@mattie - I hate, hate, hated amitriptyline (aka "elavail"). It made me numb and depressed and for the only time in my life I thought of suicide if I had to stay on it because I felt so awful on it, and I only took it for 2 days. But it sure knocked me out!
I've recently been doing a benzo taper (from 1 mg. of lorazepam in the middle of the night for sleep, have gotten down to 0.5 mg now) and have had severe insomnia due to the taper, which I think I'm finally getting a handle on, using mostly supplements with a little trazodone.
Initially I took 25 mg. trazodone, it helped knock me out, but left me woozy and very tired the entire next day such that I was unable to do anything. I've since weaned down to 6.25 mg (last night) and managed to get 8 hours.
Here's what's really helping me with sleep without horrendous side effects:
8:15 p.m.: 150 mg. 5-htp
100 mg. l-theanine
2000 mg. glycine
500 mg. niacinamide (stimulates GABA receptors)
500 mg. niacin (stimulates GABA receptors)
one choline/inositol capsule (250 mg. each)
9:15 p.m. 500 mg. niacinamide
200 mg. l-theanine
1 Theanine Serene by Source Naturals
500 mg. inositol (see
http://nootriment.com/inositol-effects/)
6.25 mg. trazodone (will stop this altogether in the next day or two)
3 mg. sublingual melatonin (Natrol)
Generally I'm asleep by around 10:00, then have been sleeping till 1:30 or 2:00, when I take:
500 mg. niacinamide
500 mg. inositol
500 mg. niacin
200 mg l-theanine
one Theanine Serene
2000 mg glycine
3 mg melatonin
0.5 mg. lorazepam (which am planning to taper off the next several months)
I know, it may seem ridiculous, but it's working. Prior to the taper, I was doing okay without the niacinamide and without the extra inositol. I'm really happy with this combination however, don't feel nearly as bad as I did with more trazodone.
I've also found that low blood sugar was contributing to middle of the night insomnia, so have been having a potato with dinner and last night ate a cracker in the middle of the night, which helped.
About 12 years ago I had high cortisol in the middle of the night which caused severe insomnia, and was given Seriphos (formerly made with phosphorylated serine), it worked great. Unfortunately they have changed the formulation and it no longer works like it once did. Anyways, you should get your cortisol levels checked - there is a saliva test which uses 4 samples taken during the day/evening which is best (Adrenal stress index test). There are other things you can take to normalize your cortisol levels if they are high.