Questions about sleep disorder - Part One..?

I've been on sleeping pills for the last eight or nine months now. At first it was just the over the counter stuff you can buy anywhere but they quickly became useless, so I'm now on prescribed pills (Amitriptyline - hope I spelled that correctly) and even that isn't working that great anymore.

Basically, I have a 12 hour work shift ahead of me and I've not slept all night (it's 5am as I type this). I've had a blood test (find out the results in a few days) but I can't imagine they'll find anything there. Basically, I think the doc's just going to give me stronger pills, which I'd like to avoid.

I read somewhere about Sleep Centre's - any idea what kind of thing happens in there and if they get good results?

Also - I hate to sound like a drama queen and call it "insomnia", but does this sound like genuine insomnia to you? I mean, I DO sleep, but very rarely without sleeping pills, and I tend to sleep better at afternoons on the couch etc.

Sorry to go on, but, well.. it's 5am. I've nothing better to do.

It sounds as if you are having a severe sleep disorder. It is better that you go and have some sleep remedies. Better avoid tablets and practice stress revealing techniques and also try creating calm environment.

Amitriptyline works for me even a 1/4 of a 25mg tablet. Maybe it's a combination of stressful job and caffeine. Don't take caffeine even a small amount as it always makes it more difficult to sleep at night even if you had it in the morning. I work right next to the sleep lab and I never heard of them treating insomnia, unless it's associtated with restless leg syndrome. They mainly diagnose obstructive sleep apnea and narcolepsy. But I have seen documentries on T.V. about sleep clinics that treat insomnia.