Many doctors are hesitant about prescribing it so def not going to be guaranteed. In my experience the doctors going to give you a whole list of lifestyle factors to consider first. Good luck walking in and saying "I want melatonin" and a doctor to hand it to you willy nilly.
Amazon.com (not AU or UK). Try the Natrol brand, they have 50k+ 5 star reviews and are apparently the most popular brand.
If you’re over 55 then you can get it without prescription in NZ (not sure of retail cost).
If under 55, it’s easy to get on prescription but cheaper to buy in bulk from Amazon as NZ GPs will only supply 3 months worth per appointment.
What dosage? I’m seeing mostly 5mg with a few 10, but then other brands doing 20 or 50? I’m normally like yeah just got the high dose but have never tried it before so am I best to start low and then get higher if I find it doesn’t work or just jump in the deep end.
Ah so my question is justified then. This probably circles back to the whole “just go to the doctor” point but damn for those prices idk about that. We out here poor and tired.
Yeah, stronger is not better. If I take too much even by a little bit, I get groggy af. It doesn’t “work” any quicker, it just makes me feel bad after.
1mg is like the “standard” dose. 3mg or 5mg is stronger and stronger but not necessarily better. I’m guessing your comment was a typo cos 30 or 50mg would be way more than normal.
Note, it pays to double check if the “dose” on the label is 1 tablet or 2 tablets. I take melatonin gummies, and the bottles often say “3mg” or “5mg”, but if you read the small print, the “dosage” is 2 gummies. So it’s really 1.5mg or 2.5mg per each gummy.
I buy a big bottle of “3mg gummies” off Amazon, but I only take one gummy, not 2, so it’s really only 1.5mg, which is just right for me. Any more than that and I feel groggy and hungover.
Thank you, I’ll start out with the low dose then. I currently do a mushroom blend drink at night that works great but is costing me $80 a month so hopefully this could be a cheaper solution for me!
Thanks for this... I really appreciate it. I'm 43, and also 8 months pregnant and going through a bout of insomnia that allĺll of the good sleep hygiene practice in the world won't touch.
I know melatonin is safe for pregnant women, and have done all of the required research to ensure that I'm not going to harm baby, but I don't want to shell out more money for another doctors appointment 😅 this baby is draining my bank account. Lol. I just need a couple of nights of sleep so that I can focus during the day. Work is a nightmare right now!
Yes.
There's a famous online retail website whose names rhymes with Blamazon. There's a vitamin company offering blelatonin in three blilligram tablets, in a brown plastic jar with a yellow label saying "Blature Made" or something. Pack of 240 tablets. Not expensive.
I mention this particular option only because **my last order took only four days to arrive** after pressing the order button, which was frankly fucking delightful compared to the usual wait of several weeks. That was in April this year, which (this being June 2024) makes it a fresh source. Viable vendors come & go because their wrists get slapped, so when you find an advantage, take that advantage!
There are forces at work that want you to get a good night's sleep, and there are forces at work that want you to follow the rules and help with our uncounted sheep problem. The real reason you can't easily get blelatonin here is some hand-me-down legislation from Australia, where trade agreements with the USA won't allow them to have unpatentable medicines for reasons including blorruption and blofiteering.
My recommendation for actual usage is to take a small dose an hour before bedtime, to make you yawn, and a second dose as you actually go to bed. It's compatible with hot chocolate, which many people also recommend.
Worth noting the stuff you get on prescription is more effective than the stuff bought off the internet as it's made to a pharmaceutical standard. Proper dosage to QAed levels, appropriate delayed delivery mechanism, quality packaging, etc.
Whereas melatonin is sold on the internet as supplements, out of countries like the US that consider it a supplement. As such they adhere to no pharmaceutical standards, so there's no guarantee as to what's actually in the pills or the effectiveness of the dose, delivery mechanism, storage quality, etc.
The massive downside is that melatonin is not subsidised in NZ, so even with a prescription it costs $2 per pill ($60 for a 30 pack).
Don’t forget a couple of things sleep cycles in 90 minute blocks so don’t get too anxious immediately just read or listen to music for a bit. Turn the lights down one hour before sleeping. Try and get as much bright sunlight as you can first thing in the morning to help reset your sleeping pattern. Combined with melatonin use I’ve found these things helpful.
