Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)? I see self-help and drugs, but no description of domain-focused therapy
I admit I haven't done any therapy by any therapist. I have read some CBT book and tried to do it myself without any progress. Its also one of those things I probably should look in to (along with sleep apnea suggested by someone else). I just wish benzos didn't have so many issues with it, or it would be the perfect drug. I take such a low dose and I know people who are taking 2-5mg and they are happily chugging alone. I fear for them, if they ever needs to get off of benzos.
With respect to the daytime tiredness have you investigated sleep apnea as a possible cause?
My dad has sleep apnea.
I don't think I have sleep apnea, because I don't have most of the symptoms/pre-requisite of sleep apnea. But this is self diagnosis, I reckon I probably should get a proper test done.
I also have random sudden panic attacks. I stopped drinking coffee (which helped a lot) and I would only drink 1 cup of green tea once a day in the morning. Instead, I take modafinil during the day to try to stay awake. The daytime tiredness has nothing to do with sleep or my food intake (I have done extensive research on nutrition), I am fairly physically active, currently training for my first 10k. If I drink coffee I will be fine in terms of alertness but it will make my anxiety crazy (not always but a lot more than not drinking any coffee). So I started taking modafinil which works great without making my anxiety/panic attack any worse.
Even with no coffee and good nights of sleep and being fairly physically active, and trying out all the self-help methods I could get my hands on in the last couple of years, I still couldn't fix my anxiety/panic attack issues. The only thing that works is benzo (clonazepam 0.5mg once a day). It works amazing - not only I am happiest when I am on it I am also the most productive (because of less anxiety and panic attack). I have been taking it for the last 3 months regularly (prescribed) and I am already addicted to it. If I try not to take a benzo for one day my anxiety is off the roof - the feeling is horrible and I can't get anything done the whole day.
At the moment I am trying to find the best way I can get off my dependencies on benzo but still keep my sanity.
The point of my post is that sometimes life is not as simple as "getting a good night's sleep" because even something as simple as "getting a good nights sleep" can be quite a bit struggle for some of us.