Hashimotos and melatonin

[louisemac]

I have Hashi's thyoiditis & am a nurse. Recently, i have been on night duty every other week. I am having to use Lunesta to hep me sleep during the day but would rather use something more natural- I was thinking of melatonin- there seems to be conflicting reports about it's effect with autoimmune diseases. I have been stable for a few years- has anyone with Hashi's actually used it?

[LazyMoose]

Valerian root, its natural, works great, and has no negative side effects.

[louisemac]

Thanks for that- have to say the Lunesta doesn't make me feel groggy at all, so maybe I'm going to have to stick with that. I guess the only way i'm going to know is by trying the melatonin... interesting that the different dosages have such a dramatic effect.

[Barb135]

I used a very small dose for a while and didn't have any bad effects, but it didn't really help all that much.  

Well, let me back up --- if I took a  5 mg dose, it helped me sleep, but I woke up so groggy, I couldn't navigate the next day, so I dropped back to 3 mg; wasn't quite as bad, but still left me groggy - maybe I wasn't getting enough hours of sleep, I don't know.  When I dropped back to 1 mg, I didn't feel so groggy in the morning, but it didn't do a lot for helping me sleep either.  

All that said --- I don't work a night shift --- I do get up at 3:30 am and go to bed about 7:30 pm, except on weekends when I can stay up later and sleep later.

As far as thyroid issues were concerned, it didn't seem to have any effect, but then I was taking my thyroid med in the morning and the melatonin in the evening, so there was an entire day's separation.

My endo suggested that I take tylenol PM before bed.  That works good for me, but again, I'm sleeping at night, not during the day.