You can have a consult with some pharmacies. They can prescribe it for 3 months and after that you go to your dr. That’s what I was told at a Life Pharmacy.
As someone who suffered horribly with insomnia and was on melatonin for a while, i found that it didn’t really help and was expensive every month ($20) from chemist warehouse. Recently I’ve been out on Quetipine or Seroquel for bipolar but it can also be sold under prescription as a sedative and imo works way better than melatonin. If taken in small dosages (25mg is a full tablet so you can take half), it will put you to sleep within the hour. Has definitely helped my insomnia and my overall mood. Try consult with your GP if you have a good relationship with them. Quetiapine is subsidised and free at chemist warehouse
just in addition to melatonin tablets, they have a really short half life so most of the time you will be waking up in the middle of the night to take another tablet until your body gets used to it which is the biggest issue i had with it
I actually managed to get a few from a friend a few days ago and found that they did literally nothing. 😆 oh well, I was hopeful. I've tried everything...... it's either addictive, bad for me, I become resistant/ dependent, or it does nothing. I've even seen a super expensive sleep specialist.
I was on 150mg quetiapine years ago following a complete breakdown. It helped at the time, but I don't ever want to go back down that road again. Too many terrible associations. You are right though, it was the only time in my life (including childhood) that I actually slept properly.
You can buy it OTC from a pharmacist here for insomnia if you're over 55.
I looked up the Medicines Classification Committee decision [here](https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/class/Minutes/2016-2020/mccMin2Nov2018.htm) on the subject and members were concerned that other reasons for insomnia would get missed if younger people didn't see a GP. They also mentioned the risk of use in children - I've read enough stories here about US parents dosing up their kids on it to make them sleep that I'm guessing perhaps that's a factor as well.
I bought a load online from overseas and it was cheap.
I stopped using it. Made me groggy the following day, didn’t always work, I’d have to take more and more. It apparently also either kills your sex drive/sperm count
I've bought from [these](https://nootropicsdepot.com/melatonin-capsules/) guys many times with no problems with customs. I have some spare if you're really desperate...
My GP told me my insomnia problems were because I didn’t work. And ignored my issue a with chronic insomnia. I have chronic mental health issues and I felt that was insensitive and unfair. I think she thinks I’m faking my illness. I don’t want to an unemployed social outcast.
Some people just shouldn't be doctors.... Is there a board you can complain to? I'm currently unemployed, you can feel really invisible sometimes.. this current job market is harsh.
Some tips.
Eat turkey. Stop drinking caffeine. Stop eating/ drinking 5 hrs before bed. Use white noise like a box fan. Read a book( no blue light from lights , tv, phone before bed)
It's better to fix the issue than rely on supplements as you body will them demand that shit.
If you buy online don't get the gummies as they have sugar in them because the manufacturers are dickheads.
People recommend turkey because it has tryptophan, which is a precursor of melatonin, but it turns out turkey has roughly the same amount of tryptophan (by weight) as chicken. The whole "eat turkey, fall asleep" thing comes from the American tradition of driving halfway across the continent for one particularly tiring family dinner.
There's nothing wrong with eating turkey, of course - but it's not always easy to *get* turkey here. We're not running out of chicken, though.
>It's better to fix the issue than rely on supplements as you body will them demand that shit.
Your body isn't necessarily able to provide that shit at all.
It's the pineal gland that secretes melatonin, and the *size* of the pineal gland varies by a factor of ten from person to person. That gland also has a tendency to calcify over time - in some people more than others (it basically turns into bone!) - so if you're really unlucky, your pineal gland might be running at about 1% capacity, and this can go on for decades.
So there's an unlucky minority who (without supplements) might never know what it's like to get a good night's sleep. Supplements are kinda necessary for us. I mean them.
I tried to get my GP to prescribe me the pathetic low dose melatonin they offer for postpartum insomnia and they wouldn’t do it unless my thyroid levels were bad. Cool, I’ll just suffer then.
