I started with zopiclone and then tried zolpidem. Both only gave me 2-3 hours sleep at best then a few nights nothing. A different doctor advised me to switch to the 'old fashioned' pill Nitrazapam which is one of the ' Benzoates' sleeping pill. (He said the Z drugs are tried first becasue they are less addictive. I think also the Benzoates have a reputation of being over used in the USA on a regular basis so people just take one every night for years - so basically the have to be used responsibly as a short term fix). For me it was great as I was exhausted. Slept for 6 hours straight the first night...bliss after two awful weeks. I took 2 tabs for about 4-5 days to get my sleep bank up then over about 3 weeks started to cut back slowly e.g. Take 1.5 tabs for 3 days, then 1 for a day, then 1.5 for 3 days then reduce from 1 tab. He said not to be worried about having a night where you up the dose again or if you have a day where you must sleep. Over about 3 weeks I was down to 0.5 tab .. I think by this stage I just felt I needed SOMETHING at night...was almost a placebo effect. So started taking my 40mg Proprananol (Anxiety) at night rather than morning and stopped with the Nitrazapam. I have had a couple of more patchy nights since but nothing like the run of insommnia so the Nitrazapam was the right thing for me at the time. Also don't touch caffeine after midday now and sleep MUCH better with no booze. I think Anxiety about sleeping played a large part, plus maybe hormones and I had a big family bust up 6 weeks earlier which was preying on my mind. I never thought it would pass at the time but it did.
