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Therapist recommended melatonin for sleep, good or bad idea?


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Hey folks,

It's been a long while since I've posted here. Been a rough summer, mom passed away back in June. Dealing with everything afterwards has been a nightmare, eg. assets, money, cars, cleaning out the house. Anyway, I've been seeing a therapist for several months. I think it really helped with my mom passing away and things. I also went to have someone to talk about dating, because I get too upset and depressed with the subject anymore. Note; my therapist is NOT "psychologist" but a clinical social worker. She doesn't prescribe meds or anything. I think I've been doing better mentally for the most part since seeing her but sometimes I disagree with her or things she recommends.

 

To cut to the chase; my whole life since I was a teen I been a bad bedtime person. I'm a perfectly healthy guy, work, exercise, etc. I just don't like going to bed at reasonable times. My mom passing away hasn't helped my sleep any. I want to start sleeping a bit earlier though, at least go to bed when the sun's not coming up! I try but I toss and turn a lot, my mind just doesn't want to turn off. I shut the lights, shut the TV, no noise, no caffeine, etc. just can't fall asleep.

 

My therapist, she recommended I try melatonin as a sleep aid (she's VERY into natural remedies and supplements). I've heard of it, but honestly never really knew what it was until she told me about it. I researched it a bit when I got home (studies, side effects, etc.) and I ended up buying a bottle of 5MG melatonin at the drug store and took it last night. Sleep wasn't terrible; it made me feel really relaxed, almost like I went for a run or something. I would say it DID help to an extent as far as the sleep goes. It's the side-effects I am concerned about.

 

Mid-afternoon, I got really, REALLY drowsy. Almost like I didn't sleep! I fell asleep for a couple hours on my couch. I also got a little dizzy and have had a very mild headache all day. I immediately point finger at the melatonin, and all these symptoms are side effects of taking melatonin from what I read on the web. I was very, very weary of taking it beforehand because I've heard some iffy things about it on the internet (including side effects). I read it's a bad thing to depend on and overtime, it can actually make sleep worse. I wanted to know if anyone else here has ever tried it, if they had any success with it or side effects? And just general advice on this situation, what do you all think of my therapist recommending this to me?...

 

In the meantime, I'm NOT taking it again. I'm really not happy about this having been recommended to me. Especially by someone that's not an actual medical doctor. Just because you can buy something over the counter doesn't mean it's safe. My therapist, she really balks at stuff like prilosec (I told her my doctor put me on it a month years ago when I was having stomach pains and acid problems). But, she recommends brain-altering drugs like this? I just don't like it, it made me feel weird. :upset:

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It is something the body actually produces so it is not a chemical foreign to the body. It was recommended by a medical doctor for my son when he was 4 years old to keep him asleep because he didn’t sleep more than 4 hours a day. I have used it the only real affect I had was some funky nightmares when starting it.

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I've taken melatonin many times over the years and it does help me sleep. No weird side effects. It's not a chemical like a sleeping pill. If you dont like it, dont take it. Try a glass of warm milk, it aids sleep. Tryptophan, in cooked turkey, puts people to sleep too, like after that big Christmas dinner. There are many natural ways to get to sleep and stay asleep.

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I tried Melatonin several years ago, didn't work for me. No bad side effects, but no help with sleep either. In desperation I tried over-the-counter Benadryl. A physician had told me that it's safe to take, as it's not processed through the liver. I used it nightly for several years, and it was a godsend.

 

Thankfully a few years ago after my divorce was long over, I was able to sleep naturally. I do run 50 miles per week, plus strength training and 2 jobs.....so I'm naturally tired! However, stress can override all of that. I do think it's possible to overcome the sleep issues in time.

 

To note...my first sleep disturbance came after my father passed away. I was in my early 30's and it was the first time in my life I couldn't sleep.

 

My opinion, FWIW, give Benadryl a try. It won't cause weird side effects. Good luck, and hugs......I remember your dear mom's passing and have read your posts and I can imagine it's been a stressful road for you.

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Melatonin - good. For me, benadryl - bad. It dries me out way too much and lasts all day.