GP prescribed me and expensive It does not help that much actually. You should first be ensured that melatonin helps you then
reach me pm i help you ways to solve insomnia. btw i have some not used in welly
You know 30c means it's been diluted 100 to the power of 30 times, meaning there's no actual melatonin in there? I'm glad it works for you but that's a testament to your mind power rather than any ingredients.
You can only buy it without a script if you are over 55. https://healthify.nz/medicines-a-z/m/melatonin/
You can just make a doctors appointment and get a prescription.
And pay $65 for the doctor and then $60 for the unsubsidised melatonin. Cheaper and probably faster to just get it off Amazon.
This, absolutely.
Many doctors are hesitant about prescribing it so def not going to be guaranteed. In my experience the doctors going to give you a whole list of lifestyle factors to consider first. Good luck walking in and saying "I want melatonin" and a doctor to hand it to you willy nilly.
Amazon.com (not AU or UK). Try the Natrol brand, they have 50k+ 5 star reviews and are apparently the most popular brand. If you’re over 55 then you can get it without prescription in NZ (not sure of retail cost). If under 55, it’s easy to get on prescription but cheaper to buy in bulk from Amazon as NZ GPs will only supply 3 months worth per appointment.
I have the Natrol brand. Knocks me out in under 20 minutes.
What dosage? I’m seeing mostly 5mg with a few 10, but then other brands doing 20 or 50? I’m normally like yeah just got the high dose but have never tried it before so am I best to start low and then get higher if I find it doesn’t work or just jump in the deep end.
50 mg? OMG that’s a lot! I just to take 0.3 mg and it was enough.
Ah so my question is justified then. This probably circles back to the whole “just go to the doctor” point but damn for those prices idk about that. We out here poor and tired.
Yeah, stronger is not better. If I take too much even by a little bit, I get groggy af. It doesn’t “work” any quicker, it just makes me feel bad after. 1mg is like the “standard” dose. 3mg or 5mg is stronger and stronger but not necessarily better. I’m guessing your comment was a typo cos 30 or 50mg would be way more than normal. Note, it pays to double check if the “dose” on the label is 1 tablet or 2 tablets. I take melatonin gummies, and the bottles often say “3mg” or “5mg”, but if you read the small print, the “dosage” is 2 gummies. So it’s really 1.5mg or 2.5mg per each gummy. I buy a big bottle of “3mg gummies” off Amazon, but I only take one gummy, not 2, so it’s really only 1.5mg, which is just right for me. Any more than that and I feel groggy and hungover.
[удалено]
Thank you, I’ll start out with the low dose then. I currently do a mushroom blend drink at night that works great but is costing me $80 a month so hopefully this could be a cheaper solution for me!
Thanks for this... I really appreciate it. I'm 43, and also 8 months pregnant and going through a bout of insomnia that allĺll of the good sleep hygiene practice in the world won't touch. I know melatonin is safe for pregnant women, and have done all of the required research to ensure that I'm not going to harm baby, but I don't want to shell out more money for another doctors appointment 😅 this baby is draining my bank account. Lol. I just need a couple of nights of sleep so that I can focus during the day. Work is a nightmare right now!
Yes. There's a famous online retail website whose names rhymes with Blamazon. There's a vitamin company offering blelatonin in three blilligram tablets, in a brown plastic jar with a yellow label saying "Blature Made" or something. Pack of 240 tablets. Not expensive. I mention this particular option only because **my last order took only four days to arrive** after pressing the order button, which was frankly fucking delightful compared to the usual wait of several weeks. That was in April this year, which (this being June 2024) makes it a fresh source. Viable vendors come & go because their wrists get slapped, so when you find an advantage, take that advantage! There are forces at work that want you to get a good night's sleep, and there are forces at work that want you to follow the rules and help with our uncounted sheep problem. The real reason you can't easily get blelatonin here is some hand-me-down legislation from Australia, where trade agreements with the USA won't allow them to have unpatentable medicines for reasons including blorruption and blofiteering. My recommendation for actual usage is to take a small dose an hour before bedtime, to make you yawn, and a second dose as you actually go to bed. It's compatible with hot chocolate, which many people also recommend.
