I have suffered from sleep problems for a very long time now, and I have tried just about everything. For year I tried things like Tylenol PM, Over-the-counter sleep aids, alcohol, drugs, and Prescription sleep medication. Every one of these had some sort of side effect that was unacceptable.
Melatonin
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 5 corroborating sources
- 2 ROAs with full dose ladders
- duration data present
- 19 combo interactions documented
- PubChem toxicity data
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 5 corroborating sources
- 2 ROAs with full dose ladders
- duration data present
- 19 combo interactions documented
- PubChem toxicity data
Aliases: Various, Circadin, Melatonine, Pineal hormone
Summary
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone produced by the pineal gland that regulates circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles. Commercial supplements often contain much higher doses than needed; effective doses start as low as 0.25 mg. Higher doses may increase next-day drowsiness and do not necessarily improve effectiveness.
Perspectives
“I took one tablet sub-lingually just before I lay down to sleep, and I slept very well. I was not tired the next day.”
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 0.5-1mg | 1-3mg | 3-6mg | 6mg+ |
| Sublingual | 0.5-1mg | 1-3mg | 3-6mg | 6mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Onset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 5-20 min | 20-70 min | 1-2 hrs | 2-3 hrs | 6-8 hrs |
| Sublingual | 5-15 min | 15-30 min | 1-2 hrs | 2-3 hrs | 6-8 hrs |
Tolerance
Build-up
develops rapidly after a single use
Reset
7–14 days for baseline
Tolerance Decay
Half tolerance
7d
Baseline
~14d
Clinically meaningful tolerance to nightly melatonin is not well established. Loss of effect is more often due to suboptimal timing, light exposure, or inappropriate formulation rather than receptor desensitization. Short breaks (several days) may restore perceived efficacy if habituation is suspected. Data quality is limited and largely anecdotal.
Effects
Aggregated from 335 Erowid experience reports
Positive Effects 11
Stimulation
46.6%
70%
Euphoria
39.7%
70%
Color Enhancement
30.4%
70%
Empathy
29.3%
70%
Focus Enhancement
24.2%
70%
Music Enhancement
20.9%
70%
Tactile Enhancement
19.1%
70%
Introspection
11.9%
70%
Body High
11.3%
70%
Creativity Enhancement
8.1%
70%
Pain Relief
3.3%
70%
Adverse Effects 13
Anxiety
43.9%
70%
Confusion
24.2%
70%
Nausea
16.4%
70%
Memory Suppression
13.7%
70%
Headache
8.4%
70%
Psychosis
8.1%
70%
Increased Heart Rate
7.8%
70%
Jaw Clenching
6.9%
70%
Pupil Dilation
4.8%
70%
Motor Impairment
4.5%
70%
Sweating
3.9%
70%
Muscle Tension
3.6%
70%
Seizure
2.4%
70%
Combinations
Cross-Check Melatonin with another substanceCommunity Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, and Bluelight. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance.
Erowid 8 reports 2 positive 4 neutral 2 cautionary visit
I recently purchased a bottle of Sublingual Melatonin, in the 2.5mg per lozenge dosage. The first night I decided to use it, I was suffering from a moderately sleep-depriving sinus infection. I stuck 2 of the lozenges uner my tongue (orange flavor, muy bien!) and laid down.
I'm in college and have a curse: I need a constant high level of mental stimulation to stay happy. In addition to my course work, I'm usually in the middle of a novel (Dickens, Trollope, and Scott are my personal favorites) and studying a foreign language.
I first want to say that I am far from being any kind of author writer whatever, I didnt even do good in school, but I read some of the other drug experiences here and figured that I couldnt do much worse. Dont get me wrong some of the stories are pretty good.
I am seated at my computer desk. It is 3:11 AM, on the Saturday of January 24, 2011. I am typing up this report in order to hopefully somehow explain, even in the most clarifiable way what I experienced not ten minutes ago. At the moment my head feels cloudy; I feel very strange and not at all at ease. I am shocked.
When I was 16 my parents died in a car accident and I was sent to go live with my Grandparents. I was from the city my grandparents lived about 2 hours away in a town of 5000 people. The whole town was very church oriented and very closed minded.
There are plenty of individuals out there practicing mind-altering meditation, and plenty more who have for reasons unbeknownst to themselves entered 'strange' and 'psychadellic' states without having taken any chemical.
To preface this experience with a background I am a former Marine Infantryman and I saw very heavy combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have never used illegal drugs or even tried to use legal ones to get high.
Bluelight 7 threads 5 neutral 2 cautionary visit
Diary of a Crack head well im off work today and bored so i thought id write a trip report more or less about what happened to me a year ago or so. its my report on the drug cocaine, more or less crack cocaine and the road it led me down and many others.
Hello, fellow travellers. This is not an experience report from a single experience, but rather a written account of the conscious effort to fully integrate what all psychedelics have shown me up until this point, which just snapped into place yesterday during an afternoon of relaxation, deep thought, and, coincidental...
The Happy Hippy We arrived by nightfall; there were five of us crammed into a small Cambodian taxi, four of across the back seat and Freddy in the front with our luggage. It was a long journey but we had finally arrived. We piled out into the heat of the jungle night. We did not know what to expect.
Hi! I am a decade-long opiate/opioid user, chemist by profession and am recently taking Carfentanyl recreationally. If you like, you can ask me anything about it since there is sooo many misinformation around. I have been reading about the substance for years, also here, on opiophile and many other pages on the net.
This is going to be a review of my favorite GABAergic sedatives. Here is the list of my top chemicals: 2m2b (2-methyl-2-butanol) 3m3p (3-methyl-3-pentanol) Emylcamate Soma (carisoprodol) propanediol GHB/GBL Each of these has their pros and cons. I'll also try to outline their effects to the best of my ability.
I was young, like 16, when this happened. It was the summer of 2013 and I had come into quite a bit of money. So being the wild kid that I was I spent about $2000 on drugs. I ended up having everything I could want.
Hi all, I thought it could be a good idea to share this experience here, wether some of you have experienced the same symptoms and can advise me, or some people can gain knowledge from what happened. In a nutshell: isopropylphenidate abuse (+ previous MXP use), bladder damage, vasovagal syncope / epilepsy, hospital.
PiHKAL / TiHKAL
TiHKAL #35: Melatonin
“I took one tablet sub-lingually just before I lay down to sleep, and I slept very well. I was not tired the next day.”
Melatonin's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
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