Has anyone ever had a bad experience with melatonin?!
Question:
Has anyone ever had a bad experience with melatonin?
I followed the directions on the bottle when I took it and I woke up the next day and had a horriable headache and neck ache. So I didn't take it that night and woke up fine. I took it again just to be sure if that was the cause of my aches and sure enough my head and neck hurt. Has anyone else had this happen to them is this a sign that I am allergic?
Answers:
I've witnessed people have unpleasant results such as bad dreams or grogginess the next day. Otherwise it is a pretty safe hormone to take even in large doses (although I would advise taking 0.1 to 0.3mg, 10 times less than most pills). Small physiological doses of melatonin have been shown to effectively help sleep.
As the above person states Melatonin is a natural hormone and therefore you can not be "allergic" to something that your body naturally produces. You may be allergic to something else in the particular formulation you took or there may be an interaction with some other pills you are taking, such as MAO inhibitors which affect the same hormones involed in melatonin production.
You could try a low physiological dose (0.1 to 0.3mg pill or cut the pill you have in half or a quarter) from a different brand of melatonin. I like to use Sleep MD because it has a mixture of low dose of melatonin and other herbs. Maybe you just slept in a bad position that left your neck and head sore?
You can consult your doctor, or just call his office and even speak to a nurse about taking melatonin and the side effects that you have.
Also, see the references below to inform yourself, I've pasted one of the relevant ones here for you to read.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1993/melat...
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/melat...
http://www.sleepdex.org/mit-melatonin.ht...
Can melatonin be harmful?
http://your-doctor.com/patient_info/nutr...
While short-term studies indicate that it has very low toxicity, there are no long-term safety data. All of the studies reported here concern healthy adult volunteers and the use of a preparation licensed for human experimental use and available on a named patient basis on prescription. There are no data on uncontrolled preparations available over the counter in some countries, including the United States. Its effects in pregnancy, interaction with other medications, and many other considerations remain to be addressed. Melatonin shouldn't be given to children because so little is known about its effects in children.
The impact and effect of contaminants that are present in dietary supplements were dramatically highlighted by the outbreak of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (a very painful disease in which the body's immune system is triggered to attack muscle and other tissues) that occurred in 1989.
The outbreak was triggered by the consumption of contaminated L-tryptophan manufactured by Showa Denko K.K. of Japan and resulted in 38 documented deaths and over 1500 illnesses. It was made using a newly generated bacterium that was very efficient at making a lot of L-tryptophan. However, it also made some brand-new impurities which no one recognized. Subsequently, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrated that at least six contaminants, namely peaks E, C, FF, UV-5 (also known as PAA), 200 and AAA, were case-implicated compounds.
More recently, a group of researchers we have characterized the structure of a number of contaminants present in over-the-counter melatonin products and found them to be almost identical to the case-implicated contaminants that were present in L-tryptophan manufactured by Showa Denko K.K.
This would lead us to believe that over the counter melatonin preparations are being mass produced by genetically engineered bacteria. The use of gene splicing into bacteria is used to make many current medicines including insulin and growth hormone. However, strict oversight and testing required for medication manufacturing is not present in the manufacturing of dietary or herbal supplements.
No cases of disease similar to eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome have been reported, to our knowledge, from patients ingesting melatonin. This may be due to differences in consumption. A typical daily intake of melatonin for jet lag is approximately 5 milligram (mg) per day for an average of seven days. In contrast, the daily intake of L-tryptophan in patients who contracted eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome was approximately 500 mg--15 gram (g) per day over several months (3 g per day for patients using it as a health food supplement and 3 to 15 g per day for patients under medical supervision). For those who are not metrically inclined 1 gram (g) equals 1000 milligrams (mg).
They conclude that the presence of impurities in commercially available melatonin raises serious questions about the possible consequences after long-term consumption, especially when used at doses higher than recommended.
Bottom Line
Melatonin appears to be safe when used as instructed. However, whether or not it helps with sleep is open to debate. There is no solid evidence to support using melatonin supplements to prevent insomnia, jet lag, fight cancer, enhance sexuality or slow the aging process. More study is needed and until research is complete use of melatonin supplements is not recommended.
Melatonin prevents ovulation, so don't use it if you want to become pregnant. Avoid it if you have severe allergies or immune disease, and don't give it to children.
Top
------------------------------...
Resources
"MELATONIN- Separating the hype from the hormone". Originally published in Mayo Clinic Health Letter, August 1997 at http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/9708/htm/...
"DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS-Worrisome contaminants found ". August 1998 at http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/9708/htm/...
"Over-the-Counter Melatonin Products and Contamination: To The Editor"- in American Family Physician STEPHEN NAYLOR, PH.D. Director, Biomedical Mass Spectrometry Facility Department of Biochemistry and Molecular