I can't get my insomnia to stop

Thanks for the reply AM
Its great that they are working with you to find the right combination.. its hard to find a dr. that will do that with insomnia..
But sometimes I really feel very hopeless.. not depressed.. just hopeless.. because these days there seems to be a cure.. or a treatment plan for so many diseases, and insomnia seems so benign and I just wonder why pharmaceutical companies havent been able to come up with on one stop solution it.
I guess it just gets so frustrating sometimes.
Like so many people don't understand how serious it can be. So if i'm up until 6am and end up having to call off of work due to not sleeping.. my boss would say it's irresponsible.. but if I called out with the flu.. it would be okay.
I'm just happy I found a place where people could relate and understand what your going through

Hey, DarkBlue! You're right, it's not fair that people don't take your illness so seriously. I hope you're feeling better.

So I went to the doc today.. before the outcome.. here's the deal.. i live in south carolina and i am a server in a tourist area.. medical hasnt yet been offered yet at my job.. and when it is offered I won't be able to afford it.. so I go to the health department.. they only offer assistance if you are disabled, a child, or elderly (with a few loopholes here and there). So I spend $30 to go to a clinic.. my doc there.. first time meeting him.. asks what my visit is for.. I tell him it's because I have some pretty intense insomnia and anxiety.. and that I also get panic attacks from certain anti psychotics and antihistamines due to the way they sedate me.. he lets me list only two I've been on in the past (ambien and restoril) and says well here we won't prescribe ambien because it can be addictive and we'll only prescribe restoril for a few nights of insomnia.. he also says he can't run blood work because I don't have any way to pay for it.. so he prescribes me 100mg of Trazadone.. which I've been prescribed three times in the past and its only ever worked for 3 to 5 nights.. then the sedation stops.. But I was so defeated at this point so I took the script and left. I really don't know what to do! Please Help!

((((((((((DarkBlueLetters))))))))))) It really sucks that you can't afford decent treatment. Could you go back to him and tell him that the meds he gave you stopped working? Maybe he'll be more willing to listen and you'll find something that works after all.

Jasmin.. thank you for keeping up with my posts.. it's great to have someone out there lending an ear and offering advice. I am going to go back to this doc and tell him.. but in such clinic settings these doctors are afraid to attempt to treat sleep because the meds they prescribe can't be addictive and can't be abused or cause dependence.. and in my case.. with the insomnia being so severe.. the meds generally can be addictive, but in the past they were monitored so closely by my docs.. and I wouldn't just get a potentially addictive med, but also a powerful antipsychotic to use with it.
My question to you.. or anyone reading this post.. is: How can I talk to the doc about the severity of this without sounding like I think I'm a doctor.. and also, I know what has worked in the past.. but if I name specific meds he might think I'm medicine shopping.. or should I just put it in his hands and say "well this combo worked but the trazadone never has but when you prescribed it I didn't want to offend you so I took it.. now it's time for honesty.. please help"?
Any advice would be great! Thanks

You're welcome! You could also try the trazadone again and tell him that you had taken it before but you tried it again because he prescribed it.
You could say that you've really been through a lot with this condition and it might sound a bit odd when you'll talk about it, but you need him to hear you out and it's important to you to tell him everything.
Look into his eyes when you're talking to him and tell him the whole story.

Hi DBL,

Well done for cutting back on the Benadryl, it's definitely a good start. From my experience, unless there's an identifiable medical condition at the root of your insomnia, taking medications of any type purely to combat insomnia simply won't work in the long run. You may get some temporary relief for a few days or even weeks, but you're just tackling the sypmtons, not the underlying reason for your sleeplessness.

I suffered from poor sleep for nearly 15 years, and tried all kinds of medications - natural or pharmaceutical - and techniques over that time, some which helped a bit, others not at all. Doctors weren't any help either - most of them simply don't have enough training in this area. It got to the point where I felt I was completely losing control over my life from waking up early every night and spending hours tossing and turning and worrying about my lack of sleep.

I resolved to learn everything I could and try everything I could to get over my insomnia, and after several months of this experimentation, I found a combination of techniques that did work for me and I now feel I have control again over my sleeping habits. I don't sleep 8 hours a night every night, but then again i don't need to. There's no one solution to insomnia - you have to tackle the root mental causes in the first place, then get into a good regular sleep schedule and adopt the right mental attitude towards sleep. Taking things like valerian and St John's Wort or therapies such as acupuncture can help with this process, but on their own they are not a solution.

I've actually put together a sleep programme using the techniques that have worked for me and written all this up in an ebook, which I'd be more than happy to send you a copy of (and anyone else who'd be interested for that matter). All i'd ask is that if you do try it out, you'd let me know how you got on.

Email me if you're interested..