4 ms·

I have a weird experience with melatonin. It puts me out quickly, but I wake up about 4-5 hours later in a half drugged state. For the next few hours I'm awake

by coryl 12y ago

I have a weird experience with melatonin. It puts me out quickly, but I wake up about 4-5 hours later in a half drugged state. For the next few hours I'm awake but drowsy.

FreeFull 12y ago
Did you try going back to sleep after you wake up?
- coryl 12y ago
  Yes but its very poor quality sleep, I'm tossing and turning and not sure whether I'm awake or asleep.
nbouscal 12y ago
If you haven't yet, I recommend experimenting with the dosage. Most companies sell melatonin in dramatically higher doses than is necessary. I take 300mcg, but often see it sold in doses an order of magnitude larger than that. Effective dose seems to vary somewhat widely from person to person.
- coryl 12y ago
  I've been taking 1 or 2 5mg tablets. 2 tablets definitely seems like too much.
  - nbouscal 12y ago
    Yeah, 10mg is a crazy dose, even 5mg is far more than most people I know take. I would try out doses in the 100mcg-1mg range and see how they work.
    - collyw 12y ago
      Some people reckon that a lower dose (1mg) is more effective than 3 or 5mg. Its gotten a bit too popular, and there is tons of conflicting advice on using it.
malepolish 12y ago
you might try adding 5-HTP to the mix. i had the same issue, after taking melatonin – i'd fall sleep, but wake up a few hours later. pretty much every night. right now i take 1/2 of 2.5 mg melatonin (sublingual) with 50-100 mg 5-HTP, ideally 30-45 min before going to bed. adding 5-HTP was A MIRACLE ! after just a day or two i slept very soundly and had AMAZING dreams – we're talkin 2160p 10.5 THX Lord of the Rings epic trilogy with you playing lead role. those first few weeks i even went to bed earlier just so i could dream longer. :) prior to that it had been decades since i remembered having any dreams. (warning though, i've told several friends about it – after they tried it they had to stop because the dreams were too intense.) i read about 5-HTP in this book i borrowed from my chiropracter: http://smile.amazon.com/5-HTP-Natural-Overcome-Depression-Insomnia/dp/0553379461/ http://smile.amazon.com/5-HTP-Natural-Overcome-Depression-In... basically it states that melatonin is only part of the sleep equation, seratonin is the other part. your body can produce seratonin from 5-HTP (which is the chemical in turkey which makes you drowsy). also: staring at a computer screen can really mess with your sleep – due to chemical imbalance with these hormones. to help as much as possible, i installed F.lux on all of my computers. i also recently added Modalert to my daily routine, but that's another story...
- joeyspn 12y ago
  Never heard of F.lux before.. I just installed it and it looks great!
- wiresurfer 12y ago
  I can vouch for F.lux. Its such an essential tool for me now and I have made it a point to get it on all my devices. Apart from the advantages it has in not disrupting my sleep cycle, I actually enjoy the warmer tones. Even when it comes to home lighting, I have always preferred the yellow shades over the incandescent whites. Never tried melatonin, either stand alone or coupled with 5-HTP. Let me read a little more. Thanks for the pointers. As an aside, I would definitely say get your sleep cycles right and more disciplined definitely puts you in a much higher efficiency bracket. Coupled with some simple lifestyle hacks ( playing a team outdoor sport, if you are not the workout type, no devices in bedroom rule, boring but informative tech talk to go to sleep, light and early dinners, no coffee post sunset) you would be surprised how many extra hours of high concentration work you are capable of.
tripzilch 12y ago
Like others said, play with the dosage. First time I tried it, I had 2.5mg (or maybe 3mg I forget) tablets. I had a somewhat similar experience, I'd get drowsy, but when in bed I'd feel cold and couldn't sleep very well at all. The next year I got 0.1mg tablets, experimented a bit and found that 8 of those (0.8mg) was the sweet spot for me (taken about 2 hours before I want to sleep). I generally used it in the winter, when it gets dark at 16:00, which apparently can throw my cycle a little out of whack if I don't pay attention, the melatonin seemed to help to fix this a bit. I have to say, I've never noticed really strong effects like "puts me out quickly". Just a general feeling after an hour or two, that "yeah I could sleep". If I listen to that feeling, I sleep very well. If I stay up anyway, it goes away again, and I don't really get the benefits. One thing I noticed, after a few weeks, was when I knocked over and broke a glass of water for the third time. I wondered, "hey that seems to happen quite a lot lately..". And always in the evening after I had taken the melatonin, so I guess it does do something to my coordination or perhaps alertness. This was easily solved by taking a bit more care where I place my drinking glass after taking melatonin :)

by coryl 12y ago

I have a weird experience with melatonin. It puts me out quickly, but I wake up about 4-5 hours later in a half drugged state. For the next few hours I'm awake but drowsy.

