Melatonin supplier of repute - anyone else use this stuff?

Thu 22 May 2008, 13:53

All very useful links and suggestions - thanks everyone!

Tue 20 May 2008, 14:28

The reason that Melatonin is difficult to get in the UK is that it does not have approved status, although it has full FDA approval in the US. I use Melatonin as an aid in adapting to timezones as I travel to Asia and the US a lot and normally buy it when I am there. If I am buying off the web, I use either www.agestop.co.uk or www.biovea.co.uk (both of which ship from the US)

Tue 20 May 2008, 10:10

Malcolm, I order melatonin from Agestop, 0800 612 0737 but it is posted from USA. It often arrives faster than things ordered from the UK.

Sun 18 May 2008, 23:16

Michael,
I live in Florida now. Quite a change from Sturt Close. I actually use Melatonin to help with my insomnia, along with valerian root, but one has to be careful, since these ingredients have been linked to depression in SOME people. Like you said, a certain level of paranoia is necessary when using this stuff, but if it works, that ought to be good enough.

Sun 18 May 2008, 20:52

Thanks Mark, will follow up useful leads and y'never know, you might hear from me! Which part of the US of A? I got a couple months supply in a bottle from someone around the ME group (OMEGA) for Oxon, who didn't get on with it (some people don't, it can actually make some people really quite ill, so best to experiment carefully with a lot of these natural supplements - "natural" doesn't mean weak necessarily, and some plant derived chemicals can be very very potent indeed. There is a bad tendency to an irrational science=bad nature=good ideology, and for some people things Just Don't Work which work fine on others. Melatonin helps me with no noticeable side effects (well that *I've* noticed). Other people can have quite major changes to cognitive function during the day, for example, which can and have been tested for.

So always tread carefully with all "alternative" treatments just as much as suspect all "medical" treatments given the failings of the dominant medical paradigms.

General paranoic scepticism is a good adaptive trait to develop for the long term chronically ill!!!

Sun 18 May 2008, 17:28

One more thing, here is one of the sites I use frequently (never had a problem), is exceptionally inexpensive, and does international shipping.
www.vitamins.com

Hope this helps.

Sun 18 May 2008, 17:25

Malcolm,
I live in the US now. Send me an email as to what particular brand you use and I'll see what I can do to get you some. I use quite a few online services for supplements and such, so I might be able to help you there, too.

Mon 12 May 2008, 20:51

Charlotte, Mandy, Catharine Steve - thanks for the leads, tips and directions to the shop, I'll root him out next time I'm fit to get up there or dig out his phone number and ring him. Also will check out website - a lot of people in the UK find…

Long post - click to read full text

Mon 12 May 2008, 14:51

Hi Malcolm. Try having a look at this url. I would not recommend them but they do seem to give an idea of what over the counter products are available for you to go up to the Bean Bag.

I can recommend the Bean Bag as they have a valuable source of info on most things herbal. I take it that your after the non animal version of Melatonin, ie synthetically made.

melatonin-info.co.uk/index.html

Good luck.

Mon 12 May 2008, 09:56

malcolm you dont know what your missing i love shopping much to my husbands misary he hates it.hope you find what you looking for.

Sun 11 May 2008, 20:57

Dear Malcolm – I can’t say that I understand your illness, but understand your frustrations and sympathise.

If you rang Mr Bean Bag in the morning and if there was something that you were interested in buying- I’m driving through Witney tomorrow midday and would be more than happy- to pick up your goods and deliver them to you?

I just think it’s really sad that there are no remedies in this country for you, in this day and age.

Hope you sleep better?

Sun 11 May 2008, 20:37

Beanbag is in Wesley Walk, opposite the roundabout by Halifax/Natwest, at the back of Delnevos, in the precinct heading towards Waitrose car park.

Sun 11 May 2008, 19:50

Bean Bag? Who's he Missus? Thanks for the tip - where does this shop (I presume it is a shop) hang out? There are still corners of Witney shopping precincts I haven't explored.

Shopping is NOT a leisure activity for me - I loath it and try and cut raids down to the absolute minimum. How people can find enjoyment from shopping and spending weekends around shopping centres or travelling great distances to new ones is a mentality incomprehensible to me at an emotional level... rant rant environmental consumption "possession obsession" rave...

Sun 11 May 2008, 19:15

have you tried the bean bag in witney he's very nice and will do all to help if he can.

Sat 10 May 2008, 22:22

Alas, can no longer drink beer - gluten :-( Vile cruel blow for one of the founding members of CAMRA when it was first formed. I find peeling the skin from the forearm and dropping burning meths onto the revealed dermis is more entertaining than the perpetual speeding/cycling thread - but that isn't conducive to achieving a good REM cycle even if it makes a good diversion from the most common Charlbury obsession.

Seriously its no joke, though, and severe sleep deprivation is very common with people with my illness due to damage to (probably) the amygdala and hypothalamus from either a virus/some infective agent or from organo-phosphate pesticide exposure ... a lot of ex farmworkers and horticulturists of my age exposed to the first generation of that stuff have suffered "mystery" health collapses in later life. We'd go home dripping pesticides from soaked clothing :-( So if anyone can help? Seriously?

Sat 10 May 2008, 14:02

Also a quick read of the speeding thread can be a great source of deep REM.

Sat 10 May 2008, 11:50

I normally find a few pints of beer work good as a sleep enhancer!

Fri 9 May 2008, 23:42

Alas my procurer from the USA of melatonin - which I find works very well to help me sleep, which is difficult when suffering from continual pain from injuries and fibromyalgia/polymyalgia rheumatica - has been compulsorily retired from flying for BA as a pilot and my supplies have dried up! Eek! I thought I had another bottle left from his last trip but I miscounted.

There are so many websites out there - and so many charlatans. Anyone know of a reliable supplier of this sleeping aid (which works very well for anyone interested, incidentally - well for me anyway, and a lot of people) that isn't, for example, peddling bactrian camel dung mixed with toxic chemical plant waste and a counterfeited label?