Hesitant To Try Melatonin

[imapumpkin]

So my mother has been pestering the living daylights out of me to take melatonin at night because both my neurologist and integrative medicine doctors have said it can help people with fragmented sleep get a restoritive night's rest. She went ahead and bought a bottle of the stuff and nags me incessantly to try it.

The problem is I don't want to.

In fact, not only do I have no desire to try it, every atom in my body is resisting it.

I get a tremendous gut-feeling that I should not take melatonin. Yes, I tend to be gun-shy about most new meds/supplements because I'm so sensitive to them and because I've had reactions before, but this is one of those times where i'm not just anxious to try something new...i really and truly feel i shouldn't take it, and really don't want to. With every new med I go through a period of anxiety, then just grit my teeth and start it. Except I can't bring myself to do that this time.

I know that two doctors have already said "you can try it" but everything I've read points me towards DON'T DO IT. Apparently it can interfere with birth control (don't want that) can lower blood pressure (really don't want that since I do everything I can think of to boost my bp and don't need something else dragging it down) and can interfere with SSRIs (I take lexapro). Furthermore, I'm already on klonopin, which is a pretty knock-you-out drug to begin with. I don't really want any more "downers" so to speak. It seems so counter-intuitive to take something to make you sleepy when I am already plagued by sleepiness 24/7. I also really don't have trouble falling asleep (with the exception of the nights that my bladder is running in overdrive.)

Frankly, I think my mother wants me to take the melatonin because I am a light sleeper and have very sensitive hearing...for instance if it is raining out, I won't be able to sleep because I can hear water dripping from the gutters even with earplugs. Yes, I am extremely fatigued which prevents me from functioning enough to have a job, but I am skeptical that melatonin will make much of a difference given that my whole autonomic nervous system is out of whack.

In addition to all of this, I'm 26 years old. I'm a grown up, and I don't feel like taking melatonin. I live with my mom, she takes care of me when I'm sick because I cannot work and can't be financially independent, so to a certain extent, I'm kind of bound to honor her wishes. She also gets very upset with me when I don't do *everything possible* to feel/get better, including this. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for all she does for me, but I don't think that entitles her to tell me what substances I should put into my body, particularly if I am having trepidations about something. I had the same gut-feeling about the midodrine I was prescribed. I couldn't bring myself to start it. So I put it off. And guess what? 3 days later my integrative medicine doctor put me on licorice root extract and that bumped up my bp, so I was able to get a supplemental boost in blood-pressure with an all-natural supplement that has no bad side effects. I just can't ignore that gut-feeling to stay away from melatonin as well.

Does anyone else get pressured to try/take things they're really not wanting to take? I could really use some advice because I'm seriously considering lying to her and telling her I took it and hated it just to get her off my case.

[Tachy Phlegming]

I found it to be rather nice. But my understanding is that these supplements anyway are supposed to be things people just decide to take if they really want to and then continue if they end up making them feel better.

People shouldn't be bugging you to take it if you don't want to and are on a ton of other meds with which you've read it might interfere. It's also not known as a great cure-all for everything that ails you whatever minimal positive effect she thinks it will have.

Maybe tell her you'll take some other herbal supplement which does "everythng" to distract her from the Melatonin. You might try to interest her in oregano oil. I imagine it does absolutely nothing and you therefore might not mind trying it but I think there are websites you can find for her to read which will tell her it will get rid of some or all of whatever you have.

[Kay107]

I have a lot of sleep issues as well and considered melatonin. I looked it up first and read somewhere that POTS patients do not do well on Melatonin. I am not sure of the credibility of the source, but I just didn't want to risk it. I went to a nutritional supplement store and tried a few of their nighttime recovery products. I settled on one that helped me get to sleep and stay asleep, and brought it to my nutritionist so she could make sure everything in it was ok to be taking. She said it had a lot of good stuff I need anyway and the only ingredient she didn't like was sucralose but there isn't very much. Perhaps try other avenues before the melatonin? I understand your hesitation, and I have heard from friends that if you take it consistently it is very hard to go to sleep without it, but I never did try it myself.

[looneymom]

My son has low blood pressure and our cardiologist does not want him taking it because it can lower his blood pressure more. It relaxes the blood the blood vessles.

Rachel

[Hope]

I thought it was on the "What to avoid" page on the DINET website, but I don't see that list on the new website. I could be missing it.

[houswoea]

I like it. It helps me sleep and i don't find it makes me worse.

[ramakentesh]

Melatonin suppresses sympathetic msna response to standing. Bad for dizzy pots claimed to be helpful for hyper pots.

also can increase autoimmunity according to some studies.