Something that came up at one of my Dr's appointments was Melatonin. (I think it was after my Spinal Tap)

Anyway, for the past 4  nights I have taken about 900mcg before bed.
Today my constant daily headache was lower than normal.   :)
(I suffer a headache all day with spikes at random intervals)

I still had some headache today (1-2 on pain scale) but nothing near the usual (5-6)

I have found a few articles on the web there may be a benefit.

has anyone here tried it or had any results with Melatonin, if so at what doses?

I am not going to count my chickens but if it helps........

Yup!

Melatonin has been commonly used around here to help keep the night time hits at bay. Some people have better results than others, of course.  I believe the "average" that people here take is between 9mg and 15mg. Just depends on your own personal tolerance and need. If 9mg is working for you, and your doc okays it... go for it!

I actually just picked some up today.  It's helped in the past, so thought I'd give it another try. 9mg usually seems to help me too.

Best of luck, and PFDAN to ya!
Adam

9 mg, taken 1/2 hour before bedtime seems to work well for me.  It's a valuable tool in my (admittedly) very conservative arsenal.

According to my headache diary, the number of nighttime attacks I get during a cycle are reduced while taking Melatonin.  Since better than 90 percent of the attacks I get are nighttime attacks during the first REM cycle (about 90 minutes after falling asleep), the number of headaches I get during a cycle are reduced altogether.

I consider it a success.  It's by no means a magic bullet to eliminate them altogether, but it's been very worthwhile.  For me, any side-effects have been unnoticeable, and it seems to do no harm.

Best wishes,

George

I have an affiliation with Stanford Medical School though not a physician.  I corresponded with a Chilean researcher who uses melatonin as a prophylactic and claims some success.  I think it's about the dosage you are using.  There are one or two studies using it, but I don't think anyone has shown a huge effect.  I tried it, and it didn't help me.  Peter Goadsby at UCSF doesn't use it.  I hate to say this, because we know that belief can do amazing things, but I just don't personally have a lot of faith in it.  That being said, everyone is different.  It may be great for you.  Only time will tell.

Well, I just read others' posts and there is no knocking success.  It would seem that melatonin works for a number of folks on this board.  Good luck with it.

I use melatonin at the first signs I might be going into a cycle. When I get eye-twitches, leg twitches, and am waking up early feeling refreshed in summer, that is a powerful predictor of a cycle for me.  

I use anywhere from 1.5 mg to 3 mg per night - always at the same time, about 1/2 hour before I force myself to go to sleep.  This has worked for me to re-establish my circadian cycles and has apparently kept the beast away.

I also use a lower dose - about 0.75 mg or 750 micrograms when not in cycle but feel my sleep is irregular.  I have seen studies that say that most episodic clusterheads have messed up melatonin excretion year round (even when not in cycle) and I believe that is true in my case.

I've tried, and like Kudzuu and every other herbal remedy it didn't work for me.  I do think it helped me to sleep through the night and perhaps lower the intensity down enough that the lower end hits on the kip scale were tolerable and can be slept through, but it didn't prevent anything on the higher end.  I hope it continues to work for you.  Anything natural that helps is a win in my opinion!

For me, 6-9mg of Melatonin before bedtime along with extra Magnesium, Calcium and Zinc help to keep my attacks to a minimum.  Before the combo I was getting hit 5-6 times a night, afterwards I'm at 1 a night.

Now, I also could be nearing the end of my cycle, but when I forget to add the zinc and magnesium in, I end up with 5-6 attacks a night again.

Go figure.

OK, I read about Melatonin, but didn't hear about Zinc or Magnesium.  I have M and Z in the house and will try it.

But.....

My wife bought me Melatonin yesterday and came back with a bottle of 300 mcg strength.   Does this mean to get 9mg, I have to take at least 27 of them :-(

MartyB wrote on Feb 11^th, 2009 at 5:22pm:

...My wife bought me Melatonin yesterday and came back with a bottle of 300 mcg strength.   Does this mean to get 9mg, I have to take at least 27 of them :-(

Actually, it means you'd have to take 30 of them!  :o

Melatonin is interesting stuff.  The 300 mcg tablets you got are a typical dose for use as a sleep aid, and my experience is that they work very well for that purpose.

A lot of people take larger doses, usually in the 1-5 mg. range, as an antioxidant dietary supplement, believing that it lowers risk of cancer, heart disease, etc.  Even larger doses, typically around 10 mg., seem to be the norm for melatonin as a CH preventative.  Even though this is 33+ times the usual 'sleep aid' dose, most people do not find that it makes them particularly drowsy, although some do.  I don't.  I have included 10mg every night in my regimen, and have had dramatic success with it.  You might want to give it a try.  You can read about it here:

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

I believe that Wal-Mart carries melatonin in 1, 3, and 5 mg. tablets.  If not, you can find them at just about any drug store or health food shop.  I think I'd go find a bottle of 5mg tablets rather than taking 1/2 bottle of the 300mcg's at a time!

Anyway, best of luck to you!  Hope you're able to find your silver bullet.

Best regards,
Jim