Soundly Sleeping with Large Dose of Melatonin

Image via WikipediaI decided that perhaps my title of this post should tell my whole story just in case I fell asleep on you, mid-story.  You'll have to forgive me, but for the last four days I have been rather dazed and confused and up until this afternoon, I had no idea why.  You see, my good friend, Leslie, called me to see if I was feeling okay since I have missed our morning walks with the neighborhood dogs for the past four days.  I like to call her Dr. Hosford as she knows more about illnesses and medicines than most doctors I know.  (She also my weather girl, my stylist and several other titles, but never mind).  Anyway, I told her that I have been waking up and feeling groggy and wasn't sure why.

After a barrage of questions, she instructed me to go to the bathroom and find the melatonin bottle.  Still dizzy, I held onto the walls to the bathroom and retrieved the bottle.  I told it said 'Ultra strength....10 mg and there was silence on the phone.  I told her that several days we had run out and my husband had picked up this new bottle.  She informed me that what I have been taking for the past year was 1 MG and that 10 MG is rather a large dose.  Ah ha!  "Bill is trying to kill me", I state dramatically to Leslie.  "No, probably not", she says.  I am not so sure.  (Maybe she's not so strong in the private investigation department). 

Thinking back to this morning, I woke up and headed to the kitchen.  As I started to make the coffee, I got dizzy and overheated and the next thing I know, I had fainted on the kitchen floor.  I am dreaming about swimming in the cold, Pacific Ocean.  It feels refreshing.  But when I wake up, Bill is towering over me asking me why am I wiggling on the floor in my pj's.  I told him I fainted and he seemed genuinely concerned, so maybe he's not some husband trying to get rid of his middle-aged, empty nest wife after all.

Bottom line, if you are taking Melatonin to help you sleep, like I have been for the past two years, we sure and check the label!  1MG is what Dr. Leslie suggests, taken with a tablespoon of orange juice.  Avoid 10MG at all costs.  Unless,of course, you like feeling drugged and about to throw up your lunch at any moment....Be careful, my friends.  Insomnia is no fun, but being dizzy and drugged-up is worse.