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>Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 05:48:00 EDT >From: [log in to unmask] >Subject: melatonin > In the literature that came with it we >read that it was also good for jet lag (to be started 3 days before >travelling) so at bedtime (11 p.m.) last night Al (my husband) and I >both took some (he, in preparation for our trip on Saturday) and I for >that, as well as the usual Parky nocturnal prowling. I went to sleep >after about half an hour, and woke about every 40 min, until about >2:40 when I finally got up. Now, it's 5 a.m. and I'm still up as Al >sleeps like a baby. > >Is this normal? Does it take a while to become effective? I would >really appreciate hearing other's experiences with melatonin. Thanks. > >Lynda Lynda: I (non-parkie) find that when I take melatonin 3 mg. at about 9:00 pm, I fall asleep easily but then often waken for about half an hour about 4:00. My father (85 years old), advanced Parkinson's first took 9 mg at bedtime and didn't sleep at all. Hated it. After about a week now of trying, he usually goes to sleep, stays asleep till about 4:00, then sits in a chair, falls asleep again, and sleeps until 8:00 or 9:00. A friend of his, about 80, tried melatonin and reports no effect at all, if anything some sleeplessness. No doubt, the Parkinson brain reacts in special ways to most things. My guess is that one needs to find the right dose and the right timing through trial and error. It also seems to me that the melatonin level must rise right after taking the medicine and then decline (at perhaps different rates for different people under different conditions and interactions with other medications). Natural melatonin production is doubtless more gradual. Maybe what we need is some kind of timed-release melatonin. Robert Bley-Vroman