 

Try a smaller dose of melatonin. It has been useful to me when I am trying to get myself back onto a regular sleep schedule. I am a terrible sleeper, and I usually think of melatonin too late to use it. Still, when I have used it, it has helped.

 

I would avoid taking anything for more than a week or two at a time, no matter how safe it is, because you want to build your skills at calming yourself and avoid relying on anything else for that.

 

The afternoon nap? Maybe you needed one. I bet your brain is pretty tired and your life is absorbing a lot of your energy these days, without giving much back.

 

Just recently got done cleaning out my father's house. I am sorry for your loss; I recall her diagnosis last year I think it was. Its been a long road for you, MM. Take the nap. Take the melatonin. Use a small dose. (I think I take only 0.5 mg, for example.)

 

I have no side effects at all. A larger dose, or taking it too close to bedtime, makes me tired the next day. No side effects though.

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It may be time to get a new therapist. This one seems too much into fads and quackery. She also seems unprofessional and is operating outside the law if she is acting in a care provider capacity and steps outside of talk therapy and starts to muse about her personal opinions on prescription medications and drug store supplements during therapy sessions as if it's part of the treatment/therapy..

 

It may be best to get a workup from a physician to rule out physical causes and determine what is really going on with the insomnia/depression. And get a referral to a better qualified, more professional therapist who can help you with grief and insomnia in a constructive, professional way..

a clinical social worker. sometimes I disagree with her or things she recommends.

 

recommended I try melatonin as a sleep aid she's VERY into natural remedies and supplements. I'm really not happy about this having been recommended to me.

 

My therapist, she really balks at stuff like prilosec

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Most melatonin I've seen comes in a ridiculous dose. 2.5mg is about all you need to test the waters. It's also meant as an internal time regulator rather than a direct sleep aid. There's a decent amount of literature behind its impact on the circadian rhythm while the whole hypnotic element inducing onset sleep is pretty lacking of it. But more power to anyone who, whether by placebo or unestablished science, finds it an efficient sleep aid. Personally, I took a small and timed dose while I was working 3rd shift for awhile. It seemed to help adjust my sleep cycle. Perhaps fortunately, given I often took it while I was still at work, it never actually put me to sleep as many expect it to.

 

I'd have to echo Wiseman, though. A physician's medical opinion would serve you better than your therapist's.

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It may be time to get a new therapist. This one seems too much into fads and quackery. She also seems unprofessional and is operating outside the law if she is acting in a care provider capacity and steps outside of talk therapy and starts to muse about her personal opinions on prescription medications and drug store supplements during therapy sessions as if it's part of the treatment/therapy..

 

It may be best to get a workup from a physician to rule out physical causes and determine what is really going on with the insomnia/depression. And get a referral to a better qualified, more professional therapist who can help you with grief and insomnia in a constructive, professional way..

 

Thanks for the replies here. It certainly makes me feel better talking to others that have had experience with this supplement. I sadly agree Wiseman. I hate to find someone new though, I do like my therapist, she's helped a lot as far as mom passing. I feel she cares and wants to see me succeed both in life and with dating. But yeah, other things I sometimes find don't work with her. I too, thought she was overstepping a bit telling me to take a sleep aid supplement. Besides the medicine, for one, she's a religious woman to a point where it gets annoying to someone like me. I'm a hardcore lifelong agnostic, borderline atheist. I talk a lot about my struggles with dating / finding women, she constantly suggests to me going to church groups/gatherings. HELLO, I'M NOT RELIGIOUS! I feel like I don't have any place going to silly church gatherings even if they are free and/or open to people that don't belong to the church. Also, people that go there are (obviously) going to belong to a church or be religious, why would I want to put myself in a place or situation to find someone that is religious when I am not?

 

My mom died and she tells me she's still looking back on me, and "dead people come back as this energy". I'm like... do you hear yourself? Should a person of science, giving professional advice be talking about spiritual things like that? Even if she's religious, why is that coming into her conversations with me? Sure, sometimes I feel (and hope) my mom is out there somewhere on another plane of existence, sometimes I feel like she's watching me. Sometimes I have dreams about her. But, I'm also a skeptic, I understand I'm going through grief and it may just be all in my head, that i may think or see things and think it's her. It's not a therapist's place I feel to be enforcing supernatural beliefs on me, telling me she's in the spirit realm. That's ridiculous.

