Melatonin Question

[Tokyomarie]

I have a question about side effects for those of you whose children are taking or have taken melatonin. Have any had trouble with headache &/or eye sensitivity?

 

My son started taking 1/2mg at night on Wed. night under the direction of a sleep specialist for delayed sleep phase syndrome. Yesterday he complained of headache & light sensitivity. He didn't say anything much today but we were busy. Tonight he refused his dose because he's worried about the headache.

 

I would hate to have to discontinue altogether because I was already seeing a positive change in his sleep. He fell asleep by 12:30am, and when I woke him at 9:45am it was not difficult to get him awake. We are supposed to be doing a schedule which moves his bedtime/waking time by 1/2 hour every couple of days. He had not been falling asleep until 2am or later and I couldn't get him awake before about 10:30am unless we absolutely had to be out the door. Even then, the only way I could get him up was to be exremely insistant & unpleasant toward him. I can't live that way anymore and NEED him to fall asleep before midnight and get up at a time of day that will allow me to take care of my other responsibilities in life and not be tied to a 1pm-7pm school day. So, I'm hoping we don't have to give up the melatonin, but if he is going to get headaches, I may have to.

[sheryl]

Marie,

 

I'm assuming the advice of a "sleep specialist" meant your son had a sleep study performed on him? That would be a good first start.

 

Well, my dd's neurologist suggested melatonin and she's been taking it for over a year. The jury is still out on recommended doses. I give my dd (3) 3mg. each tablets for a total of 9 mg @ night. I take the same and my dh takes 2 tabs. The neurologist did not oppose this doseage.

 

No, we've not had any negative side effects here. Could it be something else gave him his headache...anything? Keep a journal for 2 weeks...log food, activity and anything else you can think of that may be contributing towards this.

 

You may want to try switching brands AND buying sublingual!

 

I don't think this helped much. Sheryl <><

[sbgrace]

My son has taken melatonin since a neurologist suggested we try it about three years ago. The smallest effective dose is what you want so the dose you used sounds correct. That said, he might be able to go lower and that might be a way to encourage him to try again--maybe 1/4 or even 1/8 of a mg. We use 1/4 for my child though I've never tried lower. Generally, the lower the dose the less potential for side effects no matter the effect in question. But he was pretty low to begin with.

 

Melatonin has been studied as a preventative/treatment to certain headaches actually. I have heard of all kinds of things as side effects though including headaches (not common, not here, but I've seen it mentioned on boards). So it could be the melatoin. I hope it isn't. No way you could work out a deal where you lower the dose and you guys run an experiment and he doesn't know what night in a given week he takes it could you? Sort of a placebo controlled trial with his permission thing?

 

It's not ideal because of the nature of his issues and the melatonin/body systems themselves being involved but some people who don't tolerate melatonin for sleep issues do well with valerian. But those people aren't dealing with sleep phase issues and melatonin is good for those. What a stinky situation for you both. It's so hard to permanently alter a sleep phase shift. I think it's possible though he'll outgrow based on some research I did a while back.

 

Another thing you might consider would be blue light blocking glasses in the evening (there is research to support this though it sounds weird/it's just biological in that blue light waves suppress melatonin production and some people including, likely, your son are especially sensitive). I've done less looking into the research but bright light therapy in the morning might help as well. I'd really look into those glasses if melatonin turns out to be a no go.

Edited August 29, 2010 by sbgrace

[Tokyomarie]

Marie,

 

I'm assuming the advice of a "sleep specialist" meant your son had a sleep study performed on him? That would be a good first start.

 

He is being seen in a behavioral sleep medicine clinic. They've given his issues a label of delayed sleep phase syndrome based on the extensive history they took and his 2 week sleep diary. I understand that an overnight sleep study usually isn't indicated if DSP is the likely problem.

 

 

No, we've not had any negative side effects here. Could it be something else gave him his headache...anything? Keep a journal for 2 weeks...log food, activity and anything else you can think of that may be contributing towards this.

 

Well, headache isn't a frequent complaint these days, so I'm thinking if it's not the melatonin, maybe a mild virus or something to do with the dental work he had on the same day he started taking melatonin. Keeping a log of other things along with the sleep diary may help us to figure it out, though.

 

You may want to try switching brands AND buying sublingual!

 

We are using Source Naturals Liquid Sublingual. We could not find a 0.5mg tablet locally so I bought the liquid & am giving him 1/2 of a 1mg dropper.

[Tokyomarie]

My son has taken melatonin since a neurologist suggested we try it about three years ago. The smallest effective dose is what you want so the dose you used sounds correct. That said, he might be able to go lower and that might be a way to encourage him to try again--maybe 1/4 or even 1/8 of a mg. We use 1/4 for my child though I've never tried lower. Generally, the lower the dose the less potential for side effects no matter the effect in question. But he was pretty low to begin with.

 

Melatonin has been studied as a preventative/treatment to certain headaches actually. I have heard of all kinds of things as side effects though including headaches (not common, not here, but I've seen it mentioned on boards). So it could be the melatoin. I hope it isn't. No way you could work out a deal where you lower the dose and you guys run an experiment and he doesn't know what night in a given week he takes it could you? Sort of a placebo controlled trial with his permission thing?

 

It's not ideal because of the nature of his issues and the melatonin/body systems themselves being involved but some people who don't tolerate melatonin for sleep issues do well with valerian. But those people aren't dealing with sleep phase issues and melatonin is good for those. What a stinky situation for you both. It's so hard to permanently alter a sleep phase shift. I think it's possible though he'll outgrow based on some research I did a while back.

 

Another thing you might consider would be blue light blocking glasses in the evening (there is research to support this though it sounds weird/it's just biological in that blue light waves suppress melatonin production and some people including, likely, your son are especially sensitive). I've done less looking into the research but bright light therapy in the morning might help as well. I'd really look into those glasses if melatonin turns out to be a no go.

 

I tried to get him to take 1/4mg last night but he flat out refused. I'll try again tonight.

 

There are two other parts to his protocol: 1) a specific schedule for backing up his bedtime & waketime by 1/2 hour every couple of days- or slower if we need to and 2) bright light first thing in the morning- either sunlight outdoors or a photo light box.

 

So far he refused the bright light on Friday because of the light sensitivity & again on Saturday. I did get more light on him but not as bright or for as long as usual.

 

I am also dimming the lights by no later than 9pm (new for us because I tend to leave lights on all over), hoping that less light will also naturally stimulate his own melatonin. He does get light from his computer screen, and if it turns out that he can't tolerate taking melatonin, then we may need to be strict about screen time after 8:30pm or so.

 

The 3 mornings after he took the melatonin, he was more pleasant upon waking than usual because he was nearly awake when I went in to get him up. This morning, after no melatonin, he was kind of OK on waking but not as ready to get up as before.