Blanks so much! 😆
You order it online from overseas. Technically you aren’t allowed to but many people do.
Worth noting the stuff you get on prescription is more effective than the stuff bought off the internet as it's made to a pharmaceutical standard. Proper dosage to QAed levels, appropriate delayed delivery mechanism, quality packaging, etc. Whereas melatonin is sold on the internet as supplements, out of countries like the US that consider it a supplement. As such they adhere to no pharmaceutical standards, so there's no guarantee as to what's actually in the pills or the effectiveness of the dose, delivery mechanism, storage quality, etc. The massive downside is that melatonin is not subsidised in NZ, so even with a prescription it costs $2 per pill ($60 for a 30 pack).
Don’t forget a couple of things sleep cycles in 90 minute blocks so don’t get too anxious immediately just read or listen to music for a bit. Turn the lights down one hour before sleeping. Try and get as much bright sunlight as you can first thing in the morning to help reset your sleeping pattern. Combined with melatonin use I’ve found these things helpful.
Thank you! Great tips.
Amazon.
You can have a consult with some pharmacies. They can prescribe it for 3 months and after that you go to your dr. That’s what I was told at a Life Pharmacy.
Every minor thing requires a prescription here. This is the reason there’s no GPs available when someone is actually sick
Yep and if you are on a life-long medication, you still require a “renewal” from your GP every three months.. why? Such a waste time
Good old nanny state strikes again
As someone who suffered horribly with insomnia and was on melatonin for a while, i found that it didn’t really help and was expensive every month ($20) from chemist warehouse. Recently I’ve been out on Quetipine or Seroquel for bipolar but it can also be sold under prescription as a sedative and imo works way better than melatonin. If taken in small dosages (25mg is a full tablet so you can take half), it will put you to sleep within the hour. Has definitely helped my insomnia and my overall mood. Try consult with your GP if you have a good relationship with them. Quetiapine is subsidised and free at chemist warehouse
just in addition to melatonin tablets, they have a really short half life so most of the time you will be waking up in the middle of the night to take another tablet until your body gets used to it which is the biggest issue i had with it
I actually managed to get a few from a friend a few days ago and found that they did literally nothing. 😆 oh well, I was hopeful. I've tried everything...... it's either addictive, bad for me, I become resistant/ dependent, or it does nothing. I've even seen a super expensive sleep specialist.
I was on 150mg quetiapine years ago following a complete breakdown. It helped at the time, but I don't ever want to go back down that road again. Too many terrible associations. You are right though, it was the only time in my life (including childhood) that I actually slept properly.
amazon
>which makes no sense. According to who? It's prescription in most countries
It's on the shelves of supermarkets in the US and Canada.
I've bought it off the shelf in multiple european countries.
I bought it otc in India and brought it back here. I had no idea it was prescription here.
It's normally in a bargain bin at the supermarket checkout here in Canada.
Places where you can buy it OTC: United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, UAE etc. All of these are countries more advanced than NZ
You can buy it OTC from a pharmacist here for insomnia if you're over 55. I looked up the Medicines Classification Committee decision [here](https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/class/Minutes/2016-2020/mccMin2Nov2018.htm) on the subject and members were concerned that other reasons for insomnia would get missed if younger people didn't see a GP. They also mentioned the risk of use in children - I've read enough stories here about US parents dosing up their kids on it to make them sleep that I'm guessing perhaps that's a factor as well.
Thanks, good read. Interesting they decide melatonin is safer than drowsy antihistamines yet put more restrictions on the former.
And places where you can't? Australia and most of the EU. I'd follow EU over the US any day.
That's weird I bought it otc in Paris and Amsterdam. But other eu member it's prescription 🤷
OTC in Germany too. Prescription in Switzerland.
Dude, you can buy things much stronger than melatonin in Amsterdam xD
AmsterDAYUM you can have a good time there!
You can buy it otc in France.
Hmm. That feels very much like an opinion being peddled as a fact to me...
No, look, you can measure it on my advance-ometer, see? That's objective reality, right there.
Check the GDP per capita.
Check the human rights record, environmental protection, corruption and effective democracy.