 

My opinion, FWIW, give Benadryl a try. It won't cause weird side effects. Good luck, and hugs......I remember your dear mom's passing and have read your posts and I can imagine it's been a stressful road for you.

 

Thank you mines. I've actually been handling my moms passing incredibly well. I'm free from her ailments as much as she is. It was hell for me, for two years! She was miserable in a nursing home, constantly hounding me day and night to bring her things (mostly food which wasn't actually going in her stomach). There was always the fear of something happening to her in the back of my mind. Feature of a sickness, another surgery, her health nosediving, etc. It's just a huge sigh of relief for me. I think death was a release for her and me. Whether an afterlife exists or not, I'm happy for her. If she's in a better place like that, great. If there's no afterlife, well I can still live at peace knowing she's no longer suffering.

 

All the melatonin comments; I skipped last night, slept great regardless (albeit a bit late) and today I feel normal again. I did go to the grocery store and buy a lower dosage bottle, 3MG instead of 5MG. I have to get up extremely early tomorrow for a karate class and this is the one day of the week of them all where I absolutely can never go to bed early enough to make karate, so I think I'm gonna try the 3MG and see how I feel. I want to say I don't want become dependent on this stuff, just help get a normal sleep cycle or use it on days where it's important I get some sleep the night before hand.

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Our bodies naturally create melatonin. For some, especially when aging doesn't produce so taking it is merely a supplement. A natural supplement and helps the body balance it's circadian rhythm.

 

My friends and myself have had varied experiences. For me, it does absolutely nothing. I've tried different dosages. For my friend, he'd take the smallest recommended dose and it would knock him out. Add in he's twice my weight and 6 inches taller.

 

Seeing it helped you sleep but didn't like the way you felt the following day, I would give it a chance.

 

Benadryl's good but you can build up a tolerance to it pretty quick (I did) and it's not natural where as melatonin is.

 

Sorry to hear about your Mothers passing.

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I'm so sorry to hear of your Mom, musicman, and my heart goes out to you.

 

I wouldn't consider melatonin to be some off-the-deep-end 'DRUG!!!!' and I also wouldn't consider a 'suggestion' to be a 'prescription'.

 

If you otherwise feel that this therapist has helped you, then weigh her pros and cons in the context of the overall relationship you've built with her, and consider whether something called 'continuity of care' is important to you. She's established a working history with you, and you either feel that she can continue to help you further, or you believe that her limitations have created a ceiling that you'll want to move beyond. Either choice is 'right' for you, because you're the one making it.

 

As for her religious nature seeping into her work with you, consider that every professional will operate according to their given beliefs, and this is a 'real life' limitation you'll encounter with anyone. Either you can adjust to make room for someone's private platform, or not. That can be a limitation of your own, OR their platform is too confining, OR a combo plate of both.

 

Try translating suggestions into terms you can relate to: Church groups can mean 'social' groups to you--and those are a google search away from finding. A suggestion that your Mom now resides in spirit can be as innocuous as the term 'school spirit' used in pep rallies around the world, holding no more meaning than an uplifting and inspiring emotion.

 

We are in control of how much CHARGE we want to assign a given suggestion. THAT is what will translate into the degree of offense WE choose to take, or not. While I agree that it can be annoying when someone assumes that their beliefs are shared by us, we also get to decide how much of an annoyance that 'must' be when operating in an otherwise beneficial relationship.

 

As for the melatonin, it's a natural substance that a healthy body creates on its own. If your body's cycle of producing it has been thrown off by such things as artificial light or a lack of Tryptophan-rich foods, then supplementing temporarily until you learn patterns of behavior that increase better production is not an earth shattering thing. You may want to consider any extreme reactions to consuming small amounts as a signal from your body that it's in desperate NEED of good, uninterrupted sleep. That's not about the substance itself, its about the bigger picture--you need to treat your overall sleep habits as a foundation for better health around-the-clock.

