I mixed melatonin and painkillers.. Freaking out

[DarkMagician]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I didn't really think that it belonged in symptoms though.

I get HORRIBLE menstrual cramps.. And I had surgery on my eye recently. So I took half a hydrocodone pill and 800mg of ibuprofen that were left over from after my surgery. Mixing those things together usually completely knocks out my pain and also puts me to sleep. Its the only thing that works. I've been taking melatonin at night recently, and I've become very routine with it. I had already taken it when I decided to take pain meds and didn't think about possible interactions until after. I'm really worried now that if I fall asleep I won't wake up and I'm wondering if I need to go to the hospital or something. I'm getting very tired and its only been about 25 minutes since I took the pills. Its only 10mg of melatonin. Should I be worried?

[RadioGaGa]

Why are you taking 10mg of melatonin? The usual dose is 2 to 4mg?

[ErinKC]

No one here will know how drugs interact. The best thing to do when you're not sure is call poison control. They can answer any question about that. 1-800-222-1222. When my daughter was a toddler they were on speed dial!

[ErinKC]

And, be careful with prescription pain killers. They're so addictive. I get awful cramps also and the only thing that works for me it taking Alieve the moment I get my period to preempt the cramps.

[RadioGaGa]

There is no interaction between melatonin and opoids per se - they both cause drowsiness so that could be a potential problem, if the OP was (relatively) ''opoid naive''

But what baffles me is why he or she is taking five times the standard dose? This is how unintentional OD occur

For anyone reading this, please don't think you know better than the drug manufacturer - take the medication EXACTLY as it says on the box or as directed by your doctor or pharmacist.

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[MyNameIsTerry]

There is no interaction between melatonin and opoids per se - they both cause drowsiness so that could be a potential problem, if the OP was (relatively) ''opoid naive''But what baffles me is why he or she is taking five times the standard dose? This is how unintentional OD occur For anyone reading this, please don't think you know better than the drug manufacturer - take the medication EXACTLY as it says on the box or as directed by your doctor or pharmacist.Are you thinking in terms of UK drug licencing? Melatonin being a supplement in the US makes it available over the counter and it's common to see 5-10 mg on US sites.

[RadioGaGa]

I stick to what the BNF tells us!

[MyNameIsTerry]

I stick to what the BNF tells us!I think you misunderstand what I mean. The FDA allow it on supermarket shelves at the doses I explained. It's not classed as a medicine is the US. The OP is from the US.

[RadioGaGa]

No I am aware of it being OTC over there. But seeing as the BNF advises 2mg od. Therefore I would be surprised if someone was taking five times this amount.

Ultimately it would come down to the prescribers professional discretion - there would be nothing stopping a doctor or independent prescriber (nurse, pharmacist) prescribing this in the UK. But it would likely raise eyebrows at the pharmacy.

For example - there are some people (yes this is an extreme example compared to the OP) who take vast amounts of benzos. And they end up with enormous tolerances. Say they take 50mg diazepam (and that's conservative for a significant amount of them) they may not experience much in the way of euphoria or anxiolyis - give someone who's never taken diazepam, or any other benzo before, 10mg and the results should be very different.

However I personally have never seen higher than 4mg being prescribed in my short time of being qualified. So it was unusual, being from the UK, to see 10mg.

IV paracetamol dose miscalculations caused death in Scotland, to a young female who's body weight should have dictated a lower dose - but the body weight was not taken into consideration. Her dose should've been 500mg, but instead she was given the standard 1g every 4 hours. So in this case, a 'double dose' was enough to cause death. This took place over the course of a few days

So it's always best to follow the BNF to the letter - had this been done in the above described case, the patient wouldn't have came to harm.

Hence why I'd never endorse 10mg of Melatonin over the Internet. We don't know who reads these forums and who may follow the advice on it.

[MyNameIsTerry]

No, you've missed the point again. In the US it available at 10mg in a single dose. Their FDA is fine with that. The OP is in the US. Therefore sending them back to their GP who follows FDA guidance, not BNF, is a bit pointless for the OP. The issues of who is right is a fight between the FDA and the BNF. A question might be what dose do the US use but I would also question why they allow general sale if a prescribed dose is lower. If the OP was in the UK I would agree with you.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Except it's a licenced drug in the UK so other than importing it, that risk will be managed by their doctor who adheres to the BNF anyway. I just think the thread should take into account the OP and whilst I think what you're saying is valid we need to remember the US is fine with what the OP is taking in terms of Melatonin from a legal point of view.

[RadioGaGa]

https://www.drugs.com/melatonin.html

Why is the forum deleting questions when I attempt to edit them via mobile?

As I'm from the UK, I will only give information on here that I know and trust. And this will be in line with our prescribing guidance.

My fear stems from people reading information on here, who could misinterpret such information, and end up taking more (of any medication) becsuse someone else took a higher dose.

Alot of people think the strength or potency of a drug is directly related to the mg it contains. So, by this they think 1mg of Warfarin, 5mg diazepam etc are weak. And 500mg of paracetamol is strong. They simply go by the figure on the package, rather than the figure AND the drug. When it simply doesnt work like this.

I hope this clarifies any ambiguity.

[MyNameIsTerry]

The edit function is still playing up since the upgrade.

Yes, the Drugs.com link explains about the things I have been saying. I'm just taking the approach similar to how we have the ICD and DSM issues over differing systems.

One thing that is clear based on UK articles as well as US is that very little is known long term about use of Melatonin.

[panic_down_under]

There might also be a difference between pharmaceutical grade melatonin in the UK and an OTC formulation in the U.S. which may be of lower potency, assuming it actually contains what it says on the label. With almost no regulatory oversight on OTC supplements in the U.S., it may not.

[MyNameIsTerry]

There might also be a difference between pharmaceutical grade melatonin in the UK and an OTC formulation in the U.S. which may be of lower potency, assuming it actually contains what it says on the label. With almost no regulatory oversight on OTC supplements in the U.S., it may not.

Welcome back Ian, great to hear from you! :yesyes:


Melatonin is prescription only in the UK. Even then it used at 2mg.

The situation is similar with things like GABA and DHEA, they were made Schedule IV drugs some years ago. Some people get caught out by a company called Biovea which portrays itself as a UK company yet it's nothing more than a PO box and when you order arrives it comes from the US and is subject to being seized by UK Customs. The athletics scandals and date rape issues with GHB (in the case of GABA) led to these after loads of media pushing on politicians.

[panic_down_under]

Welcome back Ian, great to hear from you! [/FONT]

Thanks mate. Rumours of my untimely demise were slightly exaggerated. :winks:



The situation is similar with things like GABA and DHEA, they were made Schedule IV drugs some years ago.

...The athletics scandals and date rape issues with GHB (in the case of GABA) led to these after loads of media pushing on politicians.

Banning GABA was a good move. It's snake oil as it can't penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Plus, the one thing normally functioning brains don't lack is GABA. There is so much GABA sloshing around that the BBB has billions of molecular pumps to remove it from the brain. The problem with anxious brains is a lack of benzodiazepine binding sites on GABA receptors, not GABA. The binding sites increase the efficiency of GABA receptors which is how benzodiazepines such as Valium work.

Banning GABA because of GBH shows the power of 'popular' ignorance.