Melatonin Supplements

[Cloud Surfer]

I've been having some insomnia in hotels lately which I want to get rid of ASAP or at least reduce so that it won't affect my job performance, sometimes bad enough that I only catch four hours of sleep. No idea why, aside that it happens when I'm wound up from a very long day of flying. Relaxation techniques are only helping marginally, so onto the next best thing. Are they safe to take, though, as in they won't make me too groggy the next morning? Could they cause me to fail a DOT drug test? It isn't so much the melatonin that I fear but whatever else could be secretly included in them. Never tried them before, so pardon all the layman questions. Thanks for any input that you all could give.

 

[deadstick]

My flight doc recommended it to me. IIRC 5mg is the dose and it's OTC. It takes about 30 min to work for me, and I have to stay relaxed. I can't watch election stuff.

 

[RockyM]

If you are mentally relaxed, just 3 mg will put you to sleep in 20 mins, it is a natural suplement since the body itself produces melatonin while sleeping, I use it but i always Keep in mind 2 things, I allow myself at least 7/8 hours of sleep when taking it, less than that is going to be hard to wake up and I could feel a little tired until a couple of hours after wake up if I just had, lets say 5 hs or so. And second, it gives me some really tough nightmares, this happens to me but not necessarily to everybody. I heard/ read, that you are not supposed to have any problems with drug test, but I'm not a doctor so take it just as that.

 

[trafficinsight]

Try it at home first by the way, half a pill works great for me, but the whole pill makes my head mushy for hours.

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[deadstick]

Try it for a few sleep cycles. As you can tell, everybody has different experiences.

 

[gotWXdagain]

I'm usually good at 1mg if I need it at all. Any more and I have really hard wake/sleep cycles during the night

 

[Cloud Surfer]

I tried it out last night...through a 2 mg pill. They are rather effective.

 

[juxtapilot]

Sometimes less is more. I take 500 mcg occasionally, and it assists in getting to sleep and I don't feel groggy the next morning. I used to take 3mg, but would wake up the next day feeling terrible.

 

[AAPalmTree]

I must be weird. I take it 1.5-2 hours before I need to sleep. Works great for me if I'm taking it every once in while. I was flying a lot of redeyes one month and it stopped working when I was taking it on a regular basis.

 

[guywhoflies]

I had a FA take two 5mg tablets even though the CA and I were telling her not to take that much. She got in the van the next day and decided it was the CA's fault for giving her two tablets. She told us how she took them and about 30 minutes later the room was spinning and when she finally got to sleep she had bad nightmares. She was a bit on the weird side, though.

 

[Lunchbox]

It's just a supplement, also found in milk which is why some people drink it before bed. The body also produces it naturally. It's just more convenient and concentrated to take it as supplement pill vs drinking milk.