A: I see that you’re taking magnesium, gaba, valerian and herbal supplements. Some things work for a day or two. Sometimes they give you more anxiety because your nervous system is shocked. You don't like taking pharmaceuticals, but ZQuill helped.
One of the ingredients in ZQuil is basically an antihistamine, so let’s consider what you might wish to take if histamine is your issue. You may want to do an Organic Acids Test or a GI-MAP test to see if you have mold or infections that are driving histamine levels in your body. Here’s my histamine article for more information. Histamine basically can cause you to have insomnia and sleep issues and feel wired.The things you seem to have found helpful are antihistamines, and one of the things that can be helpful for histamine support is taking P5P as well as SAMe (S-adenosyl-methionine). This can be very helpful for anxiety as well. Make sure you look at any drug interactions or side effects or potential contraindications you might have. It's not recommended for people with bipolar disorder, for example, so that might be something to consider. I have seen people with histamine issues be able to sleep really well from taking that.
As far as other sleep medications, some of the ones that are a little bit maybe for short-term use would be doxepin or trazodone, which are not habit-forming. I would also look into Ll-theanine and look at the root cause of what's driving your insomnia.