Melatonin?

Has anyone used melatonin for insomnia? My doctor recently recommended I take 3 mg of melatonin to help me sleep at night. I just want to know if anyone here has used it before and could tell me what to expect? Did it work for you?

No, I am not looking for advice- I will do as the doctor told me, because they have a degree and they probably know what's best for me. I am simply looking for others who have experience with it to tell me if it worked for them/what to expect, if I have any complaints I will first talk to the doctor before making changes. Mods, feel free to delete this if you must.

It helped for like...the first week for me. Slept like a baby, but, my body got too used to it I guess? Resistant? I don't know, but it stopped working.

I now use valerian, which is an herb, and works wonders. I've been using it for a good 4 years now, and it still works.

I knew some people who tried it and I believe most of them liked it. The little they mentioned about it was they were just able to sleep like a lot of other people, easier going down, better resting, whatever. Pretty sure I knew one or two people who didn't like it though. But the thing with melatonin is that it's going to work perfectly for some people, and not at all for others, so you may still not be able to sleep. It's just gonna depend on how your body reacts.

I know nothing of your habits but the age old tips of getting off the technology as early in the evening as you can, especially computers (I could stay awake all night on my computer, or go to bed at 2-3 if I used it that day, but I'll pass out by midnight most nights if I don't go on it) and having some relaxing time, lights off/low etc. doing stuff like that may help the melatonin do its job and increase the likelihood of it working out for you.

I had nightmares when I tried it a while back! It turned out that my body already had enough melatonin so that was the cause of the nightmares. If you have true insomnia, it's gonna help out. Hope you get better sleep!!

I used it in my youth with good results, but find it doesn't help much any more. I do find it helps with jet lag, but not with insomnia.

It is worth trying. Also, in case your doc didn't mention it, you need to take it 30 to 60 minutes before you want to start to settle down for the night.

Good luck!

Literally just took one to go to bed right now! I take them to help me fall asleep because sometimes it will take me hours to do so. Works great for me, I hope it works for you too!

I was on it for a while(probably still should be) and it worked pretty well. The tablets tasted like cardboard to me though.

I have melatonin gummies that I take. I used to not take anything for sleep aids - but - with the increased dose of Lexapro that I'm on - I find that I can't sleep. Generally I take my night meds, my vitamins and the melatonin - wait for a bit and then once I'm sleepy I take my lexapro and pass out.

I have to say that it's essentially just doing what your body should already do. Melatonin is naturally produced in your body. If you are doing things like looking at your phone or stimulating your brain - it isnt going to help. I put my phone away an hour before bed and then once I'm actually ready to sleep I turn my tv off and it's lights out. You definitely can help your sleeping ability by setting up a pattern like that. It helps to go to bed the same time every night - though that isn't really a possibility for me.

As I've gotten older I also find that I wake up a lot during the night - melatonin doesn't help for that. I think it's just an older person thing - getting up to pee - waking up at 3am, looking at the clock and thinking "daaaaaaaaaaamn it" lol