Gisela Hoschek (hoschek at JEEVES.UCSD.EDU) wrote:
: To keep the discussion going I would like to add my experience. I only took
: melatonin twice, seeking help to fall asleep. I used a formulation of 2.5
: mg melatonin with 500 microgram Vitamin B-6 per tablet, sublingual. My
: experience was not pleasant. While on the first occasion sleep finally came
: after about 1 hour with a little bit of apnea anxiety and heat flashes, on
: the second trial the following night, the side-effects were stronger and
: lasted for 5 hours. I now discontinued the medication. I am 55 years old
: with a history of Polio and Post-Polio (5 years ago; Polio beeing a brain
: infection). I am on no other medication. I may give melatonin another try
: next week with one tenth of the above dosage. Anybody care to comment?
Gisela - I have heard from a number of people with a reaction
similar to yours.
Why some people react this way to melatonin is not known, and
interestingly, it has never been observed in a clinical trial, despite
the thousands of people who have participated in them. When I tell
melatonin researchers about this phenomenon, they don't know what to make
of it. They offer three possible explanations: 1) It's a negative placebo
effect (It's all in your mind.) 2) the melatonin is contaminated, or
3) a very small number of people have an atypical reaction to melatonin,
too small a number to have impacted clinical trials.
I, for one, think the third explanation is the best one. I
understand that a very small percentage of people react to tryptophan --
melatonin's parent molecule -- by becoming agitated, not soothed. THe
same may be happening with melatonin. We human beings are a very
diverse lot.
If you want to continue to experiment with melatonin, I suggest
that you switch brands (in case the #2 explanation applies) and take
a much smaller dose, perhaps 500 micrograms --- 0.5 milligrams. I have
a good friend who took a 3 mg. dose of KAL brand melatonin and was
awake all night long. A very bizarre experience. She switched to
another brand (Life Extension) and dropped the dose down to 1 mg.
She slept like a log and has had no trouble ever since.
From the results of independent assays Life Extension appears
to have the purest melatonin. You can order 1 mg tablets by calling
1-800-841-5433. They now have 0.5 doses as well.
(I continue to recommend LIfe Extension, even though they
ahave the termity to push the Regelson/Pierpaoli melatonin book.)
Jo
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| Jo Robinson | jor at teleport.com |
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