DOSE:

12 mg

oral

Melatonin

(pill / tablet)

BODY WEIGHT:

220 lb

First of all, let me say that I am very skeptical of herbal/natural products. I had never encountered one that actually worked before melatonin. I had been unable to sleep for about 36 hours straight, and the whole week I had probably only slept for 7 hours total. I have been using benadryl and doxylamine for years, but this week they just weren't working, even in larger doses (200mg Benadryl one night, and 250 doxylamine). So I just didn't sleep at all, and went to my office in the morning. After working until 3pm, I decided to just go get some melatonin, go home, and get some rest.

I took 4 tablets (12 mg) in the drug store parking lot, and drove back to my apartment. I did some light cleaning around my apartment for about 30 minutes, then laid down on the couch and watched American Justice. About 10 minutes after that (about 50 minutes after ingesting the pills), I noticed that I could not move my arms. They weren't paralyzed, but I could tell it would take 3-4 times the normal effort to move them, so I didn't. I felt a little dizzy, but it didn't last for long, because within a couple of minutes, I was passed out.

I started having extremely vivid and frightening dreams including parts of the American Justice episode that was on. My girlfriend call my cell phone, and I roused and answered it. I don't remember what I said to her, because I was so disoriented. After I hung up the phone, I decided to stay up for a minute to smoke a cigarette and get my bearings. I took a smoke out of the pack, but didn't light it. I found myself reclining back onto the couch. I lifted the lighter to my face a few times, but just never lit the cigarette. In a minute or two I was passed out again, and the vivid, unsettling dreams returned. It turns out my girlfriend had called to say she would be at my apartment in a couple of hours to go get dinner. When she arrived, she knocked on my door, and called my cellphone. But I wouldn't wake up. Finally she let herself in and shook me until I woke up. Again, I was disoriented beyond belief; at first, I didn't know what year it was or how old I was. When I looked at the clock I was shocked to find the entire episode had lasted only 3 hours! It had seemed like at least 7. In a few minutes I was almost back to normal, besides being very groggy.

Melatonin is very powerful, and in this instance, it was as strong as Ambien. It had the same ability to just knock me out. I will take it again if I cannot get to sleep. I will definitely never take more than 3 mg ever again.

Exp Year: 2007	ExpID: 67440
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 1, 2018	Views: 2,899
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Melatonin (94), Sleep Deprivation (140) : General (1), First Times (2), Medical Use (47), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Alone (16)