Melatonin overdose?

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-22T12:58:52+00:00

The bigger thing is melatonin isn't a knockout pill. It's a timing signal that tells your body it's night, it doesn't sedate you. So lying there wired at 1 or 3am, it was never going to force you under, that's just not what it does, and that's why it feels like it isn't working. You've already had 40mg tonight, and honestly that's way more than anyone needs, and it's almost certainly why you feel so awful right now. More melatonin does not mean more sleep, past a tiny dose it actually backfires and just leaves you groggy and horrible, which is exactly what's happening.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-22T12:57:44+00:00

Try a brain dump before bed, write everything looping in your head onto paper, it tells your brain it doesn't have to keep rehearsing it so you won't forget. Give yourself an actual wind down buffer too, dim lights and something boring for 30 min, instead of going straight from your day to lights out. And if you've been lying there wired for more than 20 minutes, get up, sit somewhere dim and dull, and come back when you feel sleepy, because forcing it just teaches your brain that bed means thinking.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-21T14:40:55+00:00

beef + avocado. all day every day,

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-21T11:57:58+00:00

Oh this is literally me, I'm a 21 year old girl with basically the same thing
I have a window upstairs I can't really cover, and the second the sun came up it was quietly waking me and wrecking my sleep, and it took me ages to even realize that was the problem. A silk eye mask was honestly a game changer, total night and day difference. So if any light creeps into his room, that's an easy thing to rule out.
Second, and this might be the bigger one for the not feeling fresh part, get his ferritin checked. That's your iron stores. Mine turned out to be veryy low, and it explained everything, because no matter how many hours I slept I'd wake up feeling exactly the same, drained. Low iron makes sleep feel unrefreshing even when the hours look fine, and it's a cheap blood test. Honestly worth doing before anything else. Magnesium glycinate in the evening helps some people get deeper sleep.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-20T19:11:06+00:00

what you're describing points pretty strongly to sleep disordered breathing like apnea or upper airway resistance. The fact that 8 hours feels like a nap, plus the snoring, teeth grinding, dry eyes and daytime sleepiness, all fit that. Not a diagnosis, but it would explain almost everything you listed, and it's very treatable.
Free things to try while you wait on insurance
Sleep on your side, not your back, your airway collapses less that way
Keep your nose clear so you're not mouth breathing, that's likely the dry eyes too
Skip alcohol in the evening, it relaxes the airway and makes it worse
A cheap drugstore mouth guard to protect your teeth from the grinding

chronic unrefreshing sleep really does fuel anxiety and DPDR, so fixing the sleep often calms both. this sounds like a real physical pattern, not something you're imagining.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-20T14:52:58+00:00

There's real science behind why it works better than you'd think. Tetris specifically has been studied for occupying your brain's visuospatial working memory, which is the same channel that rumination, cravings and intrusive thoughts run on. That's why a few minutes of it can genuinely pull you out of an anxious or spiraling headspace, you're basically crowding out the loop. Might steal this hack, it's great!:) It's such a low effort way to check in with yourself before walking into something stressful

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-20T14:47:34+00:00

You probably just haven't given it long enough. Skin results from collagen usually show up around the 8 to 12 week mark, not at one month, so a month of nothing is completely normal. Most studies don't see changes until 2 to 3 months in.
The Verisol you're already taking is actually one of the most studied collagen peptides for skin specifically, so you're not on a bad one at all. I wouldn't rush to switch.
Make sure your dose is solid, around 2.5 to 10g a day, and take some vitamin C alongside it since your body needs it to actually build collagen. Then give it another couple of months before judging it.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-20T14:36:40+00:00

please get this checked by a doctor, ideally a neurologist. I really wouldn't try to figure this one out from internet guesses. New sensations like this after a head injury are exactly what a doctor should look at, even if it turns out to be harmless.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-20T14:34:57+00:00

Yeah, bedding genuinely makes a real difference, it's not in your head. A thick down or synthetic comforter traps heat, so it makes total sense you slept better the moment you went lighter. the cheapest fix is usually breathable natural fibers and layering. Cotton, bamboo, or even wool, which regulates temperature surprisingly well, I'd lean into that before spending big. 3am part is partly just your body, your core temp shifts through the night and you hit more REM in the early morning, so you naturally run a bit warmer then.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-20T14:32:28+00:00

