If you suffer from insomnia, you may want to take melatonin supplements to help you fall asleep faster, sleep more soundly and wake up feeling refreshed and well-rested. However, although melatonin supplements are available without a prescription, you should only use melatonin under your doctor's direct care. Melatonin may interfere with your prescription medications or cause side effects such as drowsiness, difficulty breathing, hives and stomach upset.
Identification
Melatonin is a hormone produced by your pineal gland, a small, pine-cone-shaped organ located in the middle of your brain. Melatonin regulates your circadian rhythm, a 24-hour biological clock that determines when you wake up and when you fall asleep, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, or UMMC. Melatonin levels are lowest during the day and highest at night. Melatonin also controls female reproductive hormones and is responsible for determining the duration and frequency of a woman's menstrual cycles. Melatonin supplements mimic naturally occurring melatonin in your body.
Types
Natural melatonin supplements, also called bovine or animal melatonin, are extracted from the pineal glands of animals and may be contaminated with illnesses that have infected the animal. Pharmacy, or synthetic-grade melatonin, is molecularly identical to natural melatonin but does not carry the risk of cross-contamination, according to Melatonin.com.
Uses
Melatonin supplementation is used primarily to treat insomnia, states the UMMC. However, results on the effectiveness of melatonin supplementation for insomnia are mixed, and show that melatonin may be most effective in treating people age 55 and older who have trouble sleeping. Melatonin supplementation is also used to treat menopause-related sleep disturbances; jet lag; benzodiazepine, or Valium, Xanax or Ativan withdrawal; ADHD, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; prostate and breast cancer; IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome; sunburns and epilepsy.
Considerations
Although melatonin supplements are widely available in drug stores and health food stores in the United States, melatonin's purity, safety and effectiveness have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, states Drugs.com. There are also no recommended dosages for melatonin supplements, and different people have different reactions to the same dosage. Therefore, you should start out with a dose that is equal to the amount your body normally produces per day, 0.3 mg, and increase your dosage only under your doctor's direct supervision.
Warning
Do not take melatonin if you take anti-coagulants, or blood thinning medications, as melatonin may increase your risk of serious bleeding. Also, do not take melatonin supplements with immunosuppressant medications or steroids, as melatonin may cause these drugs to lose their effectiveness. Melatonin supplements may also lessen the effects of anti-depressant medications, such as Prozac; blood pressure medications, such as Catapres; and calcium channel blocker medications such as Sular, states the UMMC.
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