Mods, feel free to move this back into my diary, but I wanted to make a separate post that’s more searchable.
I just wanted to say I think that melatonin has made the most significant difference to me so far. I also accidently took it in the daytime once and it “aborted” the VM and replaced the feeling with extreme sleepiness (but at least i wasn’t dizzy!).
Saw some research a while back that said Melatonin can be as effective as Amitriptyline for classical migraine prophylaxis, and I’ve definitely had less painful episodes since I’ve been on it.
How much do you take? Its quite hard getting hold of Melatonin in the UK, weirdly a medication that is freely available throughout many other countries is quite heavily restricted here. I tried it for sleep years ago as part of my Fibromyalgia insomnia as a prescribed drug, found it a bit meh to be honest. But then I found most prescription sleeping aids a bit hit and miss. And I’ve probably tried all of them.
It didn’t do much for me. I dont know if you can self source it or buy it off the interweb. The NHS can prescribe it but often to the over 50’s. Its not readily prescribed as far as I know.
its off the shelf in USA. I’ve been on it for a few weeks now and noticed that it makes a big impact after stopping and starting it a few times.
like i said, one day during a particularly bad VM attack i accidently took it in the middle of the day (got confused and got my pills mixed up) and it weirdly aborted the attack. was extremely sleepy, but not dizzy at all.
apparently the more you can take of it, the better for migraine, but a lot of people don’t tolerate higher doses. im at 3 mg right now but couldnt tolerate 6 mg. maybe i’ll try again in a few weeks.
so far, in my experience, it has been more effective than magnesium, which is pretty good for a supplement. efficacy for immediate impact has been 1. Lorazepam and 2. Melatonin, which is pretty interesting.
I read this too! Melatonin can be just as effective if not more effective as amitriptyline. I also read Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is effective like Propranlol
FYI I stopped taking Melatonin shortly after I started on Venlafaxine.
I would overall rate it as mildly effective for VM in my particular case – back then I was so chronic that it really didn’t make any difference in terms of frequency of my attacks, but it definitely brought the intensity down 15-30% to the point that there was a noticeable impact
I reacted poorly to OTC melatonin (feeling spaced out and drowsy in the morning) but prescription agomelatine, a melatonin agonist, when taken at night reduced my symptoms in the morning. It only lasted until early afternoon and gave me bad side effects so I had to discontinue it. Sometimes I wish I could use it again because without it I can barely walk, but the docs say it’s a no go. It made me extremely aggressive and prone to violent self-harm