For the past 46 years I have always had to take some medication in order to sleep to fly (bad childhood, anxiety etc). I have always tried to "not take pills", any pills at all, and to keep my sleep meds at the very basic minimum. I was taking .75 mg alprazolam (Xanax) every night with good results. Then in 98 when my husband had a stroke I started to drink a small amount of alcohol(wine) 1/2 glass with dinner which would make me drunk, but no one knew because the amount was so small. This was very effective but my driving was impaired so I gave up the wine and went to and complied with AA (2 years this june); however, giving up that small amount of wine caused withdrawal and consequently disrupted my sleep. Like my father I cannot handle alcohol because I do not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol. Because of the sleep problem my psychopharm, who I have seen for 10 years, added .5 mg of Xanax XR in order to extend my sleep. In addition to this some negative family events have disrupted my sleep. Now I take.625 mg alprazolam along with .5mg Xanax XR to sleep and it is not working because the alprazolam stops working after about six hours and I start having agitated dreams and increased heart beat due to withdrawing from the alprazolam. My doctor told me to take .75 mg of klonopin instead of the alprazolam which I did and it didn't work so I had to take more of the alprazolam. I am very hung over this morning. What to do? I think that my doctor made a mistake. Should I go elsewhere. Thank you for any attention or help. Nancy