melatonin is barely working

My Dad bought me melatonin a couple weeks ago to help me sleep. It worked for maybe two days. So I upped the dose and still barely works. 9Mg and I can't fall asleep as fast as it says I should. I've been under so much stress and depression for the past couple months and have not been able to sleep properly at all. Any other options?

catastrophe,
There are lots of other options. If you are suffering from depression, get someone to help you treat the depression. If the depression is brought on by insomnia, then let's treat the insomnia.

You mentioned stress. that can be a cause of both the depression and the insomnia. Any way to address that? Pills are not going to reduce stress. There is meditation, exercise, or possibly wacking the source of the stress on the head with a rubber chicken.

Seriously, stress can really hurt. If the problem is too big or complex for you, ask some family or friends for some help. Perhaps 1 in 10 will have a good idea so it is important to listen to everyone to catch that one good idea. Here is a little something to help with filtering the suggestions. Anything that starts with, "all you gotta do," clearly comes from someone who does not understand.

Melatonin helped me, but it does not solve all problems. Look for what you believe to be the source of the problem and tackle that. Even after the stress is removed, you can expect you system to take some time to recover. Sleep patterns do not change quickly.

get started on it soon
GaryM

this happened to me too... the first time i took melatonin i fell asleep in record time. the next couple of times it seemed to take longer until it didnt work at all. as a matter of fact about a week ago is the last time i tried taking some and i still didnt sleep a wink all night after taking the highest recommented dose at 11pm.

i believe it is a naturally chemical in our brain or body so maybe thats the reason but im not a scientist lol

Thanks for your input, Gary. My stress has been doing ok now, but not my sleep. Depression has always been an issue, and I've been in therapy but all my T says is "take pills". So I don't really plan on taking a lot of her advice anymore unless it's actually useful. Family is impossible to talk to, and my friends aren't really ever much help because they know close to nothing. But thanks.

Yeah, it's a natural thing in your brain, Casey, aha. I'm not sure either why it would stop working; pretty lame. :P I guess I've given up on melatonin. So, at least for tonight, I'm gonna hope chamomile works.

If you plan to go the herbal route, I have some suggestions.
St Johns Wort seems effective in treating mild depression.
Valerian Root assists with sleep and may have benefits for mild depression. The studies are not that good for Valerian Root.
coffea cruda (there are a few spellings, but it is not related to coffee) is a decent sleep aid for some. Try taking it sublingual -disolved under the tongue.
Passion flower is often used for insomnia.

If you want to shotgun a bunch of herbals, I can recommend Vinco's Insomnia/Stress formula. It is available from several vendors on Amazon. Spray a little under your tongue before bed. I use it every night. I have heard another person recommend Agar, but I had no success with it. Still, every person is different. You might consider it. I found it on Amazon as well.

best wishes for a good night's sleep
GaryM

I'll write those down, thanks!

catastrophe wrote:My Dad bought me melatonin a couple weeks ago to help me sleep. It worked for maybe two days. So I upped the dose and still barely works. 9Mg and I can't fall asleep as fast as it says I should. I've been under so much stress and depression for the past couple months and have not been able to sleep properly at all. Any other options?

I am sorry to hear

melatonin takes a while to get used to. try taking 3mg for a steady period of time, the same time, every night. make sure ALL the lights are off, windows/blinds closed. if there is ANY light in your room, it won't work. also, i tried upping my dosage from 3mg to 5mg, and it did not work at all. so maybe a lower dosage will do the trick.

it was working great for me, unfortunately i had to stop taking it, because it was messing with my estrogen levels. if you are female, it may affect your cycle, so keep an eye on it.

good luck

Melatonin (amongst other things) did not work for me as well. I don't know what your sleep cycle is like but for me it was incredibly unpredictable (i.e. I would fall asleep at completely random, different times). This is definitely impairing when you have obligations to attend the next day. But the best way to get some rest, I've found, is through discipline.

