I can't sleep

Amanda,

Read surviving antidepressants site.Once you fell into the abyss of brain medication, there is no outcome.You are able to sleep 5 hours which is not bad.Go to bed early and wake up early.Even though you won't get sleep,make a habit of going to bed early and waking up early.eventually you will get sleeping normal.who gave you sleeping pills at this tender age?!using sleeping pills made your sleep higene ruined.Now you have to work on it by going to bed early and waking up early.

Wow, you are doing really well if English is not your first language!  Your entire message was very clear, so job well done!

The best advice I can give is to go speak with a therapist/psychologist and get a handle on your anxiety and/or depression.  I do not think the answer is not attending your final year of high school.  Those of us who struggle with anxiety sometimes feel like if we could just jump off of life's hamster wheel long enough to get our minds straight, we can jump back on when we are feeling better and pick right back up where we left off.  The problem is, even if you leave school you are still going to be running, it will just be a different hamster wheel.  What i mean is that you will still have life's problems and struggles to deal with and these things will leave you stressed and worried like you would be if you had decided to finish school.  

I had a similar scenario a few years back when my insomnia started, except mine was work-related.  I had a very demanding job that I constantly worried and stressed over and eventually spiraled out of control into anxiety and depression.  I was getting an average of 3 hours of sleep every night and carried on like that for a couple of years.  I also went to see a family doctor, sleep specialist, etc. and starting taking antidepressants and sleep aids, none of which helped one iota.  I thought  the only thing that was going to cure it was leaving the job and getting my head on straight.  So that's what I did; I left the job, went back to grad school and got a masters degree.  Even after I left the job, the anxiety, depression and insomnia were all still there.  I'm feeling better now, but the thing I have learned is that you're better off working on your mental health so that you are  able to deal with life's problems, rather than thinking you can avoid life's problems on account of poor mental health. 

So do what you can to get with a therapist, someone who can help you alleviate your symptoms.  Once you start to lessen the anxiety, I'm willing to bet your sleep will improve dramatically.  In the meantime, don't get too stressed out about your sleep.  You are sleeping 5 hours, which though not ideal, is enough to let you function properly during the day.  If you find that you are tossing and turning, worrying about your problems or whether or not you are going to be able to sleep, get up and go do something relaxing to ease your mind (such as reading).  Go back to bed when you are sleepy again.  Try to avoid light-emitting devices later in the evening and especially late at ngiht when you are having trouble sleeping.  Do not watch TV in bed, if that is something that you have been doing.  My go-to's are reading (real physical books, not electronic) and writing in a journal when I'm up late at night. I find that writing out my worries and thinking logically about how to deal with them has a relaxing effect on me and I am able to go back to sleep. 

And resolve to finish school.  You only have 1 year left!  Don't put your life on hold because you are going through a rough patch. You can do it!

Are you struggling with school work? Is this the cause of lack of sleep? or is it due to relationships that is worrying you? Any thoughts?