 

The more you do so, the more the supplement becomes like adding drops to a body of water. It's not the tablet that will tire you out, but rather taking the tablet signals your awareness of how tired you really are. If you decide that daytime tiredness must be attributable to the tablet rather than your overall cycles of behavior, you're likely focusing on the wrong thing.

 

Here's a quickie article for some suggestions on how to do that: https://lifespa.com/10-ways-boost-melatonin-naturally/

 

Head high, and it's good to hear from you.

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I would caution you to not use melatonin before checking other things medically, other medications, a thyroid imbalance and metabolic issues can cause melatonin to be a bad idea.

 

I would practice better sleep hygiene - turn the tablet off, the tv off, the computer off and smartphone off (okay, you can set it to ring but don't look at it unless it rings) TWO hours before bedtime. Reading in bed helps some people. I would also check if there is a physiological reason why you can't sleep

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Yikes 🖖 she sounds a little wacky and unprofessional if she keeps going on about her personal opinions on supplements and religious ideas on dating while in a professional setting. There is s huge difference if some guy on the street says "smoking a pack of cigarettes helps me sleep" and you paying a licensed professional to provide whatever talk therapy is in her scope of practice.

I too, thought she was overstepping a bit telling me to take a sleep aid supplement. she constantly suggests to me going to church groups/gatherings. HELLO, I'M NOT RELIGIOUS!
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I would caution you to not use melatonin before checking other things medically, other medications, a thyroid imbalance and metabolic issues can cause melatonin to be a bad idea.

 

I would practice better sleep hygiene - turn the tablet off, the tv off, the computer off and smartphone off (okay, you can set it to ring but don't look at it unless it rings) TWO hours before bedtime. Reading in bed helps some people. I would also check if there is a physiological reason why you can't sleep

 

Thanks for the replies. This one - as I think I said, there's nothing physically wrong with me. I got to the doctor every year, in fact I stay up to date on everything, dental, vision, etc. I think my sleep is just the way I am since I was a teenager. My brain doesn't like to shut off when I sleep sometimes. I'll toss and turn for hours. Thinking or even worrying about stupid things. I've tried practical advice; turning off TV's, not playing the computer an hour before bed, no caffeine, etc. NOTHING works! It's almost like, my body can go longer than 14~ hours on 8 hours of sleeps and it causes me to progressively stay up later and later, even if I exercise and things.

 

So I decided to try the melatonin the past couple days again after skipping a day, this time 3MG instead of 5MG. I have to say I am handling it much better. No next-day headaches or drowsiness, no dizziness. It actually helped me fall asleep and I even got up Saturday morning for a karate class. Last night I fell asleep 8 hours uninterrupted. I think the stuff is really helping me now. :) I'm impressed that a supplement like this works as well as it does.

 

I am going to proceed with caution, though. I don't want to become dependent on this or take it forever. But in between and on important days/mornings where I need to get up. So far the 3MG seems to work without the side effects.

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Thanks for the replies. This one - as I think I said, there's nothing physically wrong with me. I got to the doctor every year, in fact I stay up to date on everything, dental, vision, etc. I think my sleep is just the way I am since I was a teenager. My brain doesn't like to shut off when I sleep sometimes. I'll toss and turn for hours. Thinking or even worrying about stupid things. I've tried practical advice; turning off TV's, not playing the computer an hour before bed, no caffeine, etc. NOTHING works! It's almost like, my body can go longer than 14~ hours on 8 hours of sleeps and it causes me to progressively stay up later and later, even if I exercise and things.

 

So I decided to try the melatonin the past couple days again after skipping a day, this time 3MG instead of 5MG. I have to say I am handling it much better. No next-day headaches or drowsiness, no dizziness. It actually helped me fall asleep and I even got up Saturday morning for a karate class. Last night I fell asleep 8 hours uninterrupted. I think the stuff is really helping me now. :) I'm impressed that a supplement like this works as well as it does.

 

I am going to proceed with caution, though. I don't want to become dependent on this or take it forever. But in between and on important days/mornings where I need to get up. So far the 3MG seems to work without the side effects.

It doesn’t have dependency issues.

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