Has anyone tried melatonin or serotonin for anything before?

I tried the melatonin and it didn’t help me sleep. But everyone is different and you need to give it a chance to work or not work before you stop taking it.

I take melatonin in the evenings. I sleep like a rock.

Although melatonin plays a major role in sleep, as I understand it taking a melatonin supplement has other major health benefits as well.

@YoBob Reading up on it your body makes its own melatonin as you are going to sleep. Taking a supplement just gives you the amount to get you to sleep faster. I’m considering taking a few if they don’t work with just one.

@yobob, How long have you taken Melatonin? When I was having trouble sleeping my pharmasist said that it was a great idea, but that I could only take it for a while. What have you heard?

Less is better with Melatonin. I take one mg each night and fall asleep after half an hour. I buy the sublingual one, by Source Naturals in peppermint, and have taken it forever. I mean, for a long time. But I only sleep for 4 or 4.5 hours.

Melatonin increased my depression significantly.

If it does work for you, a tip from my sleep specialist: take it around dinner time instead of right before sleep.

@GracieT I have been taking it for about a year or so. My grandmother gave me a book awhile back entitled “The Melatonin Miracle” that was written by a researcher who observed an unexpected increase in both quality and quantity of life of lab rats that were being used to study Melatonin. So… like any good researcher he went on do do a more complete study and became quite convinced that taking a melatonin supplement, regardless of whether or not you are having sleep problems, is a darned good thing to do for yourself.

I have taken melatonin drops during my postpartum depression so that I can sleep – they worked better than Ambien.

Does anyone have any experience with sarotonin?... being able to get thru a day without wanting to kill myself would be nice .. so I’d like to try that if anyone has any input.

@tedd I wasn’t aware one could take serotonin as a supplement. And if you are having suicidal thoughts, I’d suggest talking to someone, and maybe getting on some kind of antidepressant.

Generally, what’s prescribed for depression is a SSRI – selective seratonin reuptake inhibitor. There are a lot of different types that are prescribed. Depression and anxiety runs in my famiy, and I have been on Lexapro and Paxil before. My sister has been on Luvox for quite some time, and my oldest daughter takes Lexapro, and has for a number of years.

It takes a few weeks for the levels to get up to where they need to be, so it’s not an instant change, and it doesn’t make you necessarily happy, but rather makes you more level and optomistic. I find that I’m able to get a grip on things, and keep proper perspective.

I’ve used melatonin on occasion. One of the things that you have to watch for is to not fight going to sleep after you take it. There are side effects when you take it and try to stay awake. Make sure you read up on it, and take it correctly.

I’ve taken melatonin in the evenings for insomnia. At first, it was effective as long as I took it 30 minutes before bed. But if I used it for more than a week straight, then the sleep-inducing effects would wear off. I only take it occasionally now, but when I do, I’ve noticed that I can no longer sleep through the night. I wake up in the middle of the night. So my answer would be that, for me at least, it was effective only in teh short term.

How ironic. My daughter showed up this evening and asked me about taking melatonin to help her sleep, because her sleep cycle is messed up.

What does your doctor recommend?

@tedd Also, I hope you aren’t taking those 5 hour energy shots or monster drinks during the day. Those can make you more depressed.