Insomnia Support Group

I haven't been on here for a while, but I thought it might be helpful for other people who have sleep problems for me to talk about my experience with Melatonin.

I heard about this and researched through this site and ordered some from the US. I live in the UK where it is not available.

For the last 18 months I have had sporadic insomnia, meaning that every week I lose atleast 1 nights sleep purely cos I just couldn't shut down. Some weeks I had more difficulty getting to sleep several nights and the more I didn't sleep, the more anxiety I had about sleeping.

This is not bad insomnia at all, but nevertheless it was causing anxiety before bedtime and making it difficult at work being tired from a couple of hours sleep.

So I took Melatonin 3 weeks ago and I havent had one restless night since. It used to take me hours to get to sleep some nights. Now I am out in less than 15 minutes. As a result I have a lot less anxiety about going to sleep. so I don't take it every night, maybe 3 out of a week.

I take 3mg, sometimes 6mg, but rarely. 3mg works if I am just a bit anxious or emotionally stressed. 6mg works if I am having real difficulties shutting down my mind from the days events.

I have heard that there is little research into longterm conseqeunces, and therefore I don't take it too often, but tbh, now that I am sleeping so well (7+ hours a night without waking) it has had such a positive effect on the rest of my life that I think it is worth the risk.

I haven't noticed any side effects. I think first time I took it I felt a bit sleepy the next day. I don't wake up feeling drugged and I feel largely refreshed the next morning.

What do other people think?
Posted on 04/02/08, 11:04 am