This has been going on for at least 2-3 years and seems to be getting worse as time goes by. I go to bed between 9-10, read for a bit and fall asleep without any problem. Then anywhere from 2-3 hours later I am wide awake, feeling as if I have had a full nights sleep. Sometimes I'm able to go back to sleep on my own after an hour or two, sometimes I take a valium, sometimes that's it for the night. Being that I have to get up at 5:00 for work, I rarely get more than 5 hours. Even on weekends I sleep poorly and am up early.

I have always been one to need 8-9 hours so when this first started it was very hard on me when I didn't get at least 7 hours. And when it started it was just a now and then thing. Now it is happening maybe 5 nights a week and my body seems to have adjusted. I certainly don't feel super great but I manage to make it through the day without feeling like I am going to fall asleep any second. So while I don't feel that terrible I seem to have aged 10years in the last one, I look horrible, drawn, baggy eyes, my body aches and I am severely depressed.

I'm following all the "get a good night's sleep" rules - I don't drink any coffee, tea, soda, alcohol, eat very little chocolate (in fact overall I eat very healthy), no electronics in the bedroom, no heavy execise before bed, my bed is comfy, the room temperature is 62, it's quiet and dark. As I'm reading in bed I'm so tired I tell myself there is no way I won't sleep through the night, but 3 hours later I'm wide awake. I try deep, slow breathing, relaxing my body bit by bit, magnesium, counting backwards, going through the alphabet listing foods, names, etc, nothing works.

I've talked to the doctor, all he wants to do is give me a prescription for ambien. I don't want it and try so hard to stay away from the 2.5 mgs of valium I take, but when I'm heading for my 3rd night of 3 hours of sleep I have to take something (and benadryl is out as that has the opposite effect on me). And I'm really not interested in taking meds, I just want to be able to sleep like I used to without taking something.

Can anyone relate, has anyone here had it this bed and found a way to recover?