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Anyone knows why Melatonin is available so easily in the US, but you need a prescription for it in Europe? (I haven’t asked my GP though)
by gingerlime 8y ago
Anyone knows why Melatonin is available so easily in the US, but you need a prescription for it in Europe? (I haven’t asked my GP though)
- lucd 8y agoNo need for a prescription in France.
- gordaco 8y agoNor in Spain. I've been taking melatonin for quite some time, and so has my mother. You just go to a pharmacy and buy it over the counter.
- novaRom 8y agoI guess it is dangerous in regard to driving ability and misuse. You need an approval from a doctor.
- Angostura 8y agoMy understanding is because it is sold as a food supplement in the U.S while the UK, for example regulates it as a medicine. So its available for prescription for short-term treatment of sleep disordersm, with provisos such as: "Melatonin’s metabolism is mainly mediated via CYP1A enzymes. Therefore interactions may occur between melatonin and other drugs affecting or metabolised by CYP1A enzymes e.g. fluvoxamine, cimetidine, ciprofloxacin and other quinolones, carbamazepine, omeprazole, oestrogens (oral contraceptives and HRT), rifampicin, theophylline and increase in blood pressure with nifedipine and reduced prothrombin with warfarin have been reported." etc.
- teknico 8y agoNo need for a prescription in Italy.
- fogetti 8y agoYou don't need prescription for melatonin in Hungary.
- gingerlime 8y agoThanks for the answers. Strange that different EU countries seem to regulate differently. And then I guess I can legally order it online from Italy, France, Spain or Hungary, and get it delivered to Germany. But not buy it locally...