I have been using Melatonin for about 7 yrs now and have never had any side effects in fact I haven't heard of anyone having side effects, apart from the pills not working with some people. I only take them when flying east though.
In the past I normally only suffered Jet Lag when flying east not coming home, but on my last trip to Australia I was absolutely shattered for days after returning . I'ts just a case of grin and bear it. I have read that you should put yourself on to the time zone of the area that you are travelling to as soon as you start to travel, not drink alcohol etc , but have tried this in the past and nothing worked until I started taking Melatonin.

melatonin is a good thing to help you my 7 year old son has to take it every night to get to sleep and he has no side effects what so ever.

What strength melatonin do you take Judith?

I suffer horrendous jetlag coming back from the States and take 10-14 days to recover. I have sometimes actually felt ill as well as exhausted.

I've tried everything too. I change my watch to the new time zone as soon as I get on the plane. I've tried sleeping as much as possible, not sleeping and trying to stay up. No alcohol. Every time I come home and swear I'm not going to do it again as I feel so bad, but after a couple of weeks when I'm feeling OK again I'm off pricing up flights to go back.

I bought melatonin a couple of years ago in the US. They had 2 strengths - 1mg and 3mg. I bought the 1mg incase the higher dose knocked me for 6. However it hasn't had any effect at all, but then I have only taken 2 x 1mg tablets.

luci

Hi Luci

I take the 3mg tablet. I sympathise with you, on return on my last trip to Oz I felt so bad it really spoiled the holiday. I felt really ill, most unusual as I usually don't normally get jet lagged flying west.
My husband tried taking it when we flew to Singapore and it didn't work with him. He drove me mad roaming around the hotel room in the middle of the night and dragging himself around the sites during the day.
You may find this site useful http://www.sltbr.org/melfaq.htm#m5 I always start taking the capsules the day before travelling, it may make me a bit drowsy but I think it helps get my bodyclock into the new time zone quicker.
It doesn't work on everyone but it has helped me on quite a few trips over the last few years.

Thanks Judith. How often do you take them?

luci

We flew from Glasgow to Japan and back after 3 weeks there. We were amazed that none of us felt jetlagged. We have no idea why and have no idea now what jetlag is like.

Luci

I take two the day before I travel, then the day of travel, then for about four days after arrival. The day before travel and the actual day of travel I take two at the what would be 7pm at my destination, then the next four days two about half an a hour before bedtime.
They obviously affect people differently and I would advise you to get some advice at a pharmacy next time you are in the USA.

Hope they work. I am going to the USA next spring so I will be buying some more over there.

Judith

This may sound strange but I worked night duty for many years and never ever got jet lag.The furthest east I travelled was Singapore and furthest west was the Pacific coast of Mexico.I used to go to work on my first night after staying up all day,then stay up all day after my last shift.I sometimes felt like a zombie which is probably how jet lag feels.

Thanks again Judith. I'm really not sure if they'll work for me as I certainly don't have a problem sleeping. It's staying awake that's the problem. Last trip I came straight in from work and was in bed by 5.30pm I was so exhausted.

I make matters worse, I drive 60 miles rounf trip to work and driving back in the dark is bad enough under normal circumstances without feeling tired as well.

Dibgy

The first time we came back from Florida I thought jetlag was a myth as I didn't suffer at all. Came home at 10.30pm and into work at 8.30am next day. Took a day off before going back to work the next time and I was like a zombie. Came back on the Monday night and someone at work actually said to me on the Friday, "You're actually here today" as I was so spaced out. Managed to do my job, but in automatic pilot. Couldn't have told you what I'd just done 5 mins previously as nothing was sinking in.

I actually had jetlag going east to west last time and was exhausted every night for the first week.

Guess I'd better get to bed soon as we have to be up at 3am to drive to the airport. I really hope I sleep for most of the flight.

luci

Hubby and I were fine during our holiday in Mexico but on return suffered from Jet lag for about a week. We were tired al the time and couldn't really focus on anything we were doing. As a previous poster said it was as though we were on automatic pilot.
A few years ago we holidayed in the Dom rep and apart from being tired the day after return we didn't experience jet lag. Strange, considering the flight was only an hour shorter than the Mexico one.

Oh well we're back. Slept most of the 10 hour flight back to Manchester and then had the connection up to Aberdeen and arrived home at 11.30 this morning after being up since 6.45 Las Vegas time yesterday morning.

Still awake and don't feel too bad at the moment although I've had a couple of woozy moments. Hope I get up at a reasonable time in the morning instead of sleeping half the day and knocking myself all wrong.

luci

Luci
Here's hoping you don't have any problems.

Judith

Hope you had a good time Luci. Always makes the jet lag worth it

I force myself to stay awake as long as possible on return to the UK. You want to sleep at 3pm but read a book, watch telly or I find surfing the net keeps me awake. Try and delay bedtime as long as possible. Do that for a few days and you will soon get back to normal.

I think Jet Lag affects people differently. I normally only get it going East but as I mentioned in an earlier post I had a real bad attack of it when I returned from OZ a couple of years ago. I put myself on UK time immediately I got back, didn't sleep during the day, kept busy etc. but it took me the best part of two weeks to get back to normal and I felt absolutely terrible the whole time, if I hadn't had such a fantastic holiday I think I would have cried off going on a long haul holiday ever again. I'm going to New York in the spring and Laos next winter I'm hoping I don't get it too badly then.

It is supposed to be worse flying east, but it never seems to bother us as much as the return flight home. We wondered about the eastward journey always being on your way to your holiday or visit to family, hence you were not bothered as much as on your return
A few years ago I got a load of Melatonin on a visit to the U.S. A. and hoped it would help, but it did'nt seem to make a difference
Two years ago we had to make a sudden return home from Oz when my wifes mother died, we were in an isolated spot in the far north of N.S.W. when we got the news so the journey home took 38hrs in total and the jet lag was corispondingly terrible. Alan

Well I felt OK Friday and yesterday and thought I was going to be lucky this time, but don't feel so good today. Woke at 2am for a couple of hours despite sleeping through Friday night OK and thinking of heading back to bed.

It feels like I'm coming down with something, but I know it's just the jetlag.

luci

The only time i've suffered from jet-lag is coming back from Florida. I didn't sleep on the plane and fell asleep at 1:30pm and slept for 24 hours. I was completely fine after that

How badly do you suffer? Having had two holidays to Mexico and the most recent to the Dom Rep, I think I must be the world's worst traveller. Admittedly this time I only had one day of rocking & motion sickness. However, I have now been home for 4 days & am still on Caribbean time. I'm shattered by 9 pm, then like a daisy come 2am. I'm awake then until around 4 or 5am, & then struggle to get up at 9.30. I'm hoping that tomorrow is a better day as I'm back in work Is it just me or are we all the same?