FreeFull 12y ago

Did you try going back to sleep after you wake up?

coryl 12y ago
Yes but its very poor quality sleep, I'm tossing and turning and not sure whether I'm awake or asleep.

nbouscal 12y ago

If you haven't yet, I recommend experimenting with the dosage. Most companies sell melatonin in dramatically higher doses than is necessary. I take 300mcg, but often see it sold in doses an order of magnitude larger than that. Effective dose seems to vary somewhat widely from person to person.

coryl 12y ago
I've been taking 1 or 2 5mg tablets. 2 tablets definitely seems like too much.
- nbouscal 12y ago
  Yeah, 10mg is a crazy dose, even 5mg is far more than most people I know take. I would try out doses in the 100mcg-1mg range and see how they work.
  - collyw 12y ago
    Some people reckon that a lower dose (1mg) is more effective than 3 or 5mg. Its gotten a bit too popular, and there is tons of conflicting advice on using it.

malepolish 12y ago

you might try adding 5-HTP to the mix. i had the same issue, after taking melatonin – i'd fall sleep, but wake up a few hours later. pretty much every night. right now i take 1/2 of 2.5 mg melatonin (sublingual) with 50-100 mg 5-HTP, ideally 30-45 min before going to bed. adding 5-HTP was A MIRACLE ! after just a day or two i slept very soundly and had AMAZING dreams – we're talkin 2160p 10.5 THX Lord of the Rings epic trilogy with you playing lead role. those first few weeks i even went to bed earlier just so i could dream longer. :) prior to that it had been decades since i remembered having any dreams. (warning though, i've told several friends about it – after they tried it they had to stop because the dreams were too intense.) i read about 5-HTP in this book i borrowed from my chiropracter: http://smile.amazon.com/5-HTP-Natural-Overcome-Depression-Insomnia/dp/0553379461/ http://smile.amazon.com/5-HTP-Natural-Overcome-Depression-In... basically it states that melatonin is only part of the sleep equation, seratonin is the other part. your body can produce seratonin from 5-HTP (which is the chemical in turkey which makes you drowsy). also: staring at a computer screen can really mess with your sleep – due to chemical imbalance with these hormones. to help as much as possible, i installed F.lux on all of my computers. i also recently added Modalert to my daily routine, but that's another story...

joeyspn 12y ago
Never heard of F.lux before.. I just installed it and it looks great!
wiresurfer 12y ago
I can vouch for F.lux. Its such an essential tool for me now and I have made it a point to get it on all my devices. Apart from the advantages it has in not disrupting my sleep cycle, I actually enjoy the warmer tones. Even when it comes to home lighting, I have always preferred the yellow shades over the incandescent whites. Never tried melatonin, either stand alone or coupled with 5-HTP. Let me read a little more. Thanks for the pointers. As an aside, I would definitely say get your sleep cycles right and more disciplined definitely puts you in a much higher efficiency bracket. Coupled with some simple lifestyle hacks ( playing a team outdoor sport, if you are not the workout type, no devices in bedroom rule, boring but informative tech talk to go to sleep, light and early dinners, no coffee post sunset) you would be surprised how many extra hours of high concentration work you are capable of.

tripzilch 12y ago

Like others said, play with the dosage. First time I tried it, I had 2.5mg (or maybe 3mg I forget) tablets. I had a somewhat similar experience, I'd get drowsy, but when in bed I'd feel cold and couldn't sleep very well at all. The next year I got 0.1mg tablets, experimented a bit and found that 8 of those (0.8mg) was the sweet spot for me (taken about 2 hours before I want to sleep). I generally used it in the winter, when it gets dark at 16:00, which apparently can throw my cycle a little out of whack if I don't pay attention, the melatonin seemed to help to fix this a bit. I have to say, I've never noticed really strong effects like "puts me out quickly". Just a general feeling after an hour or two, that "yeah I could sleep". If I listen to that feeling, I sleep very well. If I stay up anyway, it goes away again, and I don't really get the benefits. One thing I noticed, after a few weeks, was when I knocked over and broke a glass of water for the third time. I wondered, "hey that seems to happen quite a lot lately..". And always in the evening after I had taken the melatonin, so I guess it does do something to my coordination or perhaps alertness. This was easily solved by taking a bit more care where I place my drinking glass after taking melatonin :)