All,

     I've seen numerous posts, etc re: melatonin.
     There is a product called "Drank" that is an "anti-energy" drink. It has melatonin and valerian (among other things) in it. I know that valerian root has been used in folk medicine to help with migraine, and from reading here for a while I see that melatonin has been mentioned numerous times. I have been drinking 2 cans per day (1 in the morning and another in the evening) for quite a while now (about 6 months or so this cycle. If I've gone chronic I guess it's not a cycle?). It's certainly no cure, but it does seem to have reduced the intensity of my attacks somewhat. The CH's are still real bad, but not quite as bad as before I started using this regimen.
       At first I started drinking it at night to help me sleep, but when this current cycle started, I went from 1 to 2 per day and as I said, it has helped take a little of the edge off the attacks. Not enough for my taste, but every little bit helps.
       Having said that, the first week or 2 I drank it (before this cycle), it just about put me to sleep about an hour afterwards. But after a while my body got used to it, and as long as I have some caffeine in the morning, I'm not sleepy at work. The one I have in the evening is along with several meds  that make me sleep through most attacks. I know I'm still getting a nightly visit because I wake up exhausted, the sheets are all over the place, and the left side of my face feels like the Devil has been using a hammer on it. So I feel like crap, but that's one less dose of 'trex I have to take. Now if the insurance folks weren't such asses about paying for the 'trex - 8 shots per month is all they will cover - I might not be taking so much other stuff. Oh well, "it is what it is" as some people say.
         Today though I had a daytime attack, so The Beast seems to to ramping up.  >:(
        Anyway, take this for what it's worth. Maybe it will help some of you, too.
        Oh frack here he comes again! This makes going form 1/day to 3 in 24 hrs! Gotta go! #€£{}%%^_\!!!!!!!!!!!! Until next time .... 

You really shouldn't take melatonin during the day, unless you plan on sleeping during the day.  I would maybe cut out the morning drink and take a melatonin pill with your nightly drink instead. 

Just so you know I've been using melatonin for over 10 years and have found it to be the best nightime preventive med for me.

According to one of our resident newbie know-it-alls, you should be extremely sick by now, Agostino:


Quote:

I have to deplore the self-medication with melatonine because of really high risks of known, and yet unkonown! risks and side-effects

Yeah, I went in that thread and gave him a little medical education.

Edit to add, why are so many people afraid of this stuff?  It's about as harmless as O2, but so many people want to take more dangerous meds instead?  I dunno.......... sometimes......

...and it seems as though the US and Canada are about the only places you can get it without a prescription.

Brew wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 1:32pm:

...and it seems as though the US and Canada are about the only places you can get it without a prescription.

Yeah, that can be a problem for those across the pond.  O2 is pretty difficult to get over there if I remember correctly. >:(

Agostino Leyre wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 1:23pm:

Edit to add, why are so many people afraid of this stuff?  It's about as harmless as O2, but so many people want to take more dangerous meds instead?  I dunno.......... sometimes......

     Agostino, I think it may be because of some bad press some years (maybe decades?) ago where people were having some bad side effects. Although now that I think of it, it may have been L-tryptophan that got the bad press. Either way, it was a nonRx thing to help people get to sleep.

Brew wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 1:22pm:

According to one of our resident newbie know-it-alls, you should be extremely sick by now, Agostino: Quote: I have to deplore the self-medication with melatonine because of really high risks of known, and yet unkonown! risks and side-effects

Hmmm...things are so much more interesting around here in the afternoon. Brew, you so often say things I'm thinking. Thanks for putting it out there.  ;) lance

Maybe it means that I lack certain social filters....

Quote:

According to one of our resident newbie know-it-alls

i'm sorry i left such a mark, but you're right, it is a character trait of mine which i hate by myself very much

Agostino Leyre wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 1:16pm:

You really shouldn't take melatonin during the day, unless you plan on sleeping during the day.  I would maybe cut out the morning drink and take a melatonin pill with your nightly drink instead.  Just so you know I've been using melatonin for over 10 years and have found it to be the best nightime preventive med for me.

A couple of months ago I was getting hit kinda constant after work...
430 to 6 ish.  For about 7 to 10 days I hit the melatonin at 4 to try to "break" the cycle.   dunno how effective it was, but no complaints here.  I am so random w/ these things & none of the "normal" triggers.   I also avoid caffeine..... 

JHK07 wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 3:37pm:

Agostino Leyre wrote on Jul 28th, 2010 at 1:16pm: You really shouldn't take melatonin during the day, unless you plan on sleeping during the day.  I would maybe cut out the morning drink and take a melatonin pill with your nightly drink instead.  Just so you know I've been using melatonin for over 10 years and have found it to be the best nightime preventive med for me. A couple of months ago I was getting hit kinda constant after work... 430 to 6 ish.  For about 7 to 10 days I hit the melatonin at 4 to try to "break" the cycle.   dunno how effective it was, but no complaints here.  I am so random w/ these things & none of the "normal" triggers.   I also avoid caffeine.....

Anything after 4 pm is ok, but an am dose is a no-no unless you are planning on sleeping during the day.  Melatonin is one of the factors in your circadian rhythms which are regulated by the hypothalamus.  That is why you should only take them in conjunction with whatever your sleep cycle is. 

still Agostino, this is my wife's computer.

Brew wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 2:51pm:

Maybe it means that I lack certain social filters....

hahahaha
;D