Oh, Jen, it sounds so hard for you. Did the night sleeping correspond to changes in your step-mom's and father's relationship and sleep situation? That would make sense to me.

I go downstairs when I am having a bad night, eat a banana or a slice of cinnamon raisin toast, or a carton of yogurt. I don't like it downstairs because I keep the temperature really really cold (the cool air across my face seems to help me sleep) so I prefer to lay in bed a bit, even if I'm awake rather than be 'up".

I have asthma and hypothyroid and those conditions can affect sleep too. I've found that if I take a Pepcid Complete antacid and a children's allergy med that has sleepiness as a side effect, that I do much better than usual (but I don't do that every night as I don't want my body to get habituated) because my breathing/any post nasal drip or GERD that might bother the asthma is not there. Maybe go to your regular doc and look for other physical conditions that might cause difficulty? Have you done that lately?