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Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

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41–50 of 132 posts

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#41
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is bad in melatonin except the tolerance development. If I wasn't afraid of developing tolerance to endogenous melatonin I would take huge doses of it every evening.

So you're saying it's pretty much a free lunch?

Tolerance, vivid dreams, and anxiety in some.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#42
post #6

I know a lot of people who take melatonin to fall asleep. Trying to understand if that's good or bad here?

>Melatonin administration has been found to increase hair growth in a variety of mammals >In a randomized double-blind study of 40 women with hair loss, melatonin solution applied to the scalp increased hair growth significantly relative to placebo Seems like a positive. The article is suggesting that by helping regulate the circadian rhythm, the use of melatonin can potentially: extend lifespan, prolong fertility, r…

> Unfortunately, this is unlikely to affect male pattern hair loss.

Source?

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with is diphenhydramine is the increased Alzheimer's risk: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-d...

Well that's concerning. I brought up long-term use to my GP, and didn't seem too concerned, but asked me to switch to melatonin, which I tried for a while. These studies are extremely difficult to make an informed decision on, thanks to nearly everything being "linked" to some disease. See: Red meat [1] I need to wean off it though. Thankfully dementia doesn't run in my family. https://www.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/…

Have you tried trazadone or mirtapine? I've had good results with trazadone, bu would wake up after 5-6 hours with adolescent-like erections and read that it can actually cause priapism; mirtazapine works wonderfully(also a very strong antihistamine at lower dosages) but it leaves me groggy for 24 hours.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#44

Tangentially I'm interested to know whether taking melatonin for long periods of time (years) reduces its effectiveness. I've been taking it for nearly a year but I've heard stories about how you need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect.

Anectdotal: daily use of 3 mg every night for three years

Still works wonders

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#45
post #8

Tangentially I'm interested to know whether taking melatonin for long periods of time (years) reduces its effectiveness. I've been taking it for nearly a year but I've heard stories about how you need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect.

I have chronic insomnia, I had it all my life. I used to use melatonin but yes over time it lost its effect and melatonin is not one of those drugs you can just take more to sleep. It has a very precise dosage and if you take more it doesn't make you more sleepy. If you have chronic insomnia, you need to solve the root cause. In my case it is anxiety, and currently I'm trying to solve my anxiety and my sleep quality…

I used to suffer from something similar, nothing and I mean nothing has helped me like a regular sleep schedule.

Curious if you've tried that?

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#46
I once asked about melatonin in a health food shop and was told it’s illegal in the UK!

The seems odd in a country where (for example) you can buy codeine pills over-the-counter, so now I’m curious about why it was banned, considering it’s reported to have few side effects?

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#47

I once asked about melatonin in a health food shop and was told it’s illegal in the UK! The seems odd in a country where (for example) you can buy codeine pills over-the-counter, so now I’m curious about why it was banned, considering it’s reported to have few side effects?

Melatonin is now available from Chemists. You need to do a short online consultation but other than that it’s straight forward to buy

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doxylamine succinate is a potent anticholinergic drug, as are (IIRC) all other OTC antihistamines that cause drowsiness. Long term use of such drugs have been linked to dementia later in life. I would at least read some of the literature and re-evaluate whether using drugs like this to sleep on a regular basis is worthwhile.

Something that I have not been able to get an answer to; could the long-term effects of regular antihistamine use be mitigated by supplementing with choline in the morning/daytime?

My initial thought would be probably not, because anticholinergic drugs work by blocking cholinergic receptors. No matter how much choline you eat, a blocked receptor is still blocked, until the drug lets go and gets broken down. That said, eating a few extra eggs in the morning probably wouldn't hurt. (Of course, this is not medical advice, because I'm not a doctor or a biological scientist of any sort.)

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#49
post #44

Tangentially I'm interested to know whether taking melatonin for long periods of time (years) reduces its effectiveness. I've been taking it for nearly a year but I've heard stories about how you need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect.

Anectdotal: daily use of 3 mg every night for three years Still works wonders

Same here.

Re: Melatonin's Effect on Skin and Hair

#50

I once asked about melatonin in a health food shop and was told it’s illegal in the UK! The seems odd in a country where (for example) you can buy codeine pills over-the-counter, so now I’m curious about why it was banned, considering it’s reported to have few side effects?

It’s a fairly recent change you could’ve gotten it from Amazon until a few months ago.

That said you can import them from outside of the UK since you can import any drug for personal use even without prescription.

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