My sleep has deteriorated significantly since menopause and some severe stressors and a trauma that all happened close together. My therapist and psych nurse say I have insomnia caused by generalized anxiety and ptsd. I am trying to do EMDR but I am so tired from lack of sleep I can hardly even drive to the therapist, let alone get through a session. I have tried everything natural and still my sleep has gotten worse. I get drowsy, fall asleep and then suddenly am awake again. Over and over. As my sleep deteriorated, I began to have flashbacks and panic attacks. I tried trazodone 25mg at bedtime. It worked so-so for a few months. Now it no longer works. Hypnotics don't work. In the past month I have taken xanax at bedtime more nights than not. If I don't take it I am lucky to get 2 hours of sleep. My primary and my sleep doc think I should just take the xanax every night. I see a psych nurse who wants to switch me to klonopin every night. I have never taken anything like this before and it scares me. But the lack of sleep is unbearable. Has anyone successfully taken a benzo for sleep for more than a few weeks or months? I am taking .5 mg of the xanax and 25 mg of trazodone about an hour before bed and then going to bed when I am very sleepy. I am very sensitive to meds so I don't want to take more. Either the xanax has made me forget or I am not startling awake when I take it. I tried no xanax last night and got zero sleep and am a wreck. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts about these meds, especially for longterm use.

Thank you.