How much Melatonin can I take?

I also have chronic nerve pain and anxiety. I also take Xanax; 1mgx2 a day taking my last one at night. I did talk to my pharmacist as they are the best ones to discuss drug interactions and he did tell me it was okay to take Melatonin as it is something our brains naturally produce.
I started on 3mg and now take one of the 5mg. It does now come in Maximum Strength of 10mgs but I would start with no more than 5 and work your way up if need be as I've found it helps tremendously with my own sleepless nights due to pain even with pain medications.
I have never abused my meds and have remained on the same dose of my pain med for 9 of 11yrs. I was only 31 when I was disabled from a car accident causing RSD aka Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. I had already suffered from anxiety and panic attacks before this accident and was not put on Xanax until 2001.

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My pharmacist and my psychiatrist both told me it was fine to take this supplement since it is natural and told me it does not interfere with my other medications. A friend of mine has even more sleepless nights due to pain than I do and takes 10mgs at night but I do recommend that you don't take it every night. It is not addictive but I feel it would lose its power if I took it that often so I try to take no more than a dose every other night if possible.
That was my own personal decision as I was told I could take it every night.
It will not interfere with Xanax at all and actually helps more than Xanax.
I didn't want to go on sleeping pills (more pharmaceutic meds) and found Melatonin to be a sleep saver.
Make sure you take it no earlier than 30 minutes before bedtime and that you know you can get up to 8 hours sleep. It doesn't give a "hangover feeling" but it does help you sleep longer. I take it 20 mins before bed and am asleep before I know it and get much better long lasting sleep at night.
Always check with your pharmacist 1st and best wishes.

I think you are pretty safe with the melatonin. It's the xanax that I got addicted to and when I went off it I didn't sleep for 5 nights. I was told when I first got sober that it's not the lack of sleep that kills us, it's the crap we take to force ourselves to sleep. What will happen if you go a few more hours without sleep. Your body will get tired and sleep better the next night hopefully. I am wound up like a toy all day and work until late at night and when I finally force myself to bed (I would rather be steam cleaning the floor for some reason) I have to count number backward from 100 and picture them jumping over a fence like sheep. I have to concentrate so much that before I know it I/m asleep because I've relaxed and didn't even know it. Otherwise I just get up and work in my office but that isn't very healthy either.

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I did medicate to sleep when I was coming off the norco and oxy and I was then dependent on that so it was just switching pills. I can get addicted to anything - I really can't have anything. I tried one of those energy drinks and nearly flew out of my skin but wanted another one the next day - I had to recognize that I like anything that makes me feel "better, different, faster, slower, better" until I realized that I actually like the way I am without anything. I have abused the right to take anything and that is the consequence. At least I'm not in jail like Lohan I am home with my husband and family so if that's my price to be a 'normie' then so be it. Sorry - this is not a lecture. I guess this was my 'meeting' for the day so I will say thanks you to you for providing me with that. Kath

Crap I just wrote a huge response to this and as usual pushed the wrong button - I am either sending things twice or not at all. Anyway I said melatonin would probably be O.K. but not to start looking for the big blue sleeping pill in the sky. Lack of sleep never kills us but the stuff we take to force ourselves to sleep might. Look at MJ!!! I have just the oppositte problem. I hate to go to sleep. I would rather be up steam cleaning my floors or something. I have lights in my yard so I can work at night - not obsessively only til about 12 or something but it's so hot here and I work during the day so it is cooler then. It was 107 here in CA this weekend.

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Anyway as I said this was my 'meeting' for the day so thank you and I hoipe you are asleep my now. I count backwards from 100 and picture the numbers flying over a fence in a pasture like sheep. By the time I get to 80 I am usually asleep. It forces me to concentratte and forget about all the other things I am thinking aabout - only thing that works for me. If not I just watch TV and that does it - or read - that works too.

Hello All! I was led to this Q&A forum via Google and just finished reading through all of the responses. I am a 25 year old female and I was diagnosed with insomnia at the age of 13. The doctor prescribed me to 80mg of Seraquil (sp?) 30 minutes before bed. It worked... However, i hated it! Not only did I sleep for anywhere between 14 and 24 hours... I also felt like I got hit by a train when i woke up and became dependent on it as well. At 13 years old, a sleep schedule like that just didn't work and an addiction to sleeping pills was out of the question! Needless to say, I flushed them down the toilet and decided I was just going to deal with my insomnia. Well, now at the age of 25 and now having a 5 year old son, being up all night doesn't work. I met man from England about a month ago and he told me about Melatonin. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a bottle of the 5mg tablets. I started with 1 and was still wide awake an hour later.

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Took a 2nd one and was STILL wide awake another hour later, so I took a 3rd and finally about 30-45 minutes after I was starting to feel sleepy. I eventually fell asleep about an hour after the 3rd one. I feel great when I wake up also! I believe that there is no specific same dosage for everyone... I believe it depends on how much Melatonin in your brain that you lack and have to replace because some nights I have to take 5 of the 5mg pills. I also believe that there is no actual physical dependency related to the Melatonin, but more so a mental dependency to take them every night because you know that they work and feel as though you will not be able to sleep without them.