Re: Melatonin

[Guest guest]

My husband swears by Melatonin but I have never tried it. Amy was

prescribed Melatonin by her Neph for her insomnia though so that is a good

indication

that it may be OK for renal impaired individuals but best to check with your

Neph to be on the safe side.

In a message dated 5/22/2005 1:07:28 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

bkhphd@... writes:

OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and I

would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as the

latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

Thoughts?

Bart

[Guest guest]

My husband swears by Melatonin but I have never tried it. Amy was

prescribed Melatonin by her Neph for her insomnia though so that is a good

indication

that it may be OK for renal impaired individuals but best to check with your

Neph to be on the safe side.

In a message dated 5/22/2005 1:07:28 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

bkhphd@... writes:

OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and I

would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as the

latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

Thoughts?

Bart

[Guest guest]

My husband swears by Melatonin but I have never tried it. Amy was

prescribed Melatonin by her Neph for her insomnia though so that is a good

indication

that it may be OK for renal impaired individuals but best to check with your

Neph to be on the safe side.

In a message dated 5/22/2005 1:07:28 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

bkhphd@... writes:

OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and I

would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as the

latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

Thoughts?

Bart

[Guest guest]

I think Amy has experience with this one so she can speak to it most

intelligently. Various friends have tried it - all agreed it did something

non-trivial to their sleep cycles. For some folks it was very beneficial;

for others it seemed to make things worse.

Cy

Melatonin

> OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

> this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and

> I

> would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as

> the

> latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

>

> Thoughts?

>

> Bart

>

>

>

>

>

> To edit your settings for the group, go to our Yahoo Group

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>

> Thank you

>

[Guest guest]

I think Amy has experience with this one so she can speak to it most

intelligently. Various friends have tried it - all agreed it did something

non-trivial to their sleep cycles. For some folks it was very beneficial;

for others it seemed to make things worse.

Cy

Melatonin

> OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

> this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and

> I

> would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as

> the

> latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

>

> Thoughts?

>

> Bart

>

>

>

>

>

> To edit your settings for the group, go to our Yahoo Group

> home page:

> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iga-nephropathy/

>

> To unsubcribe via email,

> iga-nephropathy-unsubscribe

> Visit our companion website at www.igan.ca. The site is entirely supported

> by donations. If you would like to help, go to:

> http://www.igan.ca/id62.htm

>

> Thank you

>

[Guest guest]

I think Amy has experience with this one so she can speak to it most

intelligently. Various friends have tried it - all agreed it did something

non-trivial to their sleep cycles. For some folks it was very beneficial;

for others it seemed to make things worse.

Cy

Melatonin

> OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

> this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and

> I

> would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as

> the

> latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

>

> Thoughts?

>

> Bart

>

>

>

>

>

> To edit your settings for the group, go to our Yahoo Group

> home page:

> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iga-nephropathy/

>

> To unsubcribe via email,

> iga-nephropathy-unsubscribe

> Visit our companion website at www.igan.ca. The site is entirely supported

> by donations. If you would like to help, go to:

> http://www.igan.ca/id62.htm

>

> Thank you

>

[Guest guest]

Bart both my neph and my GP gave me the thumbs up to use Melatonin for sleep. I

take it about 45 minutes before bed and it helps bring on a natural sleep that

you can wake from easily in the morning. It has worked great so far for me and

I can really tell the nights I forget to take it. I'm on 2mg nightly but can go

up to 3mg if I need to. I started with 1mg nightly but it didn't do much after

the first 3 nights so I bumped up to 2mg and that has been working great for the

past month or more now.

Last night I was sleepy and forgot to take it before bed...I fell asleep fine

but was wide awake and staring at the ceiling within 90 minutes. I got up, took

the melatonin, laid in bed for about half an hour while it kicked in and woke up

at 9am feeling good.

My doctors said to use Benadryl as a sleep aid too but I didn't like the idea of

putting another heavy hitter drug on board and it made me feel all zoned out in

the morning. The melatonin doesn't have those sorts of side effects for me.

Good luck with it!

Amy G.

Melatonin

OK, here is the next one....melatonin for sleep? Any reasons not to take

this? The valium doesn't make me sleep, though helps with the cramps, and I

would like to cut down on Ambien and of course the Benadryl I am on (as the

latter raises BP, exactly what I am trying to prevent).....

Thoughts?

Bart

To edit your settings for the group, go to our Yahoo Group

home page:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iga-nephropathy/

To unsubcribe via email,

iga-nephropathy-unsubscribe

Visit our companion website at www.igan.ca. The site is entirely supported by

donations. If you would like to help, go to:

http://www.igan.ca/id62.htm

Thank you

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Hi Bart,

Have a safe trip and take care of yourself while you are working such long

hours! We will keep the board covered :-)

In a message dated 5/23/2005 3:39:26 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

bkhphd@... writes:

Anyway, we'll see....also, note to the other moderators, I have no access to

this account whilst on the road.

Anyone who wishes to send me a message may do so at bkhinegypt@... at

your convenience....I will likely respond in the evenings but can during the

day as well.

Cheers, Bart

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the link Bart, it was rather interesting and I may bring this up to

my neph when I see him on Friday. So far the melatonin has worked fine for me

for the past month or so but the past week I've been very wakeful at night again

and upping my dose to 3mg hasn't had any effect except to make me groggy all day

long. I'm not sure where my function is sitting at the moment since my labs 2

weeks ago showed my creatinine on the rise, just had more labs drawn yesterday

so I guess I'll be finding out soon.

I'm sorry you had to go thru a few wakeful nights to find out that this doesn't

work for you. I know how draining not getting sleep can be.

Thanks again for the link,

Amy G.

Melatonin

All,

I have heard some discussion on this board surrounding melatonin and its use

as a sleep aide. This is doubtless fine for some of us, but given the

literature on this topic, take care and follow your nephs advice carefully.

My neph said its " OK to try, but results vary, " they do.

(to paste the below link easily, copy the below URL in pieces exactly as

written, or search for ESRD " melatonin " in Google).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_ui

ds=11589756 & dopt=Abstract

I bring this to your attention, as at 20% function or so I believed trying

melatonin might be a good thing, as I sleep poorly and want to be rid of

Ambien (as I posted before).

For me, BAD IDEA. Not only did this not aide me in sleeping....it kept me

awake nice and handily (over 4 trial nights at 3 mg each) and prompted me to

either sleep or be drowsy at about 6 am...exactly when I needed otherwise.

A further data point can be had that I feel (relatively) great today with NO

melatonin and 50% of my usual Ambien dose last night. Usually weekends are

for sleep, but today I have been awake and lively.

Now the above article refers to those on dialysis, in whom melatonin

excretion is severely compromised relative to the non-nephro-compromised

population. I would think, but have no evidence, that the effects described

within are linear with kidney function, but have NO EVIDENCE for this

assertion.

Again, your neph is the final sayer of the sooth in this regard. None of

this is meant to frighten anyone or change anyone's opinion, but as a

biochemist, I think understanding to the extent we can the underlying

mechanisms of why are bodies are doing what they do, feeling as they feel,

and so on is important, for our mental health, social adjustment, and our

ability to support one another as we continue down this journey.

For the last time, your physicians are YOUR GUIDES and this is one man's

experience; which I would not provide at all if this were an Rx only

drug...but this is an OTC and therefore worth commenting on.

Best wishes to all.

Cheers, Bart