Melatonin For Gerd

[tdonline]

Rato,

I'm trying it but I haven't seen any significant improvement. I was using 3mg for about a month and honestly, I didn’t go 40 days straight because I was afraid of some side effects. I tend to veer towards depression and I’ve read that taking melatonin can accentuate this issue. For about the last week, I’ve upped it to 6mg but again, I go on and off.

At best, I think my LPR may be slightly better but overall the effect has not been overtly apparent. And of course, eating the wrong food or a stressful moment will result in serious burning. I’m also still dealing with the random sulfur breath issue which what has really bothered me the most.

I’m leaning towards to buying some more melatonin and continuing the 6mg dosage for awhile to see if it makes a noticeable difference. Happy to hear it’s worked for you. I hope to find a resolution some day.

[LSAT]

Melatonin dosage

I know many people use higher doses, but, there can be serious side effects. On today's Yahoo news page there was an article on sleep. The doctor quoted in the article recommended no more than 1/2mg without consulting a doctor. I was taking 3mg but several months ago I changed to 1mg without noticing any difference. I was using it for sleep...not for GERD. I think 6mg is way too much.

[url]http://shine.yahoo.com/event/lifeslittlepleasures/10-all-natural-ways-to-get-a-better-night-s-sleep-2413685/[/url]

[shayward]

After nearly 6 years of near total control of my reflux using 20mg of nexium a day, it has just stopped working.... so i am very glad to have seen this post.

Will be getting some melatonin and giving this a try.

[tdonline]

I ran out of melatonin and haven't reordered any. The heartburn but not LPR has been pretty bad lately. I don't know if it started after I ran out of the melatonin. And I don't know if it's just a coincidence. I should of kept a record so I would have a better idea. Note to self....

[Thistle]

to NYer

...I'm guessing it has to do with having better (tighter, if you will) control of the LES. In your case, that wouldn't have been possible, given that you didn't have an LES, so I wouldn't think it could have worked for your GERD.

A belated thanks for explaining this to me! I always learn a lot from you. Now I'm wondering if melatonin has any affect on wraps. Do you have any thoughts/info? Hope you're enjoying the holidays.

[NYer]

Hi Thistle!
That's out of my area of expertise!
Never having had surgery, I have no valid ideas on wraps.
Thank you for the compliment, though!
I hope you have a wonderful holiday and new years!
Best,
NYer

[LSAT]

Thistle...To answer your question...I have been using Melatonin 3mg for about 18 months. Not for GERD, but in conjunction with my CPAP for sleep apnia. I have noticed no problems with my wrap.

TTFN (remember that?)

[shayward]

Went to buy some Melatonin today and both health shops i went into said that they are not allowed to sell it in the UK!

Fortunately I went on-line and bought some there, though, apparently, its illegal to sell it over here....

[Thistle]

As long as possession isn't illegal, you're OK! Any explanation for this? I'm curious.

[NYer]

Well, the US allows aluminum in products we ingest and, apparently, England doesn't. I assumed that Canada doesn't either, but that's not so. The Canadian Gaviscon chewables don't contain aluminum but some other products do. So I was going to say maybe England is more cautious about certain things we put in our body that require more testing, hence not allowing melatonin sales...but I may be completely wrong.

Of course, on the flip side, I can get a MUCH better sandwich for lunch in New York than anywhere in London.

[Thistle]

Hmmm.... Given the nonexistent oversight of supplements in the U.S., I think it's safe to conclude that these can contain almost anything. Now that manufacturing has been moved overseas, all sorts of things happen. Did you hear about Rolaids? They had a recall recently due to customers finding foreign "objects" in the chewable tablets. Ooops. You can read all about it online -- I'll not provide the creepy details here.

[shayward]

I did some research on the reasons for Melatonin not being sold in the uk.

Seems as though they banned it because it had not gone through proper safety testing, though it turns out you can get it on prescription. Apparently it costs the NHS (National Health Service) a small fortune for the prescription version, which is crazy because the OTC version is reasonably cheap. When I did some hunting online I also found that Dr's had encouraged patients to just look for it online.

The differences between countries can really surprise me. My wife, who is from Texas, gets bladder infections occasionally. Over here in the UK she pops into the Chemist/supermarket and picks up a cheep remedy that does the trick. When she was visiting her mom in Dallas recently she needed some and discovered that the only thing you can get for a bladder infection is prescription only, requiring an expensive trip to the Dr.

[rdp217]

I've been taking melatonin and a super B-vitamin complex for about a month now, and my symptoms have disappeared. It appears that this is the only thing that will work for me.

[NYer]

Wow, RDP217, that's amazing!
Would you mind giving us more detail? What were your symptoms before? How long did you have symptoms before you started the melatonin? How much melatonin are you taking and how do you take it (i.e., bedtime?) How long after you started taking it did it take for your symptoms to go away? Are you having any side effects (i.e., sleepiness or anything else)?
And how much Vitamin-B complex are you taking? I've been taking a B-50 Complex for years, but it doesn't have any effect on my GERD. Did someone recommend to you that if you take melatonin, you should take B-complex with it for some reason? And if so, did they say why?
Thank you very much.

[rdp217]

Wow, RDP217, that's amazing!
Would you mind giving us more detail? What were your symptoms before? How long did you have symptoms before you started the melatonin? How much melatonin are you taking and how do you take it (i.e., bedtime?) How long after you started taking it did it take for your symptoms to go away? Are you having any side effects (i.e., sleepiness or anything else)?
And how much Vitamin-B complex are you taking? I've been taking a B-50 Complex for years, but it doesn't have any effect on my GERD. Did someone recommend to you that if you take melatonin, you should take B-complex with it for some reason? And if so, did they say why?
Thank you very much.

Sure.

I've had symptoms for about 6 years. I refused to take a PPI (not sure how smart that is), but I did take Zantac, 300mg a day. It would relieve my symptoms slightly. My main symptoms were chest pressure, burning, and asthma symptoms. (I did go through everything to make sure it wasn't heart related, or lung related, but my doctor told me my heart and lungs were fine. I'm only 26, and an avid runner and biker so heart problems seemed not possible.)

Anyway, taking the Zantac helped a little, but my main problems were still the asthma symptoms, and chest pressure. I read an article about a study where participants were given a supplement of melatonin, b vitamins, l-tryptophan, methionine, and betaine, and 100% of the participants saw their symptoms disappear after 40 days. (Compared to the 60% that were taking a PPI). I will try and find the link to that study so you can read it, but i'm not on my other computer.

My B vitamins contain:
100 mg B1
20 mg B2
25 mg B3
2 mg B6
400 mcg Folic Acid
3.8 mcg Biotin
5 mg Pantothenic Acid

I also only take 1 mg of melatonin, and I get the tyrptophan and methionine from a protein mix I take every day that contains these amino acids.

I take all this in the morning. I've been taking a little over a month, and I noticed a reduction in symptoms in just a few days. And no symptoms at all now. My main problem was the asthma symptoms, I hated it. Oh, and as for side effects, I have not noticed anything. I did experience some drowsiness at first from the melatonin, but it is not effecting me anymore.

Also, as a side note, I think I have been misdiagnosed as having GERD, but I honestly think I have LPR.

Hope this helps!