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.

[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.

[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

[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.