Fisher, please read that last post by Mrs D as often as needed. It does not matter what you can afford, you can NOT afford to make yourself worse with meds, if they are not done safely.

I took elavil because it was the only one I could in the class that did not give me a bad reaction - cannot do beta's, channel blockers, or SSRIs. One verapamil sent me over the edge, thought I was gonna die.

Took 50 mgs for pain - burning and shock pain (maybe ms, some kind of nerve thing).

Slept very well, not too much grogginess the next day, for a couple years. Then started bouts of insomnia. Very odd.
My docs thought I was lying, I think. I was also on topamax (migraines) Butalbital, and a couple other things, so I should have been darn tired all those meds at my size (110 lbs).

I too have a high tolerance for most meds. (can take 2 vicodin 1000 and you can't tell).

But could not sleep more than 2-3 hours, this went on for months. Docs had no advice, so I just tapered off ALL meds except topamax - had to deal with migraines.

I still have insomnia bouts, but not like those days. I think something got weird in my head, from being made to sleep so long, the brain learned to fight it. Learned a little too well.

Anyhoo, I have done just as well without those meds.

I've had that battle with meds though, that even if they work for the pain or whatever sx to start out, except for the topamax, eventually they have all stopped working or I developed some side effects could not live with.

That's gotta be one of the worst parts of health issues, never finding long term meds.