Warnings on melatonin bottle

[Missmom]

Hi all,

 

My pandas son 13yo has been very anxious lately and insomnia has been bad. He starts worrying about not falling asleep and his anxiety gets him so worked up that he is up for hours into the night. It is taking a toll on all of us. We use to be able to give him a vistaril before bed but that does not seem to be working anymore. I know a lot of you use or have been using melatonin for a while now so I thought I would give that a try. I went to the store today to buy some and started reading the warnings on the bottle. One bottle said that it should be given to adults only, and consult physician about other possible drug interactions. Another said to avoid if you have any autoimmune condition. I always assumed melatonin was very safe. I tried to call our pandas treating dr. But she is out of the office. Have any of you been told not to use it by your doctors? If so what are the concerns.... I am getting desperate for a good nights sleep. At the moment, my son is only taking augmentin 2x daily and probiotic. Nothing else. We have tried to calm him down by giving warm milk, hot baths, vistaril, reading, I even ordered him a new mattress, although it has not been delivered yet. He is about 115 lbs. what would be a good doseage to start with.

[Hopeny]

My previous conservative ped told me it was fine to use for my then two year old. I use it for her pretty regularly. It does have some interactions which you can check at drugs.com

[hugs2day]

I started using melatonin on my then 5 year old 3 year ago. only .05 mg even though the doc told me to use 1mg and I could go as high as 3mg. .05 mg always worked.

 

Sometimes when he passes the sweet spot where the melatonin would have worked to put him to sleep I have no choice but to add .05ml of dye free benadryl. he drifts right off.

 

The sleep is so important to reducing inflammation and healing and my sanity. I think all drugs will have warnings and precautions to protect companies from people who over use or over dose.

 

IF you are uncomfortable with melatonin you can try Calms Forte a natural homepathic supplement for sleep. Found at Target or Walgreens. Sometimes Calms Forte won't work during a bad excaberation.

 

 

[tpotter]

Both my children got nightmares from melatonin. At least they were old enough to tell me. We have used 5-htp for several years, and DS17 gets depressed when we stop it, but is fine when we don't. We played around with amounts, and now do 2 in p.m. (to help with sleep), and 1 in a.m.

[dcmom]

I had two neuros approve melatonin for my girls. We use the minimum dosage that is effective, because we have had some bad dreams when increasing dosage.

 

I think I would start him at 1mg, then get in bed and do something relaxing (read) for 20 minutes or so.

 

It works well to GET my kids to sleep- if staying asleep is a problem I would look into the time release version....

[rowingmom]

DD used to have trouble staying asleep and would wake at about 2:00 am and start reading. How she ever got to sleep first thing in the evening with the night sweats she used to have, IDK. Our LLMD said melatonin was fine to use (although they are notoriously heavy handed with drugs). We started using 1/4 of a 5 mg tablet and that seemed to keep her sleeping. After a year we were at 1/4 of a 3 mg tablet, and then I got drops so I could titrate down further. She now takes 1 drop of 3 mg/ml (more placebo than anything) if she has trouble going to sleep but she usually sleeps like a log now. I think the concern with younger children is that by using melatonin you will reduce the body's natural production of the hormone and then have trouble with discontinuation. However, our kids are sick and really do need their rest to assist the immune system in repair. Our reduction of the drops just happened gradually until she found she would forget to take it (I would forget to give it to her) and she would drop off naturally. She seems none the worse for 2 years of melatonin supplementation.

[kthomas]

Ds9 @ 63lbs takes 3mg as per RX by doctor. I can definitely tell a difference when he doesn't take one. Much harder to fall asleep.

[nicklemama]

We have used melatonin for DS for nearly 4 yrs now. We have approval from two pediatricians, three neurologists, one psychiatrist and two family physicians. Two of the above are PANS experts. I've seen no ill effects and it works. We started out with .5 Mg and as DS has grown we've increased it. He got up to 2 mgs. Currently he takes 1 mg. we reduced it as his need for it has reduced because he's doing well currently. He's 9 and nearly 70lbs now. He was around 50lbs when this all started. Since IVIG #1 two yrs ago, he's gained 15 lbs. He's still thin.

[lmkmip67]

We have used it for Ian for a couple of years now. it has been a lifesaver. He is going on 10 and is about 65 pounds. He only needs about 1mg, can take even less. I use the lowest amount needed. I take a break from it once or twice a week when he has been very busy and doesn't seem to need it to fall asleep. But if he has a rough couple of nights, then I give it again. It can make him moody if he takes it too early. And too high of a dose is a disaster. I think for our kids it can take a really small dose, so it helps to experiment. I quarter the 3mg tablets and it works great. I also think if the dose is too high, the body realizes when it wears off and can tend to cause them to wake up. Ian used to wake up about 4 hours after taking it occasionally. I discovered lowering the dose helped that, but still helped him fall asleep. Just something to play with if you are finding them waking up, or having nightmares, etc. It make take a much lower dose than you think!

[Missmom]

Thank you all so much. I think I will try a 1 mg tablet tonight and see how it goes. I have always heard melatonin is very safe so when I saw the warnings on the bottle, I was a little surprised. I guess it is just one of those things the manufacturer must do to protect themselfs from lawsuits. We all need sleep.

[philamom]

My dd(11) is around 70lbs. I give her a quarter of a 1 mg tablet. We don't need to use it every night though. I like the brand "Source Naturals Melatonin" orange flavored sublingual tablets.

 

I take two myself most nights.