# Lucid Dreaming > General Lucid Discussion >  >  Odd Melatonin Experience

## Psychonautic

Awhile back, I needed help sleeping and I took some melatonin that my mom had in her cupboard to assist me. It had extreme effects on my dreams. My dreams became very rapid and very chaotic. I awoke constantly through the night and it felt as if my thoughts were racing. I did it many times and it kept having that affect on me. Then I realize, that the bottle is expired, it expired 7-8 years prior to the year I was using it. I didn't really think anything of it until later down the road, I wanted to try using some melatonin to see what it would do for my attempts at lucid dreaming. The melatonin I have now has no noticeable effects on my dreams :/  The kind I had before was powdered and in gelcaps. The kind I have now is suppose to be a quick release liquid cap. I just found it odd that the effects were so different, and think it must have something to do with the old melatonin being expired. Has anyone else ever had any similar experiences?

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## Crucide

XD.....Lucky it didnt kill you.
Ive had rather wierd experinces with melatonin. One night I woke up and it was like I was having a panic attack I was almost at the point of crying, crawled in my mom's bed lol. She asked me what i was doing but i couldnt speak.  :Eek:

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## ludr

Yeah, stay away from expired medicine, haha.

In fact melatonin and other sedatives make your REM cycles shorter and less intense. In short, it will make you stop dreaming. I wonder how unrealistic Inception was when it said "To create sleep stable enough to contain three layers of dreaming, you need an _extremely powerful sedative_." An "extremely powerful sedative" would just make you go unconscious.

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## Psychonautic

Well, melatonin isn't technically a sedative, it's a hormone. And you're right it does inhibit your REM cycles while it's in your system in the early part of the night, but because of this it creates a rebound effect that extends the duration of your REM cycles in the morning, which can be useful because it's typically easier to become lucid in the mornings.

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## Danno

Melatonin is a naturally occuring hormone in your body. When you are young your body produces enough. It's only when you get older that you MAY need to supplement it.  I have taken it and I believe you can "overdose" on it. Too much will mess with you instead of help you. If you are below 40 or so. I'd stay away from it.

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## TheModernNinja

WOW.....im scared to take medicine now... :smiley:

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