You kind of have to give up the thoughts of getting eight hours of rest (in the beginning, at least). I've always held the belief that I needed eight hours of sleep--and, anything less would impair my functioning. This is really perfectionist thinking, especially coming from an insomniac; it's only going to make you more frustrated when you don't achieve this (in all likelihoods).

What I've found works best is reducing your sleep enough so you can feel exhausted the next night--and, once you feel exhausted, force yourself to stay awake for another couple of hours. They key is consistency: make sure your alarm is set to go off the same time every day (even on weekends). For me, I would go to bed at 12 and wake up at 6 everyday. Be sure to never take naps and definitely don't turn off that alarm clock!

In the beginning it feels worse than anything. I was used to waking up at 2-3 in the afternoon and sometimes I wouldn't even fall asleep until 6 (also, six hours of sleep was unquestionable--i.e. "I needed eight"). But if you just remain disciplined enough to stay awake, and only sleep at the interval you set, you can create a more stable pattern and it everything will slowly improve for you.

It does take a hell of a lot of discipline to do this, however, but with discipline you will have more control over your sleep, which will alleviate the hopelessness one might get since there is no "end all be all" remedy for insomnia. Despite how simple this sounds, it has worked beautifully for me thus far. Simply put, at the end of the day my mind is so exhausted that it does not bother to keep me awake (sometimes it would take me like 4-5 hours just to fall asleep). This has been the only way for me to finally be able to live a more scheduled life with appropriate sleep.

Cheers,

Yeah, melatonin didn't go much for me as well, but it's been awhile.. You may want to give kava kava a shot. Make sure to purchase the powdered root though. (the leaf part is what's not good for the liver, they're the ones sold in the capsules supplements, not in the bulk form). Anyway.. I find this it keeps working over time and has actually a reverse tolerance effect. Make sure to drink alot of water and too much could cause hangover. 3 tablespoons usually does the trick for me. Yes, I've been using the combo of valerian and kava kava and still helps me to fall asleep quite well.

I like the post from lattesandlibraries.. if you're having problems going to sleep at night. Force yourself wake up early, like 6 a.m., excercise I would say 45 min to 1 hour in the morning. warm bath at night. chamomile, valerian, kava all decent stuff. The sleeping pills, forget it, that stuff scares me. Ambien with the hallucinations, no thanks! Not trying to put them down, but I think natural is the better route to go.. For sure I agree - just taking more and more sleep aids is not the main solution.. Just have to implement the excercise, sleep pattern, stress management, and little things to get the holistic body back into going to bed at a decent time.

Problem is fast forward to this past couple weeks, I got a bigger problem to tackle, I can't stay asleep. I'm naturally an early riser, but I've been waking up at a ridiculous 3 in the morning, can't go back to sleep. And it's always these crazy dreams that just wake me up. they don't stop. they're so intense. I hate it. I can't think of an effective solution or rhyme or reason to why this is happening to me. I'm pretty good at figure out my own solution when examining what's going with my body, but this makes no sense other than just another freddy kruger spell. and it's not always bad dreams, it's really good ones too... Also, I havent' been stressed out about anything, heck even went on vacation last week..

You try to look at it sometimes, and you ask yourself - what the heck? why? I really sympathesize for you guys in with the sleeping problems. Within a few weeks I definitely see how much impact it has on well-being, and see how easily not enough sleep has cause alittle bit of depression. Nothing bad, but it's no fun. I'd sacrifice my xbox, car, and underwear just to get back in a decent routine again. Sigh.

Hey,
What time are you taking the Melatonin? I was taking a 10mg, timed release an hour before I went to bed. After I talked to my neurologist, he said I should take it 3 or 4 hours before I went to bed. I started this and suddenly began crashing randomly (feeling the need to go to bed at 8:30 instead of my usual 10.) Other nights, it was impossible for me to sleep. If you're taking it right before you got to bed, I would suggest taking it earlier. And, of course, talk to a doctor. They might be able to recommend a better type of Melatonin and a dosage that might suit you better. Good luck !