Melatonin availability in Ireland

nesf

Hi, I hope it's ok to ask this here. I'm wondering if there are alternatives to Circadin that a pharmacy can provide on prescription. I'm currently prescribed Circadin but would prefer to switch to a different drug due to the lactose in it and the cost.

The doctors I've asked about this couldn't answer my question on this.

Vorsprung

Mod Note

I'll allow this as long as the discussion centres around other brands that contain melatonin which are available on presciption in Ireland. Please don't stray into alternatives to melatonin!

Nesf,

I can't see any other meds containing melatonin apart from Circadin on the HPRA (formerly Irish Medicines Board).

Someone else might have other info on off label preparations.

locum-motion

I did a bit of research when asked a similar question before, and the answer I came up with then was that the amount of lactose that a lactose-intolerant person can take before it starts to cause problems is significantly larger than the amount of lactose that's going to be in a tablet.

Also, I read somewhere that eating live yoghurt can possibly help, as it contains lactase (the enzyme that lactose-intolerant people are missing).

If you're to try to avoid every medication that contains a wee bit of lactose, then you, your doctor and your pharmacist are going to have a fun time trying to keep you healthy as you age!

That being said, if you really genuinely cannot tolerate even the tiny amount of lactose present in the tablets, then discuss it with your pharmacist. It's possible that an unlicensed version could be procured for you.

nesf

I'm on 8mg locum (free running disorder, not insomnia etc), the usual dose is 2mg. Does that affect your reasoning here?

Edit: I had no problems with 2mg and 4mg, it was only with 6mg and 8mg that all the gastro issues began. Also my main issue here is the cost as the drug isn't covered by the DPS and 8mg works out close to 100 Euro per month on top of the 120 odd I pay under the DPS already.

locum-motion

Never heard of that before. Is this what you mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-24-hour_sleep%E2%80%93wake_disorder

So, yes, obviously the amount of lactose in four tablets is 4x greater than the amount in one, so perhaps that dose might contain enough lactose to cause problems, and this would certainly be consistent with your experience with the increasing dose. However, I don't know the numbers involved; I don't know exactly how much lactose is in the tablets, and I don't know how much lactose you're able to tolerate. Perhaps your pharmacist can get the first of those numbers from the manufacturer, and perhaps you know from trial-and-error or experimentation what the second is.

Talk to your pharmacist about this and the possibility of getting a lactose-free version, and/or consider trying the live yoghurt suggestion.

Vorsprung

Lads discussing doses is crossing the threshold for me, we're straying into giving advice that's best left to real life conversations between the OP and pharmacy/medical staff.

Apologies but thread closed.