Insomnia: Signs of recovery or regression?

I've not had insomnia for years but for some reason have battled it now for 7 months. I have suffered anxiety my whole life but it did not really effect my sleep but I think a period of stress just before I started with insomnia triggered it.

Then I made things worse by worrying about not sleeping and I would spend all day dreading going to bed, I would lie there having nervous sweats, fast heartbeat, so it then becomes impossible to get to sleep as stress hormones swim around my body.

I started taking Phenergan to help me sleep, I got 6 hours sleep on them but they made me groggy for most of the next day so it put me off taking them, so I resorted to drinking alcohol which I am doing every night to get to sleep, if I drink enough (about 4 cans of beer) it gets me to sleep fast, but it only keeps me asleep for between 2 and 4 hours. Maybe drinking 4 cans of beer before bed makes me need the toilet so when I do wake up in the middle of the night my bladder does seem full when I go to the toilet. I can usually get back to sleep for another couple of hours but the next day I feel tired, I don't think it's purely down to a lack of sleep but probably the toxic effects of alcohol as it depletes your body of vitamins and minerals if you drink every day.

Last month when I tried a night without alcohol I did not sleep a wink that night. So I resorted to alcohol the following night and I must have been so tired as I slept 8 hours without waking up like I normally do. So not surprisingly I am afraid that if I stop drinking at night I won't sleep. Alcohol doesn't give me a great sleep but I see it as better than nothing. I just hope alcohol won't effect my health long term but it probably will. I just hate having no sleep.