posting for .
future referance..

First off, this is a great thread. Thanks for all the info. I am very interested in all this, but mainly the sleep issue. I've been on medical marijuana all of my adult life and was able to sleep well except during times when I wasn't taking it. I quit for about a year and would stay up all night, but I was eating better then and it eventually got a little better and I was having vivid dreams because the house I was living in was very active. The past year I've started taking it again, but I recently had to quit due to financial reasons. I cannot get to sleep until early morning and have felt very off because I can't afford to eat well either and I haven't had any dreams in my new house. After reading this, I'm going to start taking my vitamins daily and see if that helps until I can get some amino acid supplements. One of my questions is: Can long term use of marijuana cause sleep problems? I don't think that's the case since both my parents have insomnia also and they rarely smoke. I also have a question about the melanin. Benign melanoma runs in my family and I recently read that caffeine or coffee helps prevent it, have you heard any connection to that and the pituitary and also do you think there could be some sort of deficiency in my family that causes melanoma?

One issue I have been having with Melatonin is breast soreness. Ladies you may want to look into this before using. I researched and apparently it has been a common issue with other women out there. BUT I sure have been sleeping much better. Receiving VERY interesting dreams. An over all feel of calmness through out the day.
I wanted to ask you all the best tips on proper meditation. I am practicing meditation now as much as I can. However my mind (ego) is very chatty. In fact it talks to itself. I will get centered in the nothing and then the ego starts chatting. It is difficult for me to shut it off. Any tips?

Okay, the timing for this thread was interesting for me because in France, I have not found melatonin available before, at least not in my area. Yesterday I saw for the first time some being sold at the grocery store, and as my american family members have mentioned it before, I grabbed it.

Then I saw this thread, and decided to take it before going to sleep. But I don't really have problems sleeping, and have periods of very active lucid dreaming already- I just thought, what the heck? It is 1.5 mg.

I did get drowsy early and went to bed around 9:30, but woke up at 2:00 completely awake and unable to get back to sleep! I ended up coming down here and posting on ATS for hours waiting to get sleepy again.
Finally I was able to start falling asleep around 6:00, and slept until 9:00, when I woke up with a splitting headache and nausea. The nausea continues, many hours later.....

So I am thinking, this hasn't been such a successful experiment so far! Is there cases of people have an adverse opposing effect like insomnia? Or headaches and nausea?
I felt like like I do during a fullmoon, except it wasn't!

Well, decided to try again last night, and this time had no ill effects! I slept deeply all night, woke up when I had planned to.

I also had such intensely clear dreams! I've been thinking of an ex boyfriend who's been trying to flirt a bit with me on FB, and a bit troubled by how I still find him attractive.....but had a dream last night in which I did go have a fling with him.....
The dream was realistic enough to remind me of how null he was in bed! I feel safe in my vows of fidelity again
Yay for melatonin!

Originally posted by jtap66
I take 5-HTP at night. It changed the way I dream.

i have tried all the different dream drugs (the legal ones) and the results have been inconsistent at best. try one thing one week and the best lucid dream with total control of the dreamscape just to have nothing happen the next week using the same drugs

Thanks for the thread and the great data collection here. I've taken melatonin for a long time, usually 2.5 grams bilingually but lately 5 grams by ingestion (a birthday gift). Everyone needs melatonin as we get older, as the body begins to make less and less of it as the years go by - we weren't originally designed to live long and some areas of the body think you're pretty old if you make it to your late 20s. Melatonin is one of those, and by the mid 40s there is very little made. Look at children and teens, they can go to sleep on a dime and snooze for 9 or 10 hours like it's nothing. Melatonin.

Thanks again!