Massive Explosive Diarrhea and Shameless TMI: Was it the MELATONIN?!?!

I was happily on  my way to work this morning, feeling great, when all of a sudden I literally felt like crap, and had to do a 180 -- I barely made it to the can (at home -- I'm poop shy), when I evacuated everything I had consumed since probably Wednesday of last week.  Mostly a liquidy, foul, horrible mess. I'm not kidding. Husband remarked -- "Wow, I can smell it all the way OUT HERE!  Have you eaten anything unusual lately?" Here's the thing -- I haven't eaten ANYTHING unusual lately.  I racked my widdle pea brain ... what had I consumed that was new ... and the only thing I could think of was (drum roll please ...) I had taken a chewable melatonin to see if it would help me sleep last night.  Actually, I did sleep pretty well.  Not as great as if I had quaffed some Lortab, but scoring that is unethical, since I'm really not in any pain, and I haven't thought to ask for any legitimate sleep aids. So what do you all think.  I've got a correlation here, but not necessarily a causal relationship.  Has anyone else here got any scoop on melatonin as a poop-causing agent? Charming

one of the side effects from melatonin is abdominal cramping....with our intestines already being sliced and diced and the pouch being small...maybe that qualifies for explosive poopies, too. good luck to ya, Dawn

I take meletonin on a regular basis, and don't have any problems with it, although I don't take the chewable.  Be careful with prescription sleep aids, with me they have tended to hit me like a brick so I can only take about half of what is prescribed and even then I turn into a strange version of myself, acording to my husband. Having the runs is pretty common, especialy with you only being about 2 months out, it will get better...I am still more gassy and all that way more than I ever was before the RNY, but it's not as bad as it was 4 months ago.

I used to work in a "natural lifestyle" store and one of the most common complaints I heard from people about melatonin was diarrhea.  While the complaints about melatonin were relatively few, that was the one that I did hear most often.

You will be like me.  For the first year, I did the same thing quite often.  And its like you almost don't make it to the potty.  It happened to me one Sunday morning when I was out walking.  I lived on a 1/2 mile dirt road at the time and was just starting down the road toward home when it hit.  I walked funny and hurt like hell about half way home then knew I was in trouble.  I hit the woods.  Right across from my nearest neighbor!  AND I had on overall shorts, so I had to fight to get the hooks off.  My thighs were bleeding from the blackberry vine scratches. I find now that it will happen if I take in too much lactose, or too much sugar, and especially too much maltitol or sugar alcohols.  So I know exactly what you mean.  It ain't fun. So, buy some incense.  Keep it along with a cigarette lighter in the bathroom.  It's one of the only things that will help with the odor. Hugs Charlie

I took melatonin for insomnia for several months about 15 years ago, and found that it worked well.  I also used it during flights to Europe in an attempt to curb jet lag (it's hard to say whether it helped, but it didn't make things worse).   Granted I was pre-op, but I never experienced any GI issues back then.  In the (relatively few) controlled studies of the drug, melatonin seemed to cause diarrhea in a small proportion of people, so I suppose it CAN happen.  I don't know if people reacted immediately after taking melatonin or, like you, experienced it after becoming active the next day.  Had you ever taken it before? This is OT, but perhaps an interesting FYI: The sleep aid ROZEREM™ (ramelteon)--whose direct-to-consumer ads feature Abraham Lincoln and a groundhog--is just a synthetic chemical variant of melatonin which can be patented and marketed for Big Bucks.  There haven't been any head-to-head studies of ramelteon against melatonin, naturally, since Takeda (its manufacturer) would undoubtedly be shamed by the comparison. I didn't keep taking melatonin on a regular basis because of the largely theoretical concerns about and/or anecdotal reports of depression, lowered libido and lowered sex hormone levels in people taking it chronically.  The reality here is rather murky, both for melatonin and ramelteon, though the FDA-approved labelling for ROZEREM™ has to mention these side effects as still-unquantified possibilities. /Steve

Oh yes ! I took two 5 mg. Melatonin chewy's for 2 nights, and then 3 the next night, and now have nothing but a watery explosion of diarrhea. It has been going on now for about 4 or 5 days ! I can't wait for it to be over ! Never again, never again, lol

Thank you all for your information and advice --  As G-d is my witness, I will never take Melatonin again.  I've already put the bottle in the "circular file" and hope to never see it again. Ugh!  Still tired and weak form this morning's experience.  Blah, blah, blah!!! Thanks for the support!