Posted by Larry Hoover on May 20, 2005, at 17:58:41
In reply to Melatonin safe with MAOIs?, posted by cybercafe on May 20, 2005, at 14:43:56
> Hey guys... I am sleeping at the strangest hours. Find it really hard to sleep when I should. Want to try melatonin..
>
> I am also taking parnate 30 mg / day.
>
> Can I combine the two?Yes.
The effective dose of melatonin, though, can vary by an order of magnitude, across individuals. And, unlike other drugs, melatonin has an inverted-U shaped dose-response curve. If you know what the standard bell-curve looks like, it's something like that.
At lower (relative) doses, response increases with dose (kind of what you'd expect). Then, you reach a plateau. Increasing dose does not increase the effect. Then, at even higher doses, the response drops off (the opposite of what you'd expect).
The thing you need to do is figure out what your plateau dose is, and never exceed that.
Normal physiological amounts of melatonin are about 0.6 mg, yet the standard tablets are 3 mg. It could be that some people don't absorb it well, or their livers degrade it, or whatever....so you need to experiment with dose.
If you start at around 0.75 mg (1/4 tablet) and work up by quarters, you should find your dose without exceeding it. (If you go too high, nothing will happen at all.)
My own effective dose is in the 0.6 to 1.0 mg range. I've heard of people needing 6 mg or more.
Best,
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:500404
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050516/msgs/500488.html