Try using a considerably smaller dose. I only use half a gram per night. Half of a "child" pill. It's effective in small doses, and arguably (pulling this from other conversations Ivr seen on it) the OTC doses are 10x too large. Which would certainly explain the fairly extreme effect that the full pills have on me!

A few years ago I had sleep issues related to my CPAP, I was essentially unable to get to sleep with it on. My doctor prescribed 5mg of Zolpidem, which was enough to knock me out without making me do strange things in my sleep (at least none that my wife ever told me about). It didn’t cure the insomnia, just overwhelmed it.

I’ve given up on the CPAP, and I’ve managed to get off the Zolpidem as well…not that it’s addictive, but it was still the most effective way of getting me to drop off, though I have a tendency to wake up in the wee hours and have trouble getting back to sleep. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the Zolpidem long-term.

My doctor suggested melatonin. 1 mg is what she recommended, and it has been as good as the Zolpidem ever was at making me sleepy, and better at keeping me asleep.

> I feel like my circadian rhythms refuse to work in a way that conveniently fits with the 9-5

I've always been like this but then I developed full-fledged insomnia 5 years ago. I also have a noisy brain and will happily chatter to myself all night long.

I could treat night owling and busy brain with some mental techniques and occasionally a rotation of low-dose chems.

To treat my insomnia, I found that a cocktail of (mostly OTC) chems at very low doses gives the best possible outcome. It's less risky and more dependable than amping up a single med.

The term addicted might not be a good fit to describe the body's adaptation to melatonin.

My understanding is the body adapts quickly to the initial dose(s) of melatonin. That is, what you start at is what you'll need.

Stores offer dosages that are much higher than a first-time user needs. But non-users don't know that. The result is people using a lot higher dosages than they need to.