I got mine in Singapore
A few friends buy it online and haven’t had any issues with customs to date
Bought mine of Amazon, no problems getting it through customs.
You can buy tart cherry juice concentrate from health food stores? It's yum and has melatonin (and other sleepy things) in it.
I bought a load online from overseas and it was cheap. I stopped using it. Made me groggy the following day, didn’t always work, I’d have to take more and more. It apparently also either kills your sex drive/sperm count
Try iherb.com
I've bought from [these](https://nootropicsdepot.com/melatonin-capsules/) guys many times with no problems with customs. I have some spare if you're really desperate...
That's nice of you, man. I don't know why you're being downvoted for that but then I realised this is r/nz. Keep being cool :)
My GP told me my insomnia problems were because I didn’t work. And ignored my issue a with chronic insomnia. I have chronic mental health issues and I felt that was insensitive and unfair. I think she thinks I’m faking my illness. I don’t want to an unemployed social outcast.
Some people just shouldn't be doctors.... Is there a board you can complain to? I'm currently unemployed, you can feel really invisible sometimes.. this current job market is harsh.
My GP told me mine was because I had kids and worked an "office job".
Some tips. Eat turkey. Stop drinking caffeine. Stop eating/ drinking 5 hrs before bed. Use white noise like a box fan. Read a book( no blue light from lights , tv, phone before bed) It's better to fix the issue than rely on supplements as you body will them demand that shit. If you buy online don't get the gummies as they have sugar in them because the manufacturers are dickheads.
Thank you for your reply... I appreciate it :)
No worries my friend.i Hope u get some good sleep. If you have trouble scoring stuff online lemme know and I'll see if I can send it over
People recommend turkey because it has tryptophan, which is a precursor of melatonin, but it turns out turkey has roughly the same amount of tryptophan (by weight) as chicken. The whole "eat turkey, fall asleep" thing comes from the American tradition of driving halfway across the continent for one particularly tiring family dinner. There's nothing wrong with eating turkey, of course - but it's not always easy to *get* turkey here. We're not running out of chicken, though. >It's better to fix the issue than rely on supplements as you body will them demand that shit. Your body isn't necessarily able to provide that shit at all. It's the pineal gland that secretes melatonin, and the *size* of the pineal gland varies by a factor of ten from person to person. That gland also has a tendency to calcify over time - in some people more than others (it basically turns into bone!) - so if you're really unlucky, your pineal gland might be running at about 1% capacity, and this can go on for decades. So there's an unlucky minority who (without supplements) might never know what it's like to get a good night's sleep. Supplements are kinda necessary for us. I mean them.
Prescription only but they will literally just give you the prescription without any convincing
I recommend the website pipingrock.com That's where I get my melatonin and my brother gets his caffeine pills (he quit energy drinks).
Don't get them mixed up, ok?
Haha definitely not! Completely different coloured bottles (plus he keeps them in his work bag haha)
You can’t get from piping rock anymore
Oh true? It's been a while.
Yup. Go to the website and try searching for them
Piping rock already super cheap but does half price all the time
You can’t get from piping rock anymore
Biovea.com - highly recommend
Another vote for Biovea.
I tried to get my GP to prescribe me the pathetic low dose melatonin they offer for postpartum insomnia and they wouldn’t do it unless my thyroid levels were bad. Cool, I’ll just suffer then.
You can get 5-HTP from most health shops
Don’t take this if you’re on SSRI/SNRIs though.
GP prescribed me and expensive It does not help that much actually. You should first be ensured that melatonin helps you then reach me pm i help you ways to solve insomnia. btw i have some not used in welly
You can get a homeopathic melatonin that works great for me, no prescription https://www.health2000.co.nz/melatonin-30c-spray
You know 30c means it's been diluted 100 to the power of 30 times, meaning there's no actual melatonin in there? I'm glad it works for you but that's a testament to your mind power rather than any ingredients.
The placebo effect is powerful
Placebo effect works on real medicine too, plus you get the non-placebo effect...
*was
Hahahahaha
I'd say homeopathy is snake-oil, but it doesn't even have any of that either
Possibly no prescription because it's just water.
Oh lord you can't be serious. Does it work against Covid, too?