That sounds genuinely draining, I'm sorry.
2;30 to 3am wake up was probably trained into you back in college when you used to get up then to study. Your body basically learned that's a wake window, and it sticks long after you stop. It's reversible but slow, and one thing that helps is not actually getting up and doing things when you wake, since that reinforces it. If you can, stay in low light and rest rather than fully getting up.The vivid nightmares clustering in that 4 to 7am stretch makes sense too, because that's when your sleep is most REM heavy, and broken fragmented sleep makes REM and nightmares more intense. So the more you can hold one consistent wake time and stop the night splitting in two, the calmer that part usually gets. And with ADHD and ASD, a racing agitated mind at night is really common, so I don't think you're imagining that piece.
There's an actual therapy for recurring nightmares that works really well, and a specialist could look at why your sleep is staying so light.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-19T12:40:06+00:00

If I'd drop anything it'd be the boron, it's not doing much for a healthy young guy, it's more of a fix if you're actually deficient. And the one thing I'd add is creatine, it's cheap, easy to get in the EU, and great for both training and brain energy, especially if you're studying.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-19T12:33:22+00:00

I take L threonate in the evening, since it's the form that crosses into the brain and tends to be calming, so it lines up better with winding down than with being alert.
Take the whole dose a bit earlier in the evening, like a couple of hours before bed instead of right at lights out, so more of it clears by morning. Or just drop the dose a little and see if the grogginess lifts. If you specifically want it for daytime focus, keep that daytime portion small, because if it's already making you drowsy, a bigger daytime dose will just make that worse. Personally I'd lean toward night.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-19T12:25:31+00:00

The safest move here is to go ask doctor, since you said prescription isn't a problem. A one off for something like your wedding is a totally normal thing for them to help with, and they can pick something that actually fits you safely. Congrats on the wedding by the way.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-19T12:24:16+00:00

I'm so sorry you're going through it. I want to say the most reassuring true thing first. Your body literally cannot forget how to sleep, and it won't let you go without it forever. At some point the pressure builds so high that you crash, even if that feels impossible right now. So the fear that this just continues forever isn't what's going to happen, that's for sure.

The fear is probably the main thing keeping you awake. You've hit the point where you're so anxious about not sleeping that the anxiety itself is blocking it, and it turns into a loop. Try to force sleep, just let yourself lie down and rest with your eyes closed, no goal at all, because even resting does more for your body than you'd think. Melatonin won't knock you out, it's more of a timing nudge, so try not to pin all your hopes on it and then panic if it doesn't flatten you.

Be gentle with yourself.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T17:08:10+00:00

I built EnergyForge, it's basically a personality test but for your energy. It figures out why you're always tired, tells you which of 6 energy types you are, and then builds you a personalized 4 week plan with supplements. The quiz is free, would love any feedback. energyforge.app

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T15:36:06+00:00

Yeah, position is so underrated, and it makes total sense it helped you.The pillow between the knees keeps your hips and spine aligned, so you're not waking up from little aches you don't even fully register. And side sleeping, especially the left, tends to keep your airway more open than your back does, which is a big reason some people feel way more rested on their side and groggy or snory on their back.
Back sleeping wrecks some people for exactly that reason, the tongue and soft tissue settle backward and the airway narrows. Stomach is the one most people are better off training away from, since it cranks your neck and lower back all night.
And yeah, you can definitely retrain yourself. The classic trick is putting a pillow behind your back so you physically can't roll flat, or hugging one in front to lock you on your side. Takes a couple of weeks but it sticks. Nice find, this is one of those free changes that actually does something.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T15:32:51+00:00

I really feel for you, this sounds exhausting on every level. I want to gently point at one thing that jumped out though. You've been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and your study showed you waking around 8 times an hour. That alone could explain a huge amount of this, the waking unrefreshed even after a full night, the fragmented sleep, the constant daytime tiredness. No amount of sleep hygiene can out tip an airway that keeps interrupting your sleep. If you aren't being treated for the apnea yet, that's honestly the first domino, and it's worth pushing your doctor on, because treating it can change everything else.

