Melatonin madness, continued

side effects, supplements
Soon after I wrote this post about my melatonin megadose experiment, I experienced one of those wacky sleep phenomena that seem to happen when you futz with the pineal gland, as SSRIs are famous for and melatonin does as well. I had a short, vivid dream that ended with someone shooting me in the head with a shotgun. Weird, but very common in these situations, as are dreams/experiences of alien abduction, sleep paralysis, and a buzzing or exploding head. Other effects that continued for months after stopping the melatonin were not as dramatic but a lot more entertaining. Dozing off while reading a book at night, in those 30 or so seconds when I was half asleep, I'd have a dream in which some factor of human existence of which…
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Two months of experiments with melatonin supplements

self-experiment, side effects
In another attempt to kill my insomnia I revisited melatonin supplements a few months ago. I had tried them 15 years ago, once, when I was sleeping three hours a night, whereupon I slept for 24 hours. That kept me off the stuff until a few years ago, when I tried them again, using the dosages listed on the labels -- 1.5 mg, 3 mg, etc. I could feel it working and I got sleepier and sleepier and then...nothing. I get the same effect when I use amber light bulbs and amber glasses, which prevent blue light from turning off your melatonin production at night. Especially if I'm reading, I'll get sleepy and doze-y for about 30 minutes and...nothing happens and I'm wide awake again. Clearly a crucial step is…
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