparently also being sold as a nutritional supplement (as it is in the West) and readily available through Lazada in many brands.

In my many years of taking melatonin I have found that brands vary widely in their effect; many of these are manufactured in the US where it is classed as a "nutritional supplement" and nor a drug and therefore not subject to the quality controls that pharmaceuticals are, i.e. the actual amount of active ingrediant can be far different than labelled. Hence it takes some trial and error to find the right dose for a particular brand and when you do, may not be the same as for other brands.

Personally I need about 5-6 mg, 3 not usually enough though does depend on brand.

In terms of timing, this I think has to be individualized. In people whose biorhthyms are seriously messed up (as in jet lag, or if you have been in the habit of staying up much of the night) it may be necessary to take staggered doses, i.e. a low dose in early evening to start signalling to your body that night is coming followed by another dose about an hour before bedtime (assuming tablet or capsule - -there are sublingual preparations and these of course work more quickly).

The other thing you need to understand is that Melatonin when it works does so by inducing a natural sleepiness. It does not knock you out or anything like it. I find that people with long histories of sleep problems and prior use of conventional sleeping meds are often looking/expecting that sort of "knock out", not going to happen with melatonin.

I also find that melatonin produces sleepiness that if nto heeded, will pass. In other words you have to go to bed as soon as it hits. Related to this, people with long term sleep difficulties -- and especially if they have in the past used hypnotics or benzos -- have often lost the ability to experience and respond to the more subtle sensations of normal sleepiness. Caffeine use will of course worsen that. It is necessary to re-train yourself to what falling asleep naturally involves.

Lastly need to look at causes. Caffeine and anxiety are biggies. Also, exposure to lights from a computer screen or TV before sleep confuses the brain's sense of day and night and makes it hard to fall asleep.

Try completely relaxing -- without computer, without TV - for at least 2 hours before you want to sleep. Reading is OK, but make it something neutral or soothing, certainly not anything you would have trouble putting down. And either completely stop caffeine or limit it to a minimal amount first thing in the morning only. These measures plus melatonin in sufficient doses will usually help unless there is a real anxiety problem or a drinking problem (contrary to what people tend to think, alcohol in the long run seriously interferes with sleep).

Meditation is extremely helpful - and will enable you to better experience natural sleep cues -- but I have yet to meet anyone who actually took it up just because of insomnia, usually needs a deeper motivation than that.

Exercise also good but not for a few hours before sleep.

[Chivas]

Thanks for that further. I will try doubling the dose but take the first one say 3 hours before I might like to sleep and the 2nd an hour before

[ThaiPauly]

I recently saw a programme made in the UK called "Food Hospital"

They were talking to this woman who had insomnia and recommended eating 2 Kiwi Fruit 2 hours before going to bed.

As is common knowledge on this forum my wife has been suffering with insomnia off and on for the last 18 months.

So while I was in Topps I came across the Kiwi Fruit and thought "what the heck-give it a try" so I brought 4 for 100 baht, and gave them to my wife.

Low and behold her sleeping improved immediatley.

Now I don't want to come over as some kind of quack doctor making ludicrous claims, I am just sharing my experience, maybe it works for some people , not others I have no idea, but I felt it worthwhile to post this.

[brewsterbudgen]

I can confirm it was utterly useless !! Nothing happened and 3 hours after taking in dark room I was wide awake as normal. Turned on tv around 1am with timer on and as normal woke up at 6am

Me too. Has no effect on me at all!