Originally Posted by nkedel

It's worth having a talk with your doctor about these issues; it may or may not prove useful to have a second medication for that.



A shorter-acting sleep drug might work better, given what you describe; I think Sonata (generic is zaleplon) is still the shortest-acting of the commonly-prescribed ones, so you might ask your doctor if it's appropriate as an alternative for sleep trouble.

If you are still going to be taking the Xanax separately for whatever the other issue is you will also want to talk to your doctor about how long you have to allow between taking one and taking the other; combining two depressive drugs is a very big no-no (in the worst case, it can kill you -- e.g. the occasional rockers who combined "booze and pills" to ill effect) -- your doctor AND the pharmacist should both bring it up, but to be on the safe side, ask!

(Good sleep hygiene, including avoiding caffeine in the afternoon and bright lights/screen time before beg, may [or may not] also help, and you can always try melatonin or over-the-counter sleep aids like diphenhydramine to see if they both (A) work and (B) have less of a hangover effect for you, but if you're already needing to use the Xanax for it your best bet is definitely to talk to your doctor.)

caveat: I am not a doctor, and that's not medical advice. I've just had a lot of sleep trouble of my own over the years.