I’ve tried every medication for sleep. I’ve had multiple sleep studies. I spent (wasted) six months working with a sleep center psychologist to try to fix thought patterns with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Barely helped. I’ve had insomnia since I was four years old. I took Melatonin 0.5mg up to 20mg for two years, experimented with taking it at different times of the night, and felt zero effect. The “sleep“ ingredient in all the OTC medications that say “PM” is dyphenhydramine (a.k.a. Benadryl), an antihistamine. It makes me hyper. I have ADHD and severe anxiety so mood medications have the opposite effect on me. I take a stimulant and I calm down. The only sleep medication that works for me is Ambien. I was soooooo relieved when it was invented. I’ve taken it for 18 years. I’ve tried antidepressants, sleepy time tea, magnesium, et al. A big dose of an anti-anxiety medication will do the trick, but Ambien is golden. My sleep studies show I don’t get into deep wave sleep. I stay in stage one. So I’m constantly lucid dreaming. I remember multiple dreams (usually nightmares) when I awake, and sometimes I can’t move but I’m awake. Sometimes they’re fun and I’m grateful for their adventures, but I wake up feeling like I didn’t sleep. I’d rather just sleep and remember nothing and have a couple of dreams I remember per month. My brain neurologist thinks I have narcolepsy. There is a medication for that called Xyrem, a.k.a. GHB “the date rape drug.” Only one company in the U.S. is allowed to manufacture and distribute it. Super strict dispensing. My next sleep study is going to test for it. I have most of the symptoms, but not all. I’d like to add that I follow all the protocols for good sleep (i.e. dark room, heavy comforters, no screens for an hour before bedtime, no clock in bedroom, thick rubber earplugs, cold bedroom, strict bedtime routine, no food or drink for three hours before bedtime, no caffeine after noon). Insomnia has been a lifetime battle for me. Then I snowboarded off a cliff and severed the nerves that tell my brain to decrease renal function when I’m horizontal. Neurogenic Bladder is 24/7. So now my sleep sucks even worse with all the OAB when I’m horizontal. I know my life expectancy sucks because I’ve had so little sleep throughout life. I feel frustrated but I accept that’s just how life is for me.