Melatonin and depression

Found out the hard way that melatonin can make depression worse although it can take time. Melatonin was My life saver when it came to getting even a little sleep but now after around 18 months it started to work less and less and I realized that it was now causing anxiety and no longer making Me drowsy.

 

I am besides Myself with total insomnia once again. I tried to go natural and avoid ADs but now may have to take either remeron or trazadone. I hate all these pills but what am I to do. If anyone has tried these two ADs please let Me know if they helped Your depression and sleep. thanks

hi,

 

I tried Aleve last night and again today. My symptoms reduced and I was able to get some reasonable sleep.

 

It's a long lasting OTC NSAID.  1 AM and 1 PM. 

 

Just a simple thing that might help and may be in your cabinet.

 

Others have found Tylenol helps (Ibuprofen)

Hi I've been on both remeron and trazadone. I was on remeron about 12 mos. I slept like a baby on it. I wearned off because I gained weight. Now I take traz. I liked remeron the best for sleep and depression.

For both depression and sleep, your best bet might be my old nemesis--amitryptiline. This is sedating in much the same way as trazadone (but not as zombie-efying), but also helps a lot with depression, especially if your issue is early morning awakening. I would take the lowest dose that is effective and be sure and taper off.

My sister took Trazodone and ended up suicidally depressed. She was initially taking it for sleep due to her Lyme symptoms (horrible tinnitus and buzzing/vibrating in various parts of her body). She started it in late Feb/early March--it worked for sleep, but slowly she became increasingly depressed, sometimes aggressive, suicidally depressed by late May (resisting food and water), increasingly anxious, agitated through June, day long Panic attacks, seizures, then severe diarrhea by end of July. Had to go off cold turkey early August. You can read more about this from my intropost "Down Syndrome, Ativan, Side effects, Withdrawal nightmare."

 

Also, fwiw, prior to her tinnitus getting so severe, we were able to get her to sleep by rotating a variety of natural remedies, including Valerian, Skullcap, Wild Lettuce, Chamomile, Catnip, California Poppy, Magnolia Bark, Jamaican Dogwood, and Passion Flower. With all our hearts, we truly regret getting involved with psychotropic drugs.

 

Also, part of the problem may have been that my sister had trouble detoxing it (apparently some people have trouble with this--difficulty detoxing a metabolite--you can read about it here:  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2883-tips-for-tapering-off-trazodone-desyrel/)

 

And if you end up having side effects from this, it's another one you have to go through withdrawal to get off (though from my sister's experience, getting off benzos is far more difficult)  http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/07/21/trazodone-withdrawal-symptoms-duration/

Would like to know if it is true that melatonin causes depression.  If so, this is a very important finding.  How did the OP learn this?  Others who take this, me included, would like to know this.  Did the OP come up with alternative to melatonin?

Yes, melatonin can cause depression.

laura4321 good ole trazadone is an SNRI which means it also hits the norepinephrine receptor and raises the epi like getting  a dose of an epi pen or several cups of strong coffee. Gave Me sleep also for one night and I woke up with a 120 beat pulse.

 

AS for the melatonin in My original post Im giving it another shot but yes it does also either cause depressive symptoms or make them worse so I get hit twice once from the K and other from the melatonin but the other choice is NO sleep at all.  In a way We are all held hostage by these darn benzo etc drugs. STuck between a rock and a hard place. Plus trust Me the older You get the harder it is to go through this Im now 63 and down to 133 lbs at 5'9" tall.

 

Those of us who have pre existing depression get hit twice with everything invovled with benzos and withdrawal.  You have to take it one minute at a time and not try to think about just how long it will take to be free and hopefully once again feeling OK whatever that means.