Do you do anything to prepare for sleep? What do you do when you wake up at night? I'm thinking that you have an anxiety level with high adrenalin that can be calmed.

umm I notice that you often end your posts with a reminder that the blame goes on daddy, and so negative emotions kept to the front, like anger, which could disturb sleep also, so that it compounds into a vicious circle

Look into how the brain regulates cortisol. The rhythm gets off with PTSD. The normal cycle of cortisol release is around 6-8 a.m. to awaken us.

Are you on meds? PTSD throws off SSRI regulation and HPA axis involvement. I take meds, which have helped with both. Sleep is sweeter now.

I learned about simple over-the-counter Melatonin here. I'd taken Ambien, Seroquel, and other prescription stuff for sleep, but I think it was 51% here, if not I'm mistaken, who told me to take Melatonin about 1 hour before bedtime. Then have a routine for that hour as I shut down activity and go to bed at the same time every night.

It helped me with a lot of chaos I was having this year around sleep that made me edgy and groggy trying to teach students the next day. I don't know how something so simple worked better than the heavy sleep drugs I'd taken, but it worked all year.

Not sure I can over any help but I do understand. I went through a year of that nonsense after my husband died. I would think I was ready for sleep and actually drift off and bam...I'd be awake like a bomb just went off. Eventually I would fall asleep for a couple of hours and like you the most I ever got was 4 hours. Ambien helped me fall asleep the first week or so but I would still wake up after an hour. Xanax didn't help too much either. I ended up taking hour longs walks just before bed and it helped more than the meds.