Posted by Adam on December 19, 1999, at 13:18:14
In reply to Re: INSOMNIA [Melatonin], posted by dove on December 19, 1999, at 9:50:39
Thank you, dove.
I may just give melatonin a try. I'm still scratching my head over Elizabeth's adverse
troubles with it, and hopefully will get some insight into this. I did read about
it's possible depressive effects, and I think we both have to weigh such cautions against
the fact that even antidepressants can aggravate depression, depending on the individual
response to a drug.The trouble for me at this point is I am in a clinical trial, and this severely limits
what other drugs I can take concomitantly with selegiline. I can't even take Benadryl.
I might run into the same problem with melatonin under any circumstances, and so for the
next few months it might not be an option anyway.At this point exercise is the only solution I can think of that isn't forbidden.
What's weird, and has been my experience all along with selegiline, is that I got maybe
three hours of sleep last night (I should say this morning), and I feel fine. I feel
better and more alert than I used to feel getting my usual six or seven hours of sleep.
The problems have been that I am slowly moving into a nocturnal lifestyle, and I am
finding it very hard to reverse this. I am completely out-of-whack with the day-to-day
rhythms of my friends and coworkers. The vampire jokes have inevitably started, and
I sometimes wonder if Vlad the Impaler or whoever the inspiration for Dracula was didn't
have a sleep disorder. I'm hoping that melatonin might help me at least exert some
control over the pattern. I see my doctor in a few days. I'll let folks know what his
take on melatonin, combo. with MAOI, etc. is.Lastly, is it possible for a person to just go forever on 3-4 hours max. of sleep/day
and be healthy? Is one liable at this point to resort to hypnotics for self-preservation?
> I think a number of us have discussed the melatonin thing. While taking Prozac I had to up the amount I took every night, but since quiting the Prozac I am back to Melatonin 1mg. sublingual. I still take Amitriptyline before bed, but that alone is not, usually, enough to get me to sleep. My problem is not staying asleep but falling asleep, so this may be why sublingual melatonin works so well for me.
>
> I am still in a bit of a funk, it worries me, one of the biggest lows I have had since I was a teenager, [and the longest time I have gone without being pregnant since getting married at 19] anyway, after reading Dr. Bob's pharmo-tips and finding the depressive effects of melatonin, I tried to go without, challenging the depression so-to-speak. I found myself even worse in the morning, so I still don't know if the melatonin is adding to the low or what?
>
> My advice is, try melatonin if you wish, but be aware that it may add to any depressive characteristics, or it may help, I don't know. And try to get by with the smallest dosage that helps, the sublingual enables me to take way less that the normal swallow kind.
>
> dove
poster:Adam
thread:16735
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991212/msgs/17131.html