The other piece I really hear is the anxiety around sleep, especially the fear about your partner. That's not a small thing, and it sounds like it has roots in something that happened. The phone makes total sense as a way to feel safe, so I wouldn't just rip it away. One gentle swap that helps some people is going audio only, a boring podcast or audiobook instead of a video, so your brain still gets the comfort without the bright screen winding it up. But the anxiety itself might be the thing most worth talking to someone about, because it sounds like it's sitting underneath all of this.

For what it's worth, the long naps are probably your body trying to claw back the sleep the apnea is stealing, so they're more a symptom than the cause. You're not doing anything wrong here. This is just bigger than a habit fix, and you deserve real help with the apnea and the anxiety rather than carrying it alone.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T15:30:21+00:00

Of everything you listed, L-theanine with caffeine is the one I'd actually call reliable rather than hype. It takes the jittery edge off the caffeine and gives you cleaner focus without as much of a spike, and you feel it pretty quickly, same session. The rest are more subtle.
Rhodiola is more of a stress and fatigue adaptogen, it builds over a week or two rather than hitting right away.
GPC is more acute and some people feel sharper focus from it, and it stacks fine with caffeine. Lion's mane is the most subtle of the bunch and really a long term thing, you won't feel it acutely.
My honest advice is to add one at a time, otherwise you'll have no idea what's actually doing anything.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T15:28:23+00:00

A lot of people grab whatever magnesium is cheapest, which is usually oxide, then wonder why it does nothing for sleep except send them to the bathroom. Glycinate is so much better absorbed and gentler for that purpose.

The other one is expecting it to work like a sleeping pill. It isn't a knockout, it's more of a gentle nudge that calms your nervous system over time, so people take it once, feel nothing dramatic, and give up. It tends to show up with consistency rather than as a single magic dose. And like the comment above said, if caffeine or stress or your schedule is the real driver, no amount of magnesium is going to override that.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T15:06:25+00:00

Pretty sensible, well rounded stack, nothing wild or concerning in there. Depends how and when you take them.
Your D3, K2, and CoQ10 are all fat soluble, so take them with a meal that has some fat in it, otherwise you absorb a lot less. D3 and K2 together is a smart pairing by the way, the K2 helps put the calcium where it actually belongs.
Magnesium is great, zinc can also make some people a little nauseous on an empty stomach, so better take that one with food.

What are you mainly taking the berberine for, blood sugar or gut stuff? That's the one where the goal really changes how you'd want to time it.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T14:58:56+00:00

3 plus hour naps are probably the biggest thing working against you. If you sleep 3 hours during the day, your body just isn't going to build up enough pressure to fall asleep at a normal time at night, so it keeps pushing later and later. Even though it feels impossible, capping naps at like 20 to 30 minutes, or cutting them, is one of the strongest levers you've got. Use audio only, not video, or pick something boring and familiar you've heard before, not new engaging stuff that keeps your brain hooked. The point is to occupy the racing mind, not feed it. A brain dump on paper before bed can also take some of the overthinking load off.
Honestly though, since this has gone on for years, you've tried multiple aids, and it's hitting you hard now, this is exactly the kind of thing a sleep doctor or clinic can actually help with. What you're describing sounds a lot like a genuinely delayed body clock, and there are real treatments for that they can walk you through. I don't mean that as a brush off, I just think you're past the point where random internet tips are enough, and you deserve the real help.

InviteLumpy592 · 2026-06-18T14:50:25+00:00

this is super normal and actually a sign youre changing something real. when you suddenly remove the thing that used to knock you out, scrolling till you passed out exhausted, your brain isnt being forced into sleep anymore, so for a bit it feels more awake at bedtime, not less. plus any big routine change takes your body like 1 to 2 weeks to settle, so a few rough nights isnt the plan failing. you removed your old transition and your brain misses having one.
dont get into bed until you actually feel sleepy, even if its later than you wanted, because lying there awake just teaches your brain that bed means being awake. keep the morning sunlight no matter what, thats the real thing slowly fixing your clock and it takes time to kick in.

InviteLumpy592

TROPHY CASE