Melatonin - Sailor is a rat

OK. Here we are on day 1 of trial 2, the westbound flight. Let me start off by giving you the background. I left LHR about 1500 on Thursday. First stop was NY (BST-5hrs) where we arrived about 1800, then hop on a connection at 1900 for a 5 hour flight down to vegas (BST-8 hours) and then an hours wait or so for a flight to Albuquerque (BST-7 - mountain time). So, putting it all in mountain time, I left LHR at about 0800 Thursday, having been awake since 2200pm on Wednesday and arrived 0300 Friday. Put mildly, it was a hellishly long journey and horrible timings. To make matters worse, on the flight from NY to LAS I didn't get any sleep because I had to sit in Y with two people sitting next to me who wanted to talk, gesticulate wildly, fall into fits of laughter, and generally do everything they could to keep me awake.

I took my melatonin pill at about 2000 on the LAS flight. I would have taken a sleeping pill too, but TSA at JFK had confiscated them [n] saying they were gel based (which they weren't). I felt pretty sleepy but for the reasons above kept being woken as I drifted off, so got no sleep. On the flight from LAS to ABQ I probably got an hour of sleep. Arriving, I have to say I felt a bit rough, which perhaps to be expected after such a long journey. So booked into the airport hotel to try and sleep it off. Got to bed finaly about 0400, and took a melatonin to 'make sure'. Slept through to about 0700, which is late for me, and woke feeling good which really surprised me. I am normally quite habitual with, to phrase it descretely, my morning habits. Amzingly I received the call at the normal time. This frankly stuns me, and is very unusual for when I travel. I was hungry for breakfast, which again is unusual, and for lunch. It is now 1730, and I am just begining to feel peckish again, which is about an hour early.

I must admit to feeling a little dazed about 2 hours ago, but I did get to the factory then run round like a mad man from about 0830. Having done some food shopping, and got home (we have a house out here) I now feel fine again.

So, given how long the journey was, I think I am in surprisingly good shape. Early days of course, but looking good on the trial so far. Will report tomorrow.

Originally posted by sailor99
OK. Here we are on day 1 of trial 2, the westbound flight. Let me start off by giving you the background. I left LHR about 1500 on Thursday. First stop was NY (BST-5hrs) where we arrived about 1800, then hop on a connection at 1900 for a 5 hour flight down to vegas (BST-8 hours) and then an hours wait or so for a flight to Albuquerque (BST-7 - mountain time). So, putting it all in mountain time, I left LHR at about 0800 Thursday, having been awake since 2200pm on Wednesday and arrived 0300 Friday. Put mildly, it was a hellishly long journey and horrible timings. To make matters worse, on the flight from NY to LAS I didn't get any sleep because I had to sit in Y with two people sitting next to me who wanted to talk, gesticulate wildly, fall into fits of laughter, and generally do everything they could to keep me awake.

I took my melatonin pill at about 2000 on the LAS flight. I would have taken a sleeping pill too, but TSA at JFK had confiscated them [n] saying they were gel based (which they weren't). I felt pretty sleepy but for the reasons above kept being woken as I drifted off, so got no sleep. On the flight from LAS to ABQ I probably got an hour of sleep. Arriving, I have to say I felt a bit rough, which perhaps to be expected after such a long journey. So booked into the airport hotel to try and sleep it off. Got to bed finaly about 0400, and took a melatonin to 'make sure'. Slept through to about 0700, which is late for me, and woke feeling good which really surprised me. I am normally quite habitual with, to phrase it descretely, my morning habits. Amzingly I received the call at the normal time. This frankly stuns me, and is very unusual for when I travel. I was hungry for breakfast, which again is unusual, and for lunch. It is now 1730, and I am just begining to feel peckish again, which is about an hour early.

I must admit to feeling a little dazed about 2 hours ago, but I did get to the factory then run round like a mad man from about 0830. Having done some food shopping, and got home (we have a house out here) I now feel fine again.

So, given how long the journey was, I think I am in surprisingly good shape. Early days of course, but looking good on the trial so far. Will report tomorrow.

Sounds fairly promising. I particularly liked the reference to your morning habits - am sure I'm not alone in finding that gets disturbed with time difference - maybe melatonin helps there too!

Does anyone know if melatonin can be bought here in the UK? I know it couldn't, certainly at one time, but it'd be great to minimise the effects of jetlag on the outward leg.

Claire - it is legal to buy it in UK - link here.

Best wishes

David

Well it 1930 on Day 2. All timings as normal today. Felt a little tired this afternoon, but got some fresh air and was fine again. Slept well last night, although had the normal strange dreams. One involved me running from our NY bankers who had decided I must sleep with the fishes. It was incredibly vivid, and I have to say I have not been that scared in a long time. I got shot in the end, and the pain was indescribable. I think I survived though[y].

Now settled down for a quiet evening with a glass of Merlot (OK,OK enough already - a bottle, well two actually). I am on the terrace looking at the view of the saudia mountains before me. There is a pair of humming birds feeding in the bushes just ahead - black throated humming birds I think, one male and a female Ð and jack rabbits and road runners zipping around. A massive thunderstorm just went through, but that has now cleared and the air is cool and delicious. Soon it will be dark, and now the skies are clearing I should get a view of the fabulous New Mexico night skies, and if I really listen maybe IÕll hear a coyote. IÕve got my favourite boots on, and all I really need is a camp fire, at Stetson and some red eye to complete the picture. To be frank, life doesn't get much better than right at this very brief moment in time. I feel a little bit lonesome, very insignificant and great. And the fact that I am thinking that indicates that the melatonin really has helped.

Unless there is anything significant to report on the ÔtrialÕ I will leave it with a little conclusion. I have found that melatonin really helps me adjust. I am a complete convert to the stuff. But you may be different. I would certainly and whole heartedly recommend it, and hope it makes your travelling as pleasant as it has made mine.

Thanks for the report sailor.Will be trying it out this week (going west) -only thing that worries me slightly are the trippy type nightmares but they're worth suffering to avoid the disturbed sleep patterns I have for days on end when my body still thinks it's on GMT/BST.

Thanks for the update sailor. [y]

[Neil]

mmm - found this whole thread very interesting, cheers Jeremy[y], Im not usually a drug/tablet guy but this does sound very good, so might have to give it a try as I have really stuggled on my last few Long Haul trips.

Neil:)

I will try and have a look at the prices in the US. The UK link prices seemed a little high, so a comparison would be useful. One thing I noticed on the UK link was that they sold time release melatonin. The research I have been doing suggests to avoid this in favour of the ordinary pills. Then there is the vegitarian issue mentioned earlier in the thread. For the record I am taking 1 x 5mg pills, which may be quite high. I see they also do 1mg and 3mg varieties. It maybe some people's preference to try more than one of the smaller pills, perhaps phasing back the dose - I don't know if any of our medically qualified members would have a view on this?

Originally posted by sailor99
....I got shot in the end, and the pain was indescribable. I think I survived though[y]....

Been reading your trials with great interest, and think I might give it a try next time I travel.

Slighty off topic, but about your dream and getting shot... Did you really feel pain? I had a Mafia-esque dream once and think I got riddled with uzi bullets in the chest(i too survived ). I woke up in real pain though, and it stayed with me through the day.... scary stuff[?]

[Darren Wheeler]

Just had a little read through these posts and will give it a try next month. I take it you can get them easily in every state at say, Walmat, Walgreen etc.?

I'm not usually a pill-taker and the last time I tried it on a flight with a sleep aid I was kept awake by my left leg twitching.[n]

Hopefully I'll suvive these.

Thanks again.

Darren - Yes they are freely available in the US. I bought them at a Walgreen.

PVGSLF - Yes I did feel the pain, and not half. Woke up instantly, but in a complete daze. It probably took 20 seconds or so, particularly being in an unfamiliar bedroom, to work out I had been asleap. At first I thought I had been killed and this was what it was like [ii]

They shot you?

That's a rather unglorious end for the Sailor is it not? Thought they'd at least have had the decency to make you walk the plank instead!!

Glad you're enjoying the trip and very impressed the the "Merlotonin" is doing the trick!!

Regards

John

Originally posted by DavidM
Claire - it is legal to buy it in UK - link here.

Best wishes

David

Many thanks Dave - methinks I will be sending off for some before my next flight...[y]

Originally posted by sailor99
Darren - Yes they are freely available in the US. I bought them at a Walgreen.

That's the other thought, of course, to get to the hotel and then trot along to the nearest drugstore. Cheaper - yeah, got to be.

[Darren Wheeler]

Plus you get them there and then. If you're like me it's only the west to east that messes me up.

Although it would be better to start on them before you arrive so that they get to work during your journey. On the west to east, this means taking one when you board the plane outbound. On the east to west you probably need to take one part way through your journey. The idea is that you start taking them when it is 'bed time' in your target country.

Originally posted by sailor99
Although it would be better to start on them before you arrive so that they get to work during your journey. On the west to east, this means taking one when you board the plane outbound. On the east to west you probably need to take one part way through your journey. The idea is that you start taking them when it is 'bed time' in your target country.

Except that west coast is 8 hours ahead and our flight leaves the UK at around 11am - surely that would make it too early to start taking?

1100 is 0300 in your target. I would say the best you could do is eat at the airport, board and take a melatonin. Then sleep through as long as you want. If you get 4 hours sleep you will have done well, and if you get to sleep at say 0430 West coast time, you would then be waking up at 0830 - think of it as having had a lie in.

Originally posted by sailor99
I would say the best you could do is eat at the airport, board and take a melatonin. Then sleep through as long as you want.

At what point do you add the Merlot? Surely not while asleep - administered by the cabin crew??? [ii]

Regards

John

At what point? I didn't know there was any one specific point at which one was supposed to add merlot - I thought it was a whole array of points .

As to drinking in your sleep, lots of people have a glass of water by the bed. So when you are flying surly a G&T by the bed is equally acceptable?

Unless you can get some kind soul to set you up a drip???[}:)]

As Decker was kind enough to get me some for the RBS I tried this both ways (outbound and inbound)on the trip to MIA -on arrival at MIA I slept almost normally and woke at 5.30 which is usual for me at home but unheard of when travelling as usually wide awake at circa 2am.Slept with no problems for the following couple of weeks and prepared myself for the return journey which landed yesterday morning by starting the melatonin again pre-departure.Took one of the magic pills last night and woke up at 10.30 this morning (probably the longest sleep I've had since adolescence!).No vivid or whacky dreams either so a big thumbs up from me.Felt totally refreshed.Mr DL who was the "placebo" so to speak is all over the place and I can't help feeling a bit smug.I think he'll be joining me in the melatonin ingestion on the next trip at the end of October.

[Decker]

Glad to hear it .

Excellent. Glad you are finding it helpful [y]

what dose did you take?