My sleep has deteriorated significantly since menopause and some severe stressors that all happened close together. 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. Docs say this is related to anxiety, which I am sometimes aware of but not usually. I tried trazodone 25mg at bedtime. It worked 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. Either the xanax has made me forget or I am not startling awake when I do that. My sleep doc also tried vicodin for my restless leg syndrome but I cannot take it with the xanax and I cannot sleep without the xanax, so I have given up